---
title: "Notifications and toast messages"
slug: "notifications-and-toast-messages"
description: "Craft effective notifications and toast messages to enhance user experience, ensuring clarity and guidance for actions, statuses, and outcomes."
updated: 2026-07-27T06:55:24Z
published: 2026-07-27T06:55:24Z
canonical: "docs.document360.com/notifications-and-toast-messages"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.document360.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Notifications and toast messages

This style guide focuses on crafting notifications and toast messages for a product's user interface. These elements play a crucial role in communicating key actions, statuses, and outcomes to users. A well-written notification or toast message enhances the user experience by providing clarity, guidance, and actionable information.

## Core Principles

| Principle | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Clarity first** | Write short, straightforward messages that immediately convey the purpose. Avoid technical jargon or complex language. |
| **Consistency** | Use the same tone, formatting, and structure across all notifications. Follow the same vocabulary for repeated actions (e.g., "saved," "updated," "failed"). |
| **Relevance** | Tailor messages to the context of the action. Only display messages that are meaningful to the user's workflow. |
| **Action-oriented** | Use verbs to indicate the result of the action or next steps. Ensure users know what to do next if further action is required. |

## Notification Types

### Success notifications

Confirm that an action was completed successfully (e.g., file uploads, settings saved, content published).

- "Changes saved successfully."
- "The article has been published."

### Error notifications

Inform users about failed actions or system errors. Clearly explain what went wrong and provide guidance to resolve the issue.

- "Failed to upload the file. Ensure it meets the size limit."
- "Domain import failed. Check the file format and try again."

### Warning notifications

Alert users about potential issues or risks before they proceed. Help users avoid irreversible mistakes.

- "You are about to delete a category. This action cannot be undone."

### Informational notifications

Provide non-urgent updates or general information (e.g., feature updates, announcements, auto-save confirmations).

- "Your changes are being auto-saved."

> **Note:** The character limit for in-app notifications is 80, including whitespace.

## Toast Messages

**Definition:** Toast messages are short, transient notifications that appear briefly in a corner of the UI. They're typically used for non-critical updates.

### Best Practices

| Guideline | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| Keep it short | Limit messages to 1–2 sentences. |
| Use present tense | Describe the action or result concisely in the present tense. |
| Avoid overloading | Only include essential details. Don't crowd the message with too much information. |
| Auto-dismiss | Toast messages should disappear after a few seconds unless the action is critical and requires user acknowledgment. |

### Examples

- "Article saved as draft."
- "1 file uploaded successfully."
- "Comment deleted."

## Do's and Don'ts

| Do | Don't |
| --- | --- |
| Use clear and concise language. | Write long or overly detailed messages. |
| Explain what happened or what's next. | Leave users guessing about the outcome. |
| Use a friendly, conversational tone. | Sound robotic or overly formal. |
| Tailor the message to the action performed. | Use generic or irrelevant messages. |

## Formatting Guidelines

| Guideline | Example |
| --- | --- |
| Begin with the result or action | "The article was archived successfully." |
| Use sentence case | Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns. |
| Avoid excessive punctuation | Use a single period at the end. Avoid exclamation marks unless celebrating success. |
| Use numbers for specificity | "3 files uploaded successfully." |

## Common Notifications and Toast Messages

**Success messages**

- "Settings updated successfully."
- "2 users imported successfully."
- "Password reset link sent to your email."

**Error messages**

- "Unable to save changes. Please try again."
- "This category name already exists. Choose a different name."
- "Failed to publish the article. Check your internet connection."

**Warning messages**

- "You have unsaved changes. Do you want to leave without saving?"
- "Deleting this category will also delete its subcategories and articles."

**Informational messages**

- "Draft saved automatically at 10:35 AM."
- "You have limited access to this page."

## Checklist for Writing Notifications and Toast Messages

- Is the message clear and concise?
- Does it explain the result or next steps?
- Is it specific to the user's action?
- Does it follow the tone and style guidelines?
- Is it free of technical jargon?
