Hide pop-ups and tooltips in MSFS by disabling cockpit labels, assistance notifications, toolbar panels and other overlays on PC and console.
Microsoft Flight Simulator has no single switch for every pop-up. Disable instrument name and description tooltips in Accessibility, turn off notification and guidance items under Assistance Options, and close or auto-hide toolbar panels. HUD, traffic labels and add-on messages are separate overlays and must be disabled in their own settings.
How do I turn off cockpit tooltips?
- Open the simulator settings. Pause the flight and enter the general options or settings menu.
- Find Accessibility. Menu organisation differs between MSFS 2020 and MSFS 2024, so search for
tooltipif your version provides an options search. - Disable the cockpit labels. Set Instrument Name Tooltips and Instrument Description Tooltips to Off. Disable menu tooltips too if you do not want explanatory text over interface controls.
- Apply and save. Return to the cockpit and hold the pointer over a switch to confirm that its label no longer appears.
Do not change the Cockpit Interaction System merely to remove text. Lock and Legacy interaction modes alter how cockpit controls are selected and operated; they are not master tooltip switches.
How do I stop flying tips and notification pop-ups?
Flying advice and objective banners are controlled by the assistance settings rather than Accessibility. Open Assistance Options, expand the notifications category and disable unwanted items such as Flying Tips, Objectives, Software Tips, Piloting and Controls Notifications, and Aircraft System Notifications where those choices are available.
Use a custom assistance configuration if you want to suppress messages without changing aircraft handling. Selecting a preset afterwards can overwrite the individual notification choices. Route markers, taxi ribbons and landing gates belong to Navigation Aids; our guide explains how to disable route markers, taxi ribbons and landing guidance separately.
Which on-screen overlay is still showing?
| What appears | Where to disable it |
|---|---|
| Control name or description when hovering in the cockpit | Accessibility tooltip settings |
| Flying tip, objective or assistance message | Assistance Options and Notifications |
| Open map, checklist, ATC or other toolbar window | Close that panel; hiding the toolbar alone does not close an open window |
| Route boxes, taxi ribbon or landing path | Navigation Aids under Assistance Options |
| External-view gauges and flight data | External-camera HUD controls |
| Multiplayer aircraft names | Traffic or nameplate settings |
| Message generated by a particular aircraft | That aircraft’s tablet, avionics or configuration options |
For panels obstructing the view, use our instructions for closing, auto-hiding and customising the in-flight toolbar. A pinned panel remains visible even when the toolbar itself retracts.
If gauges, compass data or other flight information remain around the external view, that is the HUD rather than a tooltip. It has separate controls, covered in our MSFS 2020 external-camera HUD instructions.
Why do the pop-ups keep coming back?
The usual cause is an assistance preset being selected after individual notifications were disabled. Set the preset first, make the notification changes last, then apply them before leaving the menu.
Also check that you have changed the correct layer. Accessibility controls cockpit tooltips, Assistance Options controls instructional prompts, and toolbar settings control panels. An aircraft’s own master-caution message, avionics alert or tablet notification is not generated by the simulator’s tooltip system and may need to be acknowledged or configured inside that aircraft.
Some brief platform, connection, controller and loading-status messages have no individual suppression option. If all tooltip and assistance settings are off but an occasional system banner remains, it is not evidence that the settings failed.