How to Use Comments in Google Docs

For most people, Google applications are pretty intuitive to use. That’s what makes it so frustrating when a seemingly simple feature, like adding a comment in Google Docs, turns out to be anything but straightforward.

But fear not! In this article, I’ll guide you through everything you need to know about using comments in Google Docs.

Adding Comments

I primarily use comments in Google Docs to leave reminders for myself. Whether you want to use comments for personal notes, collaboration with colleagues, or any other reason, here’s how you can add comments to your document.

1. Select the text or image you want to comment on.
2. Click on the “Add a comment” icon in the toolbar. It looks like a plus sign (+) inside a speech bubble. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut: Command + Option + M for Mac or Ctrl + Alt + M for Windows.
3. Type your comment in the comment box that appears and click “Comment”.

Editing Comments

Oops! Made a typo in your last comment? Here’s how you can quickly edit it:

1. Next to the comment you want to edit, click on the “More options” icon. It looks like three vertically stacked dots (⋮).
2. Select “Edit”.
3. Make your changes and click “Save”.

Deleting Comments

If I had a penny for every time I asked a question in a comment, only to find the answer a second later… Well, I’d probably be retired on a beach somewhere. Anyway, here’s how you can delete a comment in Google Docs:

1. Next to the comment you want to delete, click on the “More options” icon.
2. Select “Delete”.
3. Confirm by clicking “Delete” again.

Note: Deleting the initial comment will remove the entire comment thread. If you or someone else in the discussion might need to access the comment later, it’s best to simply click the checkmark (✓) to mark the comment as resolved.

Viewing Comments

If you want to quickly browse through your comments, here’s how you can view a list of all comments in the document:

1. Click on the “Open comment history” icon above the toolbar. It looks like a speech bubble.
2. By default, a panel with all comments in the document will appear in reverse chronological order. To refine your comment list, click the down arrow next to “Comments” and choose from the preset filtering options: “For you”, “Open”, and “Resolved”.
3. Need to find a specific comment? Click on the “Filter comments by keyword” icon, which looks like a magnifying glass, and enter your search phrase.
4. Google Docs will display all comments (open and resolved) containing the search term. It will also highlight your search term directly in each comment, making it easier to review the results.
5. Want to quickly understand which part of the document a comment is linked to? Click on the comment, and Google Docs will automatically scroll to the relevant section of the document. Alternatively, each listed comment also displays “Selected text” at the top, giving you a preview of the originally highlighted text. If your text preview is truncated, click the down arrow next to “Selected text” to expand it.

Printing Comments in Google Docs

If you prefer reviewing physical copies of your document, along with its comments, you can’t do it directly from Google Docs. But there’s a simple workaround:

1. In the Google Docs toolbar, click on “File” > “Download” > “Microsoft Word (.docx)”.
2. Open the downloaded file in Microsoft Word (or Pages on a Mac), and you’ll notice that your comments have automatically been added to your Word document.
3. Click on “File” and then “Print”. By default, your comments will be included in your printout.

Replying to Comments

Contrary to what most comments in my Google Docs may suggest, comments aren’t just for reminders to your future self. They’re also handy for asynchronous discussions with others.

To reply directly to a comment:

1. Click on the comment thread.
2. Google Docs will suggest a few pre-written replies to choose from.
3. To enter your own response, click in the “Reply” text box, type your comment, and click “Reply”.

You can also tag other people, even if they don’t have a Google account, directly in the comments by typing “@” followed immediately by their name or email address.

Note: If the tagged person is not part of your Google Workspace account, you’ll need to enter their full email address and grant them access to your document.

Once you’ve replied, anyone tagged in the comment will receive an email notification with an overview of the entire comment thread. The recipient can even reply to or resolve the comment directly from the email, or click “Open” to access the comment directly in the document.

Note: This only works if the recipient has enabled Google Docs notifications.

