Hi, need some clarification but after some digging I have something to share.
There are Three Types of Alerts:
There are
alerts written into studies. They only alert when the chart w/ the study is open on your screen
They cannot be sent to phone/email. They cannot have custom sounds.
https://usethinkscript.com/resources/how-to-add-alert-script-to-thinkorswim-indicators.9/
https://tlc.thinkorswim.com/center/howToTos/thinkManual/MarketWatch/Alerts/studyalerts
There are
alerts created on a chart for
one specific stock that you want to alert
Right-click on your chart and choose alerts.
There are
scanned watchlist alerts which alert whenever the results of the scan changes.
These alerts can be 3min delayed. They can have
custom sounds, they can be sent to phone/email, if you have notifications turned on in the app setup.
https://tlc.thinkorswim.com/center/howToTos/thinkManual/Scan/Stock-Hacker#:~:text=Scan results are,scan results change…
Alerts blinking by too fast? To see all alerts: click on the message center
Want to see a list of alerts all the time? detach the message center
I have a study and it contains two alerts running on multiple charts on ToS desktop (all opened). I hear the ding sound, I look over to the detached ToS Message center window but the alerts are not logged? so I have to go search all charts to find which one could have triggered the alert; I have entries in the message center for things like fill orders, etc. but nothing from the Study Alert. I read @MerryDays FAQ (quoted above) but it does not state which of the three type of alerts are supported in being logged in the ToS message Center? The addition of this info would be helpful to all.
Additionally looked at the Alert setting of the study on the chart and it shows that "Alert", "Show in Message Center" and "Play Sound" are all checked/enabled, and for "Can be triggered:" is set to "Repeatedly for each bar".
Based on it having a field to "Show in Message Center" I can only assume that "
alerts written into studies" should support logging in "Message Center", but I could not find concrete evidence of this in the ToS help guide nor in the FAQ passage.
What I discovered is as followed. "
Alerts written into studies" most certainly do log in ToS "Message Center" on open chart(s).
But there are
ONLY logged in the "Message Center" window of the instance of ToS that is running that very chart(s). All other instances will sound the the alert but
NOT write to any other ToS instance "Message Center". I will get a ticket open with ToS support, but unlikely they will do much about it.
I run three instances on my desktop, so I have to detach three "Message Center" windows in order to see which instance logged the alert triggering. Not everyone runs more than once instance, but I wanted to share for those who do, and hope that specific FAQ is updated with this additional information.
If you run a separate instance say on a laptop as backup (besides your desktop) you would notice this as well.
E.g. So you can't leave you home with the laptop thinking you will see the alerts triggered from the charts on your desktop would show up logged on your laptops ToS "Message Center", they will not. You would have to have the very same charts open on the laptop in order for them to be logged there as well.
However all ToS S
ystem based alerts are logged on ALL instances message center, like fill orders and alerts you manually set on a chart (like create alert on price).
My only head scratcher is what purpose of "Can be Triggered:" and set to "Once, and then become disabled" is used for. You literally have to remove and re-add the study in order to get a future alert to be triggered on a chart (nuts). But what if we don't want an alert for every bar, but say once a day if the condition is met.? I a million other scripting languages you can store this in a variable and reset the count say once a day, but thinkscript I just don't get how... If anyone figured out how to do that, please do share.
