diff --git a/plugins/notify/NormalNotification.vala b/plugins/notify/NormalNotification.vala
index 475a0a49..8e360f08 100644
--- a/plugins/notify/NormalNotification.vala
+++ b/plugins/notify/NormalNotification.vala
@@ -167,9 +167,11 @@ namespace Gala.Plugins.Notify
 		public string summary { get; construct set; }
 		public string body { get; construct set; }
 		public uint32 sender_pid { get; construct; }
-		public string[] notification_actions { get; construct; }
+		public string[] notification_actions { get; construct set; }
 		public Screen screen { get; construct; }
 
+		public signal void default_action_invoked ();
+
 		Actor content_container;
 		NormalNotificationContent notification_content;
 		NormalNotificationContent? old_notification_content = null;
@@ -234,6 +236,7 @@ namespace Gala.Plugins.Notify
 				});
 			}
 
+			notification_actions = actions;
 			update_base (icon, expire_timeout);
 		}
 
@@ -270,6 +273,17 @@ namespace Gala.Plugins.Notify
 
 		public override void activate ()
 		{
+			// we currently only support the default action, which can be triggered by clicking
+			// on the notification according to spec
+			for (var i = 0; i < notification_actions.length; i += 2) {
+				if (notification_actions[i] == "default") {
+					default_action_invoked ();
+					return;
+				}
+			}
+
+			// if no default action has been set, we fallback to trying to find a window for the
+			// notification's sender process
 			var window = get_window ();
 			if (window != null) {
 				var workspace = window.get_workspace ();
diff --git a/plugins/notify/NotifyServer.vala b/plugins/notify/NotifyServer.vala
index f8a47b56..4a1e6c68 100644
--- a/plugins/notify/NotifyServer.vala
+++ b/plugins/notify/NotifyServer.vala
@@ -91,6 +91,11 @@ namespace Gala.Plugins.Notify
 				"body",
 				"body-markup",
 				"sound",
+				// even though we don't fully support actions, we still want to receive the default
+				// action. Well written applications will check if the actions capability is available
+				// before settings a default action, so we have to specify it here. Also, not displaying
+				// certain actions even though requested is allowed according to spec, so we should be fine
+				"actions",
 				"x-canonical-private-synchronous",
 				"x-canonical-private-icon-only"
 			};
@@ -146,7 +151,7 @@ namespace Gala.Plugins.Notify
 			var confirmation = hints.contains ("x-canonical-private-synchronous");
 			var progress = confirmation && hints.contains ("value");
 
-#if 0 // enable to debug notifications
+#if true // enable to debug notifications
 			print ("Notification from '%s', replaces: %u\n" +
 				"\tapp icon: '%s'\n\tsummary: '%s'\n\tbody: '%s'\n\tn actions: %u\n\texpire: %i\n\tHints:\n",
 				app_name, replaces_id, app_icon, summary, body, actions.length);
@@ -154,6 +159,11 @@ namespace Gala.Plugins.Notify
 				print ("\t\t%s => %s\n", key, val.is_of_type (VariantType.STRING) ?
 					val.get_string () : "<" + val.get_type ().dup_string () + ">");
 			});
+			print ("\tActions: ");
+			foreach (var action in actions) {
+				print ("%s, ", action);
+			}
+			print ("\n");
 #endif
 
 			uint32 pid = 0;
@@ -204,9 +214,11 @@ namespace Gala.Plugins.Notify
 				notification = new ConfirmationNotification (id, pixbuf, icon_only,
 					progress ? hints.@get ("value").get_int32 () : -1,
 					hints.@get ("x-canonical-private-synchronous").get_string ());
-			else
+			else {
 				notification = new NormalNotification (stack.screen, id, summary, body, pixbuf,
 					urgency, timeout, pid, actions);
+				((NormalNotification) notification).default_action_invoked.connect (default_action_invoked);
+			}
 
 			notification.closed.connect (notification_closed_callback);
 			stack.show_notification (notification);
@@ -456,8 +468,17 @@ namespace Gala.Plugins.Notify
 		{
 			notification.closed.disconnect (notification_closed_callback);
 
+			var normal_notification = notification as NormalNotification;
+			if (normal_notification != null)
+				normal_notification.default_action_invoked.disconnect (default_action_invoked);
+
 			notification_closed (id, reason);
 		}
+
+		void default_action_invoked (Notification notification)
+		{
+			action_invoked (notification.id, "default");
+		}
 	}
 }