The purpose of this page is to suggest standard phrasing for common messages.
For component reference see message popups, toasts, tooltips, dialogs and widgets.
For field validation reference see Field Validation.
Type | Case | Shown in | Final Text | Examples | Guidelines / Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Error | Missing required field | Field tooltip | [field name] required |  | |
Max characters exceeded | Field tooltip | Maximum [x] characters allowed |  | ||
Invalid characters | Field tooltip | Special characters not allowed |  | ||
Invalid syntax / format | Field tooltip | [Field name] must be in the format: Example: [Valid example] |   | ||
Entity already exists | Field tooltip | [Entity name] already exists |  | ||
Failure to retrieve data | Widget / menu / pop-up / details pane | Header: [Selected item(s)] Title: Cannot retrieve data. Content: Try refreshing the page. |   Additional examples | In case of a widget / menu / details pane, the text will be followed by an illustration | |
Failure to save changes due to system issue | Toast | Title: Cannot save changes to [Entity] Content: Try again. If problem persists, contact your system administrator. |  | ||
Failure to apply changes due to internal logic issue | Pop-up | Header: [Selected item(s)] Title: Cannot apply changes Content: [Exact phrasing depending on the specific case]. |  | Describe the issue and reason (if relevant) and offer means for recovery. | |
Password is incorrect | Login page / field tooltip | Incorrect user name or password |  | Invalid characters validation will not be applied to password fields. Caps lock and Num lock will be identified on typing (see below). | |
Access denied | Widget / details pane / filter pane | To access [entity name], you need permission. Contact your administrator. To [X], you need [privilege_name] privilege. Contact your administrator. | To access future data, you need permission. To export interactions you need administrator privilege. Contact your system administration. | ||
Entity being used by another user | Pop-up / details pane | Header: [Selected item(s)] Title: Cannot [perform action] Content: The [entity name] is being [action] by another user. Try again later. |  | ||
Errors in form | Form, next to dialog buttons | Form has an error or Form has [X] errors |  | In case there are both errors and warnings, only the error message will appear (see warnings below). | |
Warning | Delete item | Pop-up | Header: [Selected item(s)] Title: Delete [entities]? Content: [the consequence/impact] Buttons: Delete / Cancel |  | Add number of entities, if possible. |
Warnings in form | Form, next to dialog buttons | Form has a warning or Form has [X] warnings |  | In case there are both errors and warnings, only the error message will appear (see errors in form above). | |
Attempt to leave a form (or a page) with unsaved changes (“dirty state”) | Pop-up | Header: [Selected item(s)] Title: Leave[“form”/”page”]? Content: Changes you made will not be saved Buttons: Leave anyway / Keep editing (primary) |  | In this case, leaving the page will not save the changes. | |
Attempt to leave a form (or a page) while there are errors | Pop-up | Header: [Selected item(s)] Title: Leave [“form”/”page”]? Content: [“form”/”page”] has errors. Leaving this page will revert all fields to their last valid values. Buttons: Leave anyway / Keep editing (primary) |  | In this case, leaving the page will revert all fields to their last valid values. | |
Success | Action completed successfully | Toast | Success! [Entity] [Action (passive)] |    | |
Info | No results found when search criteria and filters are applied | Widget | No results found. Try different search criteria or clear all filters. No results found. Try different search criteria. | | |
Empty state | Widget | No [entity] to display. No [entity] added yet. To add [entity], [action]. | No cases to display. No trends added yet. To add trends, select Add trends. | ||
Action in progress | Toast | [Action] [entity] (Optional:) This may take [amount of time] |   | If the action can be undone, a cancel button may be added | |
Caps lock / Num lock is on (when typing a password) | Tooltip | Caps lock / Num lock is on |  | Applied on password text field, triggered automatically |
Guidelines
For buttons, avoid using OK/Cancel as much as possible; use explicit action verbs instead (e.g. Create)
For popups headers, use the name of the entity the user selected, or that was captured by the system. For example: Interactions.
When counting the number of entities (e.g. at the top of a tree/list/table)
when there’s only one entity type use the specific entity’s name (e.g. 34 employees).
when there’s more than one entity type use the term “Item” (e.g. 34 items).
A single-line message should not end with a period.
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