Review mode and comments
Comment on text and keep comments beside the note until everyone who needs to confirm has pressed ✓.
Applies to Web · Mac · iPhone app · commenting and confirming require edit access
A comment is a conversation attached to specific text in a note. Turn on Review mode and comments float as cards in the right margin of the note instead of a side panel, so you can discuss the text right next to it. Each comment has a set of people who need to confirm it, and once they have all pressed ✓, the comment is archived automatically.
Before you start
- You need Can edit access to the note to comment and confirm. With View only access you can read comments but not add or confirm them.
- Whether review mode is on is remembered separately on each device.
Add a comment
- Select the text you want to comment on.
- Click the Comments button in the editor toolbar (Add comment — select text, then click).
- Write your comment and press Enter to post it. On wide-screen margin cards, use ⇧Enter for a new line and Esc to cancel. The narrow-screen comments panel has a single-line box: post with Enter (or the send button) and cancel with the Cancel button.
With review mode on, pressing ⌘⌥M (Ctrