Configuring Alarm Tooltips with Remedy Text in TIA Portal WinCC

A well-built operator screen never leaves the operator guessing. Every alarm row that flashes on a SIMATIC HMI panel should communicate three things: what happened, where it happened, and what to do about it. TIA Portal covers the first two through the standard alarm text fields (alarm class, ID, message text, trigger tag, area). The third one - the remedy or operator instruction - is what most engineers store in the alarm record's Info text / Tooltip property and surface on the screen through the Alarm View's tooltip toolbar button.

Overview: What an Alarm Tooltip Does on a SIMATIC Panel

A tooltip is a transient, contextual help popup that appears next to a control when the operator requests it. According to the general UI definition in Microsoft Learn - Tooltips for Windows apps, a tooltip is "a small popup that displays descriptive text when the user hovers or focuses on a control". On a SIMATIC panel the trigger is not a hover gesture - touch screens do not hover reliably and capacitive panels register false hover events when the cabinet is hot - but an explicit toolbar button on the Alarm View. The contract is identical: a popup that does not take the operator away from the alarm list.

Two of the most common operator pain points on a SIMATIC line disappear the moment every alarm has a meaningful remedy:

• Mean Time To Repair (MTTR): a remedy string of 100-150 characters attached to a motor-overload alarm cuts the diagnostic walk from 12 minutes to 90 seconds because the operator does not have to leave the screen, open the cabinet drawing, look up the wiring and re-trace the path to the overload relay.
• Escalation hygiene: when the remedy tells the operator that the issue is non-urgent ("check on next scheduled stop"), spurious calls to the on-call service desk drop by 30-50 %.

The Info text is stored per alarm per language, in the same multilingual text library that holds the message text and the area designation. Runtime renders the popup at the moment the operator selects the row and presses the tooltip toolbar button; the popup closes on ESC or on a soft-key right of the dialog.

Prerequisites

• Installed and licensed TIA Portal V17, V18 or V19 with the WinCC Comfort / Advanced or WinCC Professional option. The same workflow works in V16 with the property names from the screenshots below.
• A configured HMI device: a Comfort Panel TP700 / TP900 / TP1200, a Multi Panel or a PC Runtime target running WinCC Runtime Advanced or WinCC Professional.
• A configured HMI connection to the SIMATIC S7-1200 / S7-1500 / ET 200 CPU that raises the alarms. For the discrete alarm path tested here, the connection is a standard S7 connection with full PUT/GET rights or an HMI-optimized connection for a 1500 CPU.
• Configured alarm classes (Errors, Warnings, System, Operator Information). The remedy text is independent of class but only meaningful when classes are consistent across the project.
• For Comfort Panels the firmware version should be V16.0 or later for the property names from the screenshots to match exactly. V14.0.0.0 supports the same workflow; only the screenshot labels differ.
• For testing you will also need either PLCSIM (S7-1200 / S7-1500) or a real PLC so the alarm trigger tag can be forced to the active state.

Alarm Architecture in TIA Portal: Where the Remedy Lives

The alarm tooltip is not a global Runtime setting; it is a per-alarm string stored on the HMI device. Open the HMI device in the project tree and expand HMI alarms. You will see three folders that can carry tooltip text:

• Discrete alarms - bit-triggered alarms, raised by setting a single boolean tag. The tooltip is stored on the alarm's Properties > Info text entry.
• Analog alarms - limit-triggered alarms, raised by crossing a configured threshold on an analog tag. The tooltip is on the same Info text property and is independent for every configured limit.
• Controller-level alarms - alarms raised by the PLC program via the ALARM_S, ALARM_SQ, NOTIFY_8P, ALARM_DQ or ALARM_8P instructions. The tooltip is supplied as the ASSOC_INFO input parameter of the alarm FB and is pulled into the HMI project at the next compile.

On older Comfort firmware and on Basic Panels the property may show as ToolTipText or Infotext depending on the installed language pack. The storage location is identical. The screenshot of the discrete alarm editor below shows the relevant inspector pane; the analog alarm editor has the same field at the same location.

Two system-defined alarm groups - System events and HMI system diagnostics - are read-only and cannot carry user-defined tooltip text. For those, the only remedy option is to acknowledge the operator to a separate manual screen that you maintain inside the project.

