Use an unsaved changes prompt for a focused dirty-editor decision before close, cancel, switch, or replacement. Use exit warning for broader departure, autosave form for background persistence, and confirmation dialog for an explicit consequential command.
Use an unsaved changes prompt for a focused dirty-editor decision before close, cancel, switch, or replacement. Use exit warning for broader departure, autosave form for background persistence, and confirmation dialog for an explicit consequential command.
Practice the judgment: Imagine this situation: A prompt says Are you sure? with OK and Cancel, forcing users to infer whether OK saves, discards, or leaves. Write the person's goal, choose one of these patterns, and show the state that helps the person continue. Use the decision rules and source trail below to explain your choice.
Review the underlying principle →| Dimension | Unsaved changes prompt | Exit warning | Autosave form | Confirmation dialog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UI or UX | UI + UX - Dirty-editor decision prompt before closing, canceling, switching, or replacing unsaved edits | UI + UX - Attempted-departure safeguard for unrecoverable in-progress work | UI + UX - Background-saving form progress | UI + UX - Consequential alert decision |
| UI guidance | Name the edited object, summarize what changed, and offer distinct Save changes, Discard changes, Review changes, and Keep editing choices when the system can support them. | Show a warning only when the user attempts to leave with real unsaved, pending, failed, or unrecoverable work; place in-app route warnings at the point of departure with Save and leave, Discard and leave, and Stay editing choices. | Render a clear autosave message before users start, then keep a persistent status surface for Pending, Saving, Saved with timestamp, Failed, Retry, and unsafe-to-leave states. | Render an alert-style modal decision with a specific title, consequence description, safe cancellation, and a destructive action label that names the object or scope. |
| UX guidance | Use an unsaved changes prompt to protect local edits at the moment a user is about to abandon or replace them inside the product. | Help the person reach a clear task outcome. | Use autosave when losing progress would hurt and background persistence is safer than making users hunt for a distant Save button. | Help the person reach a clear task outcome. |
| Good UI | A profile editor close button opens Save changes to Billing contact?, lists edited phone and department fields, and offers Keep editing, Review changes, Save changes, or Discard changes. | A grant form user clicks Back with two unsaved answers; a dialog names the changed section and offers Save and leave, Discard and leave, or Stay editing. | A long application step says the application is saved on every change, shows Saving after an edited title blurs, then shows Draft saved just now with a timestamp. | Delete Research archive? explains that 14 notes and shared links will be permanently removed, offers Keep archive, and labels the danger action Delete archive. |
| Bad UI | A tab switch silently replaces the dirty editor with a different record and loses the user's typed notes. | Every navigation shows Are you sure you want to leave? even after the form is saved. | A green Saved toast appears after one field saves, while another changed field is still pending or failed. | The red destructive action is enabled immediately and sits where users expect the routine primary button. |
| Good UX | A user edits two fields, clicks Close, reviews the changed fields in the prompt, saves, and the editor closes only after the saved state is confirmed. | A user chooses Discard and leave from an in-app warning and is taken to the intended destination with a clear understanding of what was discarded. | A user writes a long answer, pauses, sees Saving, then sees Draft saved just now and can leave knowing the draft is recoverable. | Cancel, Escape, and Keep archive leave the archive unchanged and return focus to Delete archive. |
| Bad UX | A user chooses Save, the request fails, and the editor still closes as though the latest values were safe. | A user clicks a sidebar link after typing a long answer and loses it because the product only watched final Submit. | A password or permission field autosaves immediately and takes effect before the user reviewed the consequence. | Every archive, filter, and dismiss action opens the same confirmation until users click through automatically. |
| Best fit | A close, cancel, switch, or edit-mode exit would discard unsaved local changes. | A route change, tab close, reload, browser Back, external link, or sign-out action can interrupt a task. | Users spend meaningful time entering form content or application progress. | The action is destructive, irreversible, costly, security-sensitive, privacy-affecting, or externally visible. |
| Avoid when | Every latest change is already saved or safely recoverable. | The page is clean, read-only, or all changes are safely saved and recoverable. | The form is short enough that a visible manual Save or Submit is clearer. | The action is routine and easily reversible. |
| Required state | Dirty editor state with changed-field tracking. | Dirty unsaved state with local unsaved-work status. | Initial state that explains progress will be saved automatically. | Pre-action state with an explicit consequential trigger. |
| Accessibility burden | Use dialog or alertdialog semantics when the prompt interrupts the current task and requires a response. | Use a real dialog or alertdialog for in-app warnings, with a heading that names the loss risk. | Expose autosave status changes in a polite status region so assistive technology users hear Saving, Saved, and Failed states. | Use alertdialog semantics or platform equivalent when the decision is urgent and requires a response. |
| Common misuse | Prompting when nothing changed. | Warning on every navigation regardless of whether work is dirty. | Showing Saved when only an older change was saved. | Asking users to confirm every routine action until they stop reading. |