# About local messages

Use local messages to provide ongoing information on the status of devices and processes.

For example, you might put a local message display object in your display to describe the status of a device whose condition cannot be shown graphically with complete accuracy. A hoist might have related local messages to say At top or At bottom as well as Lowering, Raising, and Stopped.

First, set up a file containing the local messages and their trigger values in the Local Messages editor. Then assign the file of messages to a local message display object. When you set up the local message display object, assign a tag or expression to the Value connection.

At run time, when a message’s trigger value matches the Value connection, the local message display object shows the associated message.

Tip: | Configure the Value connection at the data source to change to the trigger value that suits the particular message. For example, you might set up a message Motor running with the trigger value 10. Configure the data source to monitor the motor and, when the motor starts, set the Value connection to 10. The local message object on the display would then read Motor running until the Value connection changes. The local message display object always appears in the graphic display it’s placed in, whether or not there is a message to show. This is the key difference between local messages and information messages. The [INFORMATION] graphic display only opens when there are information messages to display (unless the operator opens it using a goto display button). When renaming any of your local message files, make sure you update any local objects that use that message file to the new name.

## See also

Create local messages

Create local message displays

How the local message display works at run time

Keywords: local message