---
title: Send Critical Commands to Users in Chrome with GAT Shield
description: "### Need to alert users directly in their browser, or send reminders and training prompts? With **GAT Shield’s Critical Commands**, you can display pop-up messages or even force specific pages (like a to-do list or internal policy) to open in…"
url: "https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/tech-tips/gat-shield-send-browser-alerts-force-page/"
updated: "2026-04-16"
category: "Chrome Audit & Management"
tags:
  - GAT Shield
---

# Send Critical Commands to Users in Chrome with GAT Shield

### Need to alert users directly in their browser, or send reminders and training prompts?

With **GAT Shield’s Critical Commands**, you can display pop-up messages or even force specific pages (like a to-do list or internal policy) to open in users’ [Chrome](https://www.google.com/chrome/) browsers.

Admins can use this for:

- Send customised security alerts or warnings
- Push weekly reminders or recurring notices
- Redirect users to training or wiki pages
- Show daily to-do/task lists or onboarding instructions

> **Note:** **All Critical Commands expire after 7 days by default.** Messages are temporary and will not persist beyond the expiration window.

## How to Create and Display a Critical Command

### Step 1: Define your Command

To define the command, navigate to **GAT Shield > Commands > Defined Commands >** and click on '**+ New Command'** to start creating one.

![GAT Shield Command configuration window showing how to define commands. The "+ New Command" button is shown and can be used to start defining the command.](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Command-1.png)

### Step 2: Configure the Command

Now you can set up your '**Show notification'** command.

**Under the Command section:**

- **Command name**: Enter a title for the command (e.g. *Security training reminder*)
- **Command type**: Select **Show notification** from the dropdown
- **Message**: Type the message that will appear on the user's screen
- **Open as new page** *(optional)*: Enable this if you want the message to open in a new browser tab and take over the full screen

![GAT Shield New Command configuration screen with 'Show notification' selected as the command type, message field filled with a security training reminder, 'Open as new page' toggle enabled.](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Command-2.png)

**Under the Scope section:**

- **Scope type**: Choose who will receive the notification:

  - **User** – select individual user(s)
  - **All users** – applies domain-wide

When finished, click '**Create'** to save and activate the command.

![GAT Shield New Command configuration screen with the Scope type options displayed: specific users or All users can be selected under the scope of the command. The "Create" button to finish defining the command. ](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Command-3.png)

### The Command Is Now Active

Once you’ve clicked '**Create'**, your Critical Command is immediately active.

![GAT Shield Defined Commands screen showing a newly created 'Show notification' command titled 'Security training reminder' with status set to Created, Valid to date and scope applied to all users](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Command-4.png)

### What Will The Users See?

To check delivery status, go to: **GAT Shield > Commands > Command Results**
There, you can see when the command was executed and which users received it.

![GAT Shield Commands Results screen showing a completed 'Show notification' command titled 'Security training reminder' with status marked as Finished, including agent ID, user email, and timestamp](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Command-5.png)

If the user is working on something else or has another tab open, a new tab with the desired notification/command will be forced and pinned in the browser within a maximum of 10 minutes of creating the Command.

![Chrome browser tab displaying a full-screen Critical Command message from GAT Shield titled 'Security training reminder' with a deadline notice for completing training](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/full-screen-reminder.png)

Additionally, every time the user reopens Chrome, this will be the default tab that opens and show the desired message to the user.

This will be visible for a week and then will automatically expire.

![Full-screen notification in Chrome browser from GAT Shield displaying a 'Security training reminder' message about completing training by the end of next week, shown as a new tab with no user interaction required](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Open-new-browser-reminder.png)

If the **Open as new page** option is not selected, the end user will receive a notification in the lower left corner of the browser that will only display for a few seconds.

![GAT Shield New Command configuration screen showing 'Show notification' command with the 'Open as new page' toggle disabled, indicating the message will appear as a small pop-up instead of a new browser tab](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Command-6.png)

End-user result when the **Open as new page** option is not selected in the Commands configuration.

![Chrome browser showing a GAT Shield notification in the lower-right corner with a 'Security training reminder' message, triggered as a pop-up ](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Command-alert.png)

## How to Create a Force Page Command

### Step 1: Create a New Command

To define the command that will force a page, navigate to **GAT Shield > Commands > Defined Commands >** and click on **+ New Command** to start creating one.

![GAT Shield Command configuration window showing how to define commands. The "+ New Command" button is shown and can be used to start defining the command.](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Command-1.png)

### Step 2: Configure the Force Page Command

The configuration window will be opened, and you can create your **Force page** command.

Under the ***Command*** section:

- Type the command **Name**
- Select the command **Type** as **Force page**
- Type the desired **URL** that will be forced into the end user's browser
- **Pin tab** (optional) - once toggled, the website will be pinned in the end user's browser

![GAT Shield New Command configuration screen showing a 'Force page' command setup with URL input field and an optional 'Pin tab' toggle](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Command-7.png)

**Under the Scope section:**

- **Scope type**: Choose who will receive the notification:

  - **User** – select individual user(s)
  - **All users** – applies domain-wide

When finished, click '**Create'** to save and activate the command.

![GAT Shield New Command configuration screen showing a scope drop-down menu and the following options: set to a specific user(s) or all users, and the Create button highlighted](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Command-8.png)

### What Will Users See?

To review the commands that took place, navigate to **GAT Shield > Commands >****Command Results >** and find the one you created to see when and which user received it.

The result for the user is that the desired page opens in the browser (and is pinned if configured to do so).

![Chrome browser tab showing gatlabs.com loaded in a pinned tab, indicating the result of a Force Page command with the 'Pin tab' option enabled in GAT Shield](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Command-7.png)

## FAQ

**Q: Can I send weekly reminders with GAT Shield?**
A: Yes. You can set up recurring reminders using the Critical Commands module, they’ll automatically expire after 7 days unless reconfigured.

**Q: What is the Force Page feature used for?**
A: Force Page opens a specific URL in the user's browser. Ideal for mandatory training, intranet pages, to-do lists, or onboarding resources.

**Q: Do users need to click anything to acknowledge the command?**
A: No, messages are shown automatically and disappear after expiry or dismissal.

**Q: Is it possible to schedule a message in advance?**
A: Currently, messages must be triggered manually. Recurring reminders can be reissued weekly by the admin.

## Relevant Posts

- [How to Use the Reload Configuration Command in GAT Shield](https://gatlabs.com/knowledge/tech-tips/reload-configuration-command-gat-shield/)