Display message for 2 seconds, then clear itself

Question

I want display a message for 2 seconds, then have the message disappear without having to press ok

Answer 1

Excel itself does not provide a built-in way to show a temporary message that automatically disappears after a fixed time without user interaction. However, similar behavior can be implemented in other Microsoft technologies using their notification or message APIs.

Examples from other platforms:

1. Power Automate for desktop – Display message action
   • The Display message action can show a message box and close it automatically after a timeout when Close message box automatically is enabled and Timeout is set (in seconds). The flow then continues as if the default button was pressed.
   • This matches the requirement: a message appears, waits for a specified duration, and then closes without user input.
2. .NET MAUI CommunityToolkit – Toast notifications
   • A Toast can be created with Toast.Make(text, duration, fontSize) and shown with await toast.Show(token);.
   • The ToastDuration enum supports:
     • Short – 2 seconds
     • Long – 3.5 seconds
   • This displays a non-blocking notification that automatically disappears after the chosen duration.
3. GameKit (iOS via .NET bindings) – GKNotificationBanner
   • GKNotificationBanner.ShowAsync(string? title, string? message, double durationSeconds) displays a banner for durationSeconds and then hides it automatically.
4. Windows system notification duration
   • Windows pop-up notification duration is controlled by the SPI_GETMESSAGEDURATION system parameter, which can be adjusted (for accessibility) so that notification toasts stay visible longer before disappearing automatically.

To achieve similar behavior around Excel, consider:

• Using Power Automate for desktop to display and auto-close a message while automating Excel tasks.
• Using a companion app (for example, a .NET MAUI app or another client) to show toast-style notifications for Excel-related events, with a 2-second duration.

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References:

• Message boxes actions
• Toast
• [GKNotificationBanner.ShowAsync Method

](https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/api/gamekit.gknotificationbanner.showasync?view=net-ios-26.2-10.0)

• Message duration parameter