---
stage: Growth
group: Activation
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
type: reference, howto
---

# Broadcast messages **(FREE SELF)**

GitLab can display broadcast messages to all users of a GitLab instance. There are two types of broadcast messages:

- Banners
- Notifications

Broadcast messages can be managed using the [broadcast messages API](../../api/broadcast_messages.md).

## Banners

Banners are shown on the top of a page and in Git remote responses.

![Broadcast Message Banner](img/broadcast_messages_banner_v12_10.png)

```shell
$ git push
...
remote:
remote: **Welcome** to GitLab :wave:
remote:
...
```

If more than one banner is active at one time, they are displayed in a stack in order of creation.

## Notifications

Notifications are shown on the bottom right of a page and can contain placeholders. A placeholder is replaced with an attribute of the active user. Placeholders must be surrounded by curly braces, for example `{{name}}`.
The available placeholders are:

- `{{email}}`
- `{{name}}`
- `{{user_id}}`
- `{{username}}`
- `{{instance_id}}`

If the user is not signed in, user related values are empty.

![Broadcast Message Notification](img/broadcast_messages_notification_v12_10.png)

If more than one notification is active at one time, only the newest is shown.

## Add a broadcast message

To display messages to users on your GitLab instance, add a broadcast message.

To add a broadcast message:

1. On the top bar, select **Menu > Admin**.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Messages**.
1. Add the text for the message to the **Message** field. You can style a message's content using Markdown, emoji, and the `a` and `br` HTML tags.
   The `br` tag inserts a line break. The `a` HTML tag accepts `class` and `style` attributes with the following CSS properties:
    - `color`
    - `border`
    - `background`
    - `padding`
    - `margin`
    - `text-decoration`
1. Select one of the suggested background colors, or add the hex code of a different color. The default color is orange.
1. Select the **Dismissable** checkbox to enable users to dismiss the broadcast message.
1. If required, add a **Target Path** to only show the broadcast message on URLs matching that path. You can use the wildcard character `*` to match multiple URLs, for example `mygroup/myproject*`.
1. Select a date for the message to start and end.
1. Select **Add broadcast message**.

NOTE:
The **Background color** field expects the value to be a hexadecimal code because
the form uses the [color_field](https://api.rubyonrails.org/v6.0.3.4/classes/ActionView/Helpers/FormHelper.html#method-i-color_field)
helper method, which generates the proper HTML to render.

When a broadcast message expires, it no longer displays in the user interface but is still listed in the
list of broadcast messages.

## Edit a broadcast message

If you need to make changes to a broadcast message, you can edit it.

To edit a broadcast message:

1. On the top bar, select **Menu > Admin**.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Messages**.
1. From the list of broadcast messages, select the edit button for the message.
1. After making the required changes, select **Update broadcast message**.

Expired messages can be made active again by changing their end date.

## Delete a broadcast message

If you no longer require a broadcast message, you can delete it.
You can delete a broadcast message while it's active.

To delete a broadcast message:

1. On the top bar, select **Menu > Admin**.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Messages**.
1. From the list of broadcast messages, select the delete button for the message.

When a broadcast message is deleted, it's removed from the list of broadcast messages.

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