Help! I can't promote a villager to serf

[Taek]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zif7riq420pmuft/Foundation_serf_question.png?dl=0

I've been playing the game for whole day...
But I'm stuck at the same point figuring out what went wrong...
I built a lord manor and assigned a great hall in parts. It's been months and a long time.
I even see one serf already.
I've never seen any notification or tab... nothing really shows up.
I even checked if my steam setting is set on beta or if the promotion tab or sth is hidden behind other status tabs. I checked all the settings like windowed mode/full screen.
Why does it never work?

[Minotorious]

At the end of each month a notification will appear on the top left that promotions are available, then you can open the promotions panel by either clicking that notification or by clicking the promotions message in the Actions tab, left of screen top button.

The serfs you see are the first 8 villagers that get promoted automatically so they don't count for the quest ;)

[davemon]

Whatever you do, when you get later in the game with a hundred or greater villagers, refrain from hitting the Promote All button. Or you may wind up a very unhappy camper for a while. All those people simultaneously looking for housing spots will kill your happiness. Promote gradually the entire game and keep a smart ratio of newcomers to serfs to commoners to citizens, and you will never have a happiness issue resulting from housing shortages. (assuming you do the other things necessary).