Notifications

Notifications inform users about the status of user or system initiated operations. They can have different actions depending on the message.

There are four types of notifications:

What notification to use

Consider two factors when deciding which notification type to use.

User action

Are the users required to address the notification before they can proceed with current tasks?

Context of trigger

What initiated the notification? Does the initiation point to a particular context or location?

Use the following table to determine which notification to use based on the two factors:

User action	Context	Type	Examples
Required immediately	All	Alerts	Confirm Restart Opening projects in new window When trying to rename a method, but a conflict is found Need a dependency before using a feature
Required, but not immediately	File tabs Tool windows	Banners	Configuring SDK for your project Requiring a Gradle sync for tools to work properly
Not required	Tool windows	Tool Window balloons	Status of task completion When Find Usages is invoked on a method, use a tool window balloon to show the feedback since the results will be found in the Find tool window
	All but file tabs or tool windows	Sticky balloons	IDE and Plugin Updates
		Timed balloons	Module imported Framework detection

Exception: If the action is highly recommended, consider using Banners across all files for visibility instead of Sticky balloon.