Reacting to Comments

Another way to engage with a comment is by reacting with an emoji. Here’s how:

1. Hover over the comment itself.
2. Click on “Add emoji reaction”.
3. Choose an emoji from the emoji keyboard.
4. Your emoji reaction will appear directly below the comment.
5. If you want to do the same with someone else’s reaction, click on the emoji, and the reaction count will be updated accordingly. You can also hover over the emoji to see who reacted with it.

Assigning Tasks from Comments in Google Docs

Let’s say you want to ask your colleague to review a specific section of your document. You could tag them using the “@” symbol or assign the task directly to them to clearly indicate who is responsible for completing it. It’s a subtle difference, but in my experience, it gets the job done.

Here’s how to assign tasks directly from a comment:

1. Add your comment as you normally would and tag your colleague using the “@” symbol.
2. Google Docs will automatically add a checkbox below your comment indicating “Assigned to [name]”. Check the box and click “Assign”.

If someone has set their Google account status to “Out of office” and you have access to their calendar, Google Docs will notify you in the comment when you assign it to that person. This can be useful if you’re trying to assign an urgent task to your colleague who might be lounging on a beach somewhere.

Google Docs makes task delegation crystal clear by displaying the “Assigned to [name]” comment both directly above and below the comment thread.

To reassign the task to someone else, assign the task as you normally would in a follow-up comment, and Google Docs will automatically add a checkbox below your new comment indicating “Reassigned to [name]”. Check the box and click “Reassign”.

If the option to assign or reassign a task from a comment isn’t working for you, here are a few possible reasons:

• You didn’t initiate the comment thread: Only the person who started the comment thread can assign a task within that thread. If you want to assign a task, add an entirely new comment and assign it.
• You’re trying to assign a task in a follow-up comment: Even if you initiated the comment thread, Google Docs doesn’t allow you to assign tasks in follow-up comments if the initial comment was not assigned to someone.
• You’re editing an initial comment: Let’s say you added a comment but forgot to tag a responsible person. If you edit the comment to add your tag, Google Docs, for some reason, won’t add the task assignment functionality. It seems to only work if you assign the task in the initial thread; no editing allowed.

Sharing a Link to a Comment in Google Docs

Precision is key to effective communication, especially when working within a remote team. If I want my editor to review a specific comment, I’ll share a link that takes them directly to that comment. Here’s how:

1. Find the comment you want to share.
2. Click on the “More options” icon, which looks like three vertically stacked dots (⋮).
3. Select “Get link to this comment”.
4. The link will be copied to your clipboard, which you can then paste into your team’s chat app.

Hiding Comments in Google Docs

If you want to view your document without distractions, you can hide the comments:

1. Click on “View” in the Google Docs menu.
2. Deselect “Show comments”.

The comments won’t disappear completely, which is a good thing, or else you might forget about them altogether. Instead, they become speech bubble icons that you can click at any time to show the comments again.

If you click on any of the reduced comment icons, all comments will be revealed. It’s not possible to reveal only one comment at a time.

Resolving Comments

To mark a comment as resolved:

• Click the checkmark (✓) next to the comment or the initial comment in a thread.
• This will also automatically hide the entire comment thread.

Restoring Comments in Google Docs

If you’re like me and tend to click a little too often, Google Docs has got you covered with a handy comment reopening feature:

1. Click on “Open comment history”.
2. In the panel, click the down arrow next to “Comments” and select “Resolved” from the dropdown.
3. Find the comment you want to restore.
4. Click on the “More options” icon, represented by three vertically stacked dots (⋮).
5. Select “Reopen”.
6. Google Docs will once again make your comment visible directly in the document, with timestamped notes indicating when the comment was resolved and reopened.

Automating Google Docs

Google Docs has the ability to automatically notify others when they have been tagged in a comment or when they have access to a document.

With Zapier, you can connect Google Docs to your team’s preferred chat application, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, to keep them informed when a new Google document is created. Here are some examples to get you started.

I’m sure you found this article helpful in mastering comments in Google Docs. If you want to learn more about Google Sheets or Google Slides features, check out Crawlan.com for more information.

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