How to Use Guidance and Tooltips

Last updated 27 July 2026

How to Use Guidance and Tooltips

Backstage includes a built-in guidance layer that marks windows, dock tabs, headers, and key controls with contextual hints. Two independent toolbar toggles control what you see: the Guide toggle for pulsing guidance badges, and the Tooltips toggle for standard hover tooltips.

Guide vs Tooltips — what each toggle controls

This is the most common point of confusion. The two toggles are independent:

Toggle

Icon

What it controls

Guide

"i" info badge (blue when on, grey when off)

Pulsing "i" guidance markers on headers, dock tabs, window title bars, and "+" create buttons. Hovering a marker shows a curated hint.

Tooltips

Speech bubble (blue when on, grey when off)

Standard hover tooltips on every control, button, and field throughout the UI.

  • Turning Tooltips off hides standard hover text but leaves the guidance "i" markers and their hover hints visible (if the Guide is on).

  • Turning the Guide off hides the pulsing markers and their curated hints but leaves standard tooltips intact (if Tooltips is on).

  • Both settings are saved per user and persist across sessions.

  • Both default to on in a fresh installation.

Before you start

  • Backstage is running with a project loaded (guidance works on empty projects too, but the markers are more useful with scene objects present)
  • You can see the main toolbar across the top of the Backstage window

Steps

1. Locate the Guide and Tooltips toggles

Look at the right side of the main toolbar (the icon row at the very top of the Backstage window). Two small icons sit next to the Font Size dropdown:

  • The "i" info badge icon is the Guide toggle.

  • The speech bubble icon immediately to its right is the Tooltips toggle.

Both icons appear blue (the UI accent color) when enabled and grey when disabled.

2. Toggle guidance markers on or off

Click the "i" icon to turn guidance on or off. When guidance is enabled:

  • Pulsing "i" badges appear on collapsing headers, dock tabs, and window title bars throughout the UI.

  • Pulsing hints appear on "+" create buttons (e.g. in the Scene Objects panel, Sequencer, or Assets list) when a category is empty, guiding you on what to do first.

  • All guidance elements share a synchronized breathing animation in the UI accent color.

Hover any pulsing "i" badge to see its curated tooltip — a styled panel with an accent border describing what that section or button does and when you would use it.

3. Toggle standard tooltips on or off

Click the speech bubble icon to turn standard tooltips on or off. When tooltips are enabled, hovering any control, button, slider, or field shows a styled tooltip describing its function.

The speech bubble icon's own tooltip ("Tooltips: On/Off") always appears on hover, even when tooltips are turned off. This ensures you can always find the toggle to turn tooltips back on.

4. Understand what the guidance badges cover

Guidance text appears in three places:

  • Window title bars and dock tabs — hover the tab or title bar of any window (Inspector, Scene Objects, Outputs, etc.) to see a description of that window's purpose.

  • Collapsing headers — hover any collapsing section header (e.g. "Blending", "Projection Setup", "Properties") to see what that section controls.

  • "+" create buttons — when a list or panel is empty (no scene objects, no sequences, no assets of a type), the "+" button pulses with a hint explaining what it creates and the typical next steps.

Controls explained

Control

Description

Values / Behavior

Guide toggle ("i" icon)

Enables or disables all pulsing guidance markers and their curated hover hints.

On (blue) / Off (grey). Default: On.

Tooltips toggle (speech bubble icon)

Enables or disables all standard hover tooltips on controls, buttons, and fields.

On (blue) / Off (grey). Default: On.

Common Mistakes

  • "I turned off Tooltips but the pulsing 'i' badges are still there." — The Guide and Tooltips are independent toggles. To hide the pulsing badges, click the "i" icon (the Guide toggle), not the speech bubble. The speech bubble only controls standard hover tooltips.

  • "I turned everything off and now I cannot find how to turn it back on." — The Tooltips toggle's own hover text always shows, even when tooltips are off. Hover the grey speech bubble icon to confirm which toggle it is, then click it.

  • "Guidance hints show on some windows but not others." — Guidance text is authored per window. Not every window or header has curated guidance yet. The system continues to grow as more text is authored.

Tips

  • Use the Guide when onboarding a new operator or exploring an unfamiliar window. Turn it off once you are comfortable — the pulsing markers can be distracting during a live show.

  • The Guide and Tooltips settings are saved per user. If multiple operators share a server, each gets their own preference through their user config.

  • Guidance badges on "+" buttons pulse only when the associated list is empty. Once you add your first object, the pulse stops and the badge becomes a static reference you can still hover.

  • Both toggles sit in the main toolbar, not in Settings. There is no Settings window entry for these — the toolbar icons are the only controls.