Step-by-Step: Configuring the Tooltip on a Discrete Alarm

1. In the project tree, expand HMI device > HMI alarms > Discrete alarms.
2. Click Add new (or open the existing alarm record you want to document).
3. In the inspector pane (right-hand side) switch to the Properties tab.
4. Locate the Info text field under the Texts group. This is the field the Runtime reads as the tooltip body.
5. Enter the remedy string, e.g. "E-Stop chain interrupted. Verify S1, S2 and the door interlock. Reset the safety relay K1 only after all three contacts show 24 V."
6. For multi-line tooltips use line breaks. In TIA Portal you can paste CRLF line breaks from a Notepad string, or you can use \n in scripts that write the Info text at runtime.
7. Select the matching Alarm class and Trigger tag (e.g. %DB100.DBX0.0 for a discrete alarm wired to a marker bit on an S7-1500).
8. Set the Trigger address directly to a PLC bit if you do not need a marker - the HMI polls the address on the configured acquisition cycle (default 250 ms).
9. Compile the HMI station: right-click the HMI device > Compile > Software (all).
10. Download to the panel or to PLCSIM / Runtime simulation.

Step-by-Step: Configuring the Tooltip on an Analog Alarm

1. Expand HMI alarms > Analog alarms and open the analog alarm record.
2. Set the Trigger tag (e.g. "Motor_Temperature" as REAL, in °C).
3. Configure the Limit, Mode (Upper limit / Lower limit / Range) and Dead band. The dead band prevents alarm flapping when the value oscillates around the limit.
4. Open the Info text field and write the remedy, for instance: "Temperature above 85 °C. Reduce load via VFD. If persistent, check cooling fan F1 and clean air filter. Do not exceed 95 °C or bearing damage will follow."
5. If the project uses a text library (recommended for translation), reference a library entry instead of typing the string in the field. This enables the alarm to switch language automatically when the operator changes the Runtime language.
6. Compile and download.

Analog alarms can hold separate remedy strings for the high-side and the low-side trigger: open the limit list (three-dot button in the inspector) and add a second Limit entry with its own Info text. This is the standard way to write a different remedy for "temperature too high" and "temperature too low" without duplicating the alarm record.

Enabling the Tooltip Button in the Alarm View

Writing the Info text is only half the work. The Runtime will only surface the tooltip if the Alarm View's toolbar contains the Tooltip button. To enable it:

1. Open the screen that hosts the Alarm View (typically Overview or Alarms screen).
2. Select the Alarm View object.
3. In the inspector open Properties > Toolbar.
4. Tick the Tooltip element. The corresponding button is rendered as a list icon with a red row and a small question mark in the right bottom corner - this matches the standard SIMATIC icon set and is identical on Comfort, Advanced and Professional Runtime.
5. Adjust the toolbar order if necessary so that the tooltip button is grouped with Acknowledge and Reset. The default ordering is acceptable for most projects.
6. Set the operator authorization for the tooltip action. By default the tooltip button is set to no authorization required, which is the desired behaviour: every operator can read help text, no operator can be locked out of help by a forgotten password.
7. Repeat the change for every Alarm View in the project. A project that has separate alarm views for Errors, Warnings and Information needs the tooltip button enabled in each one.

In Runtime the operator taps the alarm row, presses the Tooltip button, and the Info text pops up next to the row. Pressing ESC or the soft-key on the right of the popup closes the tooltip and returns the operator to the alarm list.

Increasing the Tooltip Font Size in Runtime

The second half of the original question is: how do you make the tooltip text larger once it is on screen? The answer is that the tooltip uses the same font as every other Runtime object - the Default font defined under Runtime settings > Language & font. There is no per-tooltip font override in WinCC Comfort or WinCC Advanced.

1. Open the project tree and select the HMI device.
2. Open Runtime settings > Language & font.
3. In the Default font column pick a font and size (e.g. Arial, 14 pt) that is legible at arm's length on the installed panel.
4. Compile the HMI device (right-click > Compile > Software (all)).
5. Download to the panel or to RT simulation.

The change applies immediately to the Alarm View rows, the tooltip popup, the message boxes and every text field bound to the default font. If you want the alarm rows themselves to stay small but only the tooltip to be larger, the only supported path is to upgrade to WinCC Professional and bind the tooltip to a custom text style. The Comfort / Advanced Runtime renders the tooltip with the same single font style as the rest of the Alarm View.

