How to Use the Power Apps Notify() Function (Types, Timeout and Examples)

Almost every Power Apps screen I build needs a way to tell the user what just happened: the form was saved, a required field is missing, or something went wrong. The Notify() function does that with one line, by showing a colored banner at the top of the screen.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you the syntax, the four notification types, how the timeout works, and the two patterns I use most: a message after a form is submitted, and a success or error message after Patch that tells the truth when the save fails.

Quick answer: Use Notify(Message, NotificationType, Timeout) in a behavior property such as a button’s OnSelect, for example Notify("Saved!", NotificationType.Success, 3000). The type can be Error, Warning, Success or Information (the default). The timeout is in milliseconds, 10,000 by default in canvas apps, and 0 keeps the banner until the user closes it.

Notify() syntax

Notify( Message [, NotificationType [, Timeout ] ] )

Argument	Required	What it does
Message	Yes	The text to show, up to 500 characters
NotificationType	No	Error, Warning, Success or Information. The default is Information
Timeout	No	How long the banner stays, in milliseconds. The default is 10,000 (10 seconds), and 0 means it stays until the user dismisses it

A few rules are worth knowing before you start:

• Notify only works in behavior formulas, such as OnSelect, OnChange, OnVisible and a form’s OnSuccess. You can’t use it in a property like Text or Visible.
• It always returns true, so you can use it inside If() and chain it with other formulas.
• For a message that sits next to a control instead of the top of the screen, use a hover popup or tooltip in Power Apps.
• The banner always appears at the top of the screen. You can’t move it, and you can’t change its color or font.
• It was called ShowError in early versions of Power Apps.

The four notification types

Each type shows its own color and icon, so users know at a glance whether something worked.

Error

Use it when something failed. Add a button and set its OnSelect to:

Notify("This is an error notification", NotificationType.Error)

When you select the button in preview, a red banner with a cross icon appears:

Warning

Use it for something the user should check, like a missing field:

Notify("This is a warning notification", NotificationType.Warning)

Success

Use it to confirm that an action worked:

Notify("This is a success notification", NotificationType.Success)

Information

This is the default, so Notify("Hello") shows the same banner. Use it for neutral messages:

Notify("This is an information notification", NotificationType.Information)

Set how long the notification stays

The third argument is the timeout in milliseconds. This button shows an error banner for one second:

Notify("You selected the button", NotificationType.Error, 1000)

To see the timeout in action, I set a button to show an information banner for 5 seconds, and added a Timer control next to it:

Notify("This notification disappears in 5 seconds", NotificationType.Information, 5000)

The banner stays for 5 seconds and then fades out:

Here’s how I pick a timeout:

Message	Timeout I use
Short confirmation, like “Saved”	3000 (3 seconds)
Normal message	Leave it out (10 seconds)
Error the user must read	0 (stays until closed)

Show the date and time in a notification

The message can be any text formula, so you can join values with &. Wrap dates in Text() so they’re easy to read:

Notify("Your last click was " & Text(Now(), "mm/dd/yyyy h:mm AM/PM"), NotificationType.Information)

With this, the banner reads something like “Your last click was 10/05/2026 9:40 AM”. The same idea works for any value, such as "Welcome, " & User().FullName.

For more on formatting dates and times, see the Power Apps date and time functions.

Show a warning when a field is empty

Because Notify returns true, it fits nicely in an If(). This Submit button warns the user instead of submitting when the title is blank:

If(
    IsBlank(Title_txt.Text),
    Notify("Please enter a project title.", NotificationType.Warning),
    SubmitForm(Form1)
)

For more checks, like email and phone formats, see Power Apps form field validation on submit.

Notify after a form is submitted

My example uses a SharePoint list named Employees with Employee Name, Department and Join Date, and an Edit form named Form1 connected to it.

Set the Submit button’s OnSelect to just:

SubmitForm(Form1)

Then set the form’s OnSuccess property. It runs only when the save worked, so this is the right place for the success message and for clearing the form:

Notify("Your form has been submitted successfully!", NotificationType.Success);
NewForm(Form1)

Finally, set OnFailure so users see why a save didn’t work:

Notify(Form1.Error, NotificationType.Error, 0)

An older version of this post put NewForm(Form1) right after SubmitForm in OnSelect. That clears the form before you know whether the save worked, so the user loses what they typed when something fails.

If ResetForm or Reset gives you an error here, see how to fix the Reset function error in Power Apps.

Notify after Patch, with error handling

My second example saves to a SharePoint list named Projects with Title, StartDate and DeliveryDate columns. The screen has a text input (Title_txt) and two date pickers (StartDatePicker and DeliveryDatePicker).

Many examples put Patch(...); Notify("Saved!") on the button. The problem is that the Notify still runs when Patch fails, so the user sees “Saved!” even though nothing was saved. Wrap Patch in IfError() instead:

IfError(
    Patch(
        Projects,
        Defaults(Projects),
        {
            Title: Title_txt.Text,
            StartDate: StartDatePicker.SelectedDate,
            DeliveryDate: DeliveryDatePicker.SelectedDate
        }
    ),
    Notify("Couldn't save the project: " & FirstError.Message, NotificationType.Error, 0),
    Notify("Your project has been saved!", NotificationType.Success)
)

If Patch fails, the second argument runs and shows the real error from FirstError.Message, with a timeout of 0 so it stays until the user closes it. If it works, the success banner appears.

Date pickers need nothing special in Patch, but if yours saves the wrong day, see how to patch a Power Apps date picker.

For more Patch examples, see how to update a SharePoint list item with Patch and patch from a Power Apps gallery.

Limitations and workarounds

• Font size and color: there’s no setting for them. The banner follows the user’s browser or device text size. Older posts suggested HTML tags like <h1> or <br> inside the message, but that isn’t documented, so I don’t rely on it.
• Position: it’s always at the top of the screen.
• Length: keep the message under 500 characters, and ideally to one short sentence.
• Custom pages and model-driven apps: Notify works there too, but the defaults differ. In a custom page, the banner stays until it’s dismissed unless you give a timeout, and Microsoft says not to use a timeout of 10. Set the type and timeout explicitly to get the same result everywhere.
• More than a banner: if you need a title, buttons or a longer message, build a popup with a container and a variable. See how to create a Power Apps dialog box or popup.

These Power Apps tutorials go well with Notify:

• Power Apps Collection [Complete Guide]
• Power Apps Named Formulas [5 Easy Methods]
• Fix a Power Apps Form Stuck on “Getting Your Data”
• Auto Format Phone Number in Power Apps Form [###-###-####]

Frequently Asked Questions