Use comments to collaborate, leave feedback, discuss changes, write reminders, and more.
Comments are a great way to bring your doc to life. They enable your team to easily collaborate, ask questions, and leave feedback - right within the relevant context of the doc. They can also be used as a way to leave notes or ideas for yourself. And comment notifications ensure that the right people are kept in the loop.
Within this article, you’ll find...
Add comments
You can add comments to the canvas and tables of a doc in a few different ways. But here are the simplest methods:
To comment on the canvas of the doc, highlight the text or object you want to comment on. A menu bar will appear. Select the comment icon (looks like speech bubble).
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To comment on a row of a table, select that row then click the comment icon (looks like speech bubble) in the right margin of your doc.
Alternatively, you can select either the row or a cell within it, then right-click, and choose Add comment from the options.
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A comment will appear in the right margin of the doc. This is where you can enter your text.
You can use the paper clip icon to attach files, if needed.
Use the @ symbol to tag any people in your comment - this will trigger a notification. Learn more about these notifications here.
Once ready, hit Send.
💡Tip: When highlighting or selecting objects in your doc, you’ll see a comment icon (speech bubble) appear on the right edge of your doc. You can simply click this icon to get started adding comments.
Reply to comments
To reply to an existing comment, simply click on the expanded comment. You’ll then see a thread open up beneath the original comment. Add your reply, and hit Send.
💡Tip: Want to leave a quick reaction instead of a written reply? Just click on the smiley face icon near the top of the comment and select your emoji.
View and hide comments
We’ve built a few features that allow you to control how comments are displayed in your doc.
Expand and collapse
When you want to see all the comments on a page, you can expand comments. This will reveal the comments on the right side of your doc.
And when you want to get back to work and reduce the visual noise, you can switch to collapsed comments. When collapsed, you won’t see the fully displayed comment, but you will still see yellow highlights in the page and yellow comment icons on the right edge of the page where comments are present.
To toggle between these two modes, simply click on the comment icon in the upper right corner of your doc (to the left of your avatar).
Hide comments
Sometimes collapsing comments may not be enough. Even when comments are collapsed, you’ll still see yellow highlights - or yellow flags on table cells - that indicate the presence of comments. But maybe you want to temporarily hide these flags, to make your doc appear cleaner and reduce distraction. To hide comments...
Click on the small down arrow to the right of the comment bubble, in the upper right corner of your doc
In the drop down menu, select Hide comments.
When you’re ready to reveal comments again, repeat this process and select Show comments.
Resolve comments
Resolving a comment thread is a good way to keep your doc tidy. When you’ve wrapped up a discussion or a comment is just no longer needed, simply click the small checkmark icon at the top of the comment thread. This will essentially archive the comment. It will be removed from the main comment feed, but you’ll still be able to revisit or re-open it if you ever need to.
Re-open resolved comments
Maybe you want to review all those previously resolved comments. Or maybe you accidentally resolved a comment and want to reopen it. To show resolved comments...
Click on the small down arrow to the right of the comment bubble, in the upper right corner of your doc
In the drop down menu, select Resolved comments.
You’ll then see a log of your resolved comments for that page. Simply click the Re-open button for the comments you want to re-open.
FAQs
How do I show resolved comments?
To show resolved comments, click on the small down arrow to the left of the comment menu (upper right corner of your doc). Then select Resolved comments from the dropdown.
How do notifications work for comments?
You’ll always receive an in-doc notification when someone replies to your comment or tags you in a comment. You may also receive an email notification, but this depends on your email notification preferences.
By default, doc owners will receive notifications for all comments in their doc - even if they were not tagged. But we’ve built tools to help you fine tune your comment notifications preferences. To learn more about how notifications work for comments, check out this article.
Can I comment on a specific cell within a row?
Generally speaking, you can't leave a comment on a single cell. You can only comment on the entire row. The one exception to this is for cells in a canvas column. If you expand a canvas column cell, you can leave comments just as you would as if it were a full canvas.
Should I use comments to suggest changes to a doc?
We actually recommend using our suggest changes feature instead. Learn all about it here!
Who can comment in a doc?
By default, anyone with edit access or comment access to a doc can leave comments (for a refresher on sharing your doc and the different access levels, read here). But page locking may be used to further restrict commenting, even for those with edit or comment access.
Why can’t I add comments to a doc?
This is likely due to either your access level to the doc, page locking, or both. First, you need to have edit access or comment access to leave comments. But even if you do have the appropriate access, the doc owner may have restricted commenting on some or all pages via the locking settings. We suggest reaching out to the doc owner and asking them to make the necessary adjustments.
How do I edit or delete an existing comment?
To delete a comment, hover over the expanded comment, and select the three vertical dots near the top. Then select either Edit or Delete thread.
Can I copy a link to a specific comment or comment thread?
Yes! Simply find and expand the comment you want to link to, then click the three vertical dots near the top of the comment, then select copy link. Now the link has been copied to your clipboard.