diff --git a/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/Dashboard.jsx b/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/Dashboard.jsx
index cda9e1e44eb1a..08a1fe2b210bb 100644
--- a/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/Dashboard.jsx
+++ b/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/Dashboard.jsx
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const px = require('../modules/superset');
 const d3 = require('d3');
 const urlLib = require('url');
 const utils = require('../modules/utils');
+const { Alert } = require('react-bootstrap');
 
 import React from 'react';
 import { render } from 'react-dom';
@@ -33,6 +34,33 @@ export function getInitialState(dashboardData, context) {
   return state;
 }
 
+function unload() {
+  const message = 'You have unsaved changes.';
+  window.event.returnValue = message; // Gecko + IE
+  return message; // Gecko + Webkit, Safari, Chrome etc.
+}
+
+function onBeforeUnload(hasChanged) {
+  if (hasChanged) {
+    window.addEventListener('beforeunload', unload);
+  } else {
+    window.removeEventListener('beforeunload', unload);
+  }
+}
+
+function renderAlert() {
+  render(
+    <div className="container-fluid">
+      <Alert bsStyle="warning">
+        <strong>You have unsaved changes.</strong> Click the&nbsp;
+        <i className="fa fa-save" />&nbsp;
+        button on the top right to save your changes.
+      </Alert>
+    </div>,
+    document.getElementById('alert-container')
+  );
+}
+
 function initDashboardView(dashboard) {
   render(
     <Header dashboard={dashboard} />,
@@ -96,6 +124,14 @@ export function dashboardContainer(dashboard) {
       this.startPeriodicRender(0);
       this.bindResizeToWindowResize();
     },
+    onChange() {
+      onBeforeUnload(true);
+      renderAlert();
+    },
+    onSave() {
+      onBeforeUnload(false);
+      $('#alert-container').html('');
+    },
     loadPreSelectFilters() {
       try {
         const filters = JSON.parse(px.getParam('preselect_filters') || '{}');
diff --git a/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/components/Controls.jsx b/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/components/Controls.jsx
index b4cf96616c309..d158587e469dd 100644
--- a/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/components/Controls.jsx
+++ b/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/components/Controls.jsx
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ class Controls extends React.PureComponent {
         data: JSON.stringify(data),
       },
       success() {
+        dashboard.onSave();
         showModal({
           title: 'Success',
           body: 'This dashboard was saved successfully.',
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ class Controls extends React.PureComponent {
   }
   changeCss(css) {
     this.setState({ css });
+    this.props.dashboard.onChange();
   }
   render() {
     const dashboard = this.props.dashboard;
diff --git a/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/components/GridLayout.jsx b/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/components/GridLayout.jsx
index ac090978b0539..e2a118c6da1a0 100644
--- a/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/components/GridLayout.jsx
+++ b/superset/assets/javascripts/dashboard/components/GridLayout.jsx
@@ -48,10 +48,12 @@ class GridLayout extends React.Component {
     if (oldItem.w !== newItem.w || oldItem.h !== newItem.h) {
       this.setState({ layout }, () => newSlice.resize());
     }
+    this.props.dashboard.onChange();
   }
 
   onDragStop(layout) {
     this.setState({ layout });
+    this.props.dashboard.onChange();
   }
 
   removeSlice(sliceId) {
@@ -64,6 +66,7 @@ class GridLayout extends React.Component {
         return slice.slice_id !== sliceId;
       }),
     });
+    this.props.dashboard.onChange();
   }
 
   serialize() {