Multi-Language Tooltip Text

The remedy string is multilingual by design. Add languages to the project under Project tree > Languages & resources > Project languages, then switch the editor into the secondary language (e.g. German) using the language drop-down at the bottom of the inspector. The Info text field will accept a different string for every active language. The Runtime will pick the correct string automatically based on the operator's selected UI language - this is the same mechanism used for the alarm message text itself.

If the Info text needs to embed dynamic values (e.g. the actual setpoint or the actual current limit), use a text list with output as a string and bind the text list to the Info text via an HMI tag. WinCC Comfort / Advanced supports 3000 multilingual text list entries, which is more than enough for a typical remedy library covering 500 alarms in five languages.

For projects that ship globally, the recommended translation workflow is:

1. Author the Info text in the project reference language (typically English).
2. Export the project's text lists to .xlsx via Languages & resources > Export project texts.
3. Send the .xlsx to the translation team - it contains the Info text column, the message text column, and the area column.
4. Re-import the translated .xlsx via Languages & resources > Import project texts.
5. Compile and download.

Performance, Memory and String Limits

A project with 5000 discrete alarms, each carrying the maximum remedy in 32 languages, will consume roughly 16 MB of HMI flash for tooltip strings alone. On a Comfort Panel this is rarely a problem because the panel has 512 MB to 4 GB of internal storage depending on the type. On a WinCC Runtime Advanced PC running off a 32 GB SSD, the same project fits comfortably.

The performance overhead of rendering a tooltip is dominated by the screen-object redraw, not the string lookup. A TP700 with 100 active alarms will still render the tooltip in under 50 ms because the string is pre-loaded into Runtime memory at compile time. PC Runtime is faster still because the rendering pipeline is software-accelerated.

Worked Example: Pump Overload Alarm with Remedy

Consider a pump line driven by a SIMATIC ET 200SP CPU. The overload relay is wired to a digital input that the HMI polls through the S7 connection. The required behavior is: any overload event on the pump must show an alarm row with a remedy that tells the operator how to clear it.

1. PLC side: map the overload contact to %I0.0 on the ET 200SP, then in the S7 program copy %I0.0 to a marker bit "Pump1_Overload" that the HMI will read.
2. HMI side: open HMI device > HMI alarms > Discrete alarms and add a new alarm.
3. Set Alarm text to "Pump 1 overload tripped".
4. Set Info text (the tooltip) to: "Check pump 1 motor current on HMI screen Diagnostics. If current > 12 A, reduce throughput valve V2. If current is normal, reset overload relay K1 on door D3. Investigate mechanical blockage if alarm re-triggers within 60 s."
5. Set Trigger tag to "Pump1_Overload", Trigger address to the same tag, Acquisition cycle to 250 ms.
6. Set Alarm class to Errors (preconfigured with red background and acknowledge requirement).
7. Compile the HMI device.
8. Open the Alarm View screen, ensure the Tooltip toolbar button is enabled.
9. Set the Default font under Runtime settings > Language & font to 14 pt Arial.
10. Download and test.

During the test, force "Pump1_Overload" to TRUE in PLCSIM. The alarm row appears in the Alarm View. Tap the tooltip button: the operator reads the 260-character remedy without leaving the alarm list, follows the steps, and the fault clears within minutes instead of hours.

Verification on the Panel or in RT Simulation

1. Start the WinCC Runtime simulation (RT) from TIA Portal: HMI device > right-click > Start Runtime. The RT loads the same compiled image the real panel will receive.
2. Trigger one of the configured alarms by setting the trigger tag to the active state in PLCSIM or by forcing a bit in the real S7 CPU.
3. The alarm row should appear in the Alarm View within one polling cycle (default 250 ms).
4. Tap the Tooltip toolbar button. The Info text you entered must appear in a popup adjacent to the alarm row.
5. Confirm the font size matches the Default font defined under Runtime settings > Language & font.
6. Switch the Runtime language (e.g. English > German) and repeat. The tooltip should switch to the German text without recompiling.
7. Repeat the test on the physical panel after a full HMI download. The panel's behaviour is identical to RT but a final pass on the real glass is mandatory because of the panel-specific touch calibration and the actual ambient lighting on the shop floor.

Troubleshooting Matrix

FAQ