Tooltip content should be a short, descriptive phrase. Focus on essential information. Tooltips are best when they provide useful clarification. For example, an unlabeled component could include a tooltip that describes what it is or what it does.

Tooltips with redundant text are not useful for users. Use only when necessary to provide an explanation for an interface element. Lengthy content is no longer a ‘tip’, so keep it brief.¹ If tooltip content requires multiple sentences, consider other components instead (list of components).

Use sentence case and do not include a period at the end unless the phrase is a complete sentence or includes a comma. For definitions and instructive tooltips, use sentence-style capitalization and write the text as complete sentences with punctuation unless space is limited.