platform-guideline checked
Microsoft Windows UX Guide: Confirmations
Explains when confirmations are justified, warns against unnecessary confirmations, recommends undo and prevention alternatives, and emphasizes specific consequence information.
Pattern Decisions This Source Supports
| Pattern | Supported decision | Required contract | Claim note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alert dialog | Choose an alert dialog when an important message interrupts the current workflow and requires an immediate user response. | The alert dialog appears only for a condition that genuinely requires a response before continuation. | Microsoft confirmation guidance helps separate necessary response decisions from unnecessary prompts and undoable actions. |
| Ambiguous destructive action copy | Flag this anti-pattern when the destructive or safe action label does not name what will happen. | Every destructive control label must answer what action will happen and what object or scope it affects. | Microsoft confirmation guidance supports specific consequence information and avoiding vague routine confirmation labels. |
| Confirmation dialog | Choose confirmation when the action has a clear reason not to proceed and the user may change their mind after seeing the consequence. | The confirmation appears only after a user-initiated action, not as surprise interruption unrelated to the current command. | Microsoft confirmation guidance explains when confirmations are justified and when prevention, undo, or feedback are better. |
| Confirmation fatigue | Flag this anti-pattern when low-risk, reversible, or high-frequency actions repeatedly open modal confirmations. | Each confirmation must have a documented risk, consequence, and reason it is better than undo, prevention, warning text, review, or clearer command placement. | Microsoft confirmation guidance supports avoiding unnecessary confirmations and using undo, prevention, or feedback when they better fit routine actions. |
| Dangerous-action review | Choose dangerous-action review when the user is about to execute a high-impact action and needs to inspect the exact payload, risk, evidence, and side effects before it leaves the safe preview state. | The review is bound to a specific action ID, payload version, target, actor, permission scope, source context, evidence set, and policy trigger. | Supports consequence-specific confirmation and using confirmation only when there is a clear reason to interrupt. |
| Destructive action confirmation | Choose destructive action confirmation when a destructive command needs a final commit review before permanent or externally visible loss. | The confirmation appears only after a user-initiated destructive command. | Microsoft confirmation guidance supports specific consequence information and alternatives such as undo or prevention. |
| Fake undo | Flag this anti-pattern when an Undo control does not restore the exact object, value, order, relationship, permission, selection, and visible status it claims to reverse. | The system captures reversible state before applying the action, not after users request undo. | Microsoft confirmation guidance supports choosing confirmation or prevention when undo cannot faithfully recover consequences. |
| Typed confirmation | Choose typed confirmation when exact target reproduction materially lowers the risk of deleting or resetting the wrong object. | The required phrase is visible in the same confirmation surface as the input field. | Microsoft confirmation guidance supports specific consequence information and warns against unnecessary confirmation friction. |
| Undo | Choose undo when the product can restore the exact prior state without data loss or unrecoverable side effects. | The undo affordance appears after the action completes and names what will be restored. | Microsoft confirmation guidance recommends undo, feedback, and prevention as alternatives to routine confirmations. |
| Unsaved changes prompt | Choose unsaved changes prompt when a user action inside the product would abandon or replace dirty local edits before they are saved. | Opening the prompt never clears the dirty values. | Microsoft confirmation guidance supports specific consequence information and avoiding unnecessary prompts. |
Evidence Role
This source is treated as platform-guideline evidence. Use it to validate the decision rules above, not as a visual style reference.
Publisher: Microsoft. Last checked: .