The busy indicator informs the user about an ongoing operation. It can be displayed with or without text next to it.

Do

• Avoid showing multiple busy indicators at the same time.
• Use the busy indicator when the ongoing operation is relevant to a specific control among other controls on the screen.

Don’t

• Don’t display the busy indicator if the operation takes less than one second.
• Don’t use the busy indicator if you need to block the user from doing another activity. In this case, use the Busy dialog box.
• Don’t change the mouse cursor to indicate the ongoing operation.
• Don’t use a custom progress indicator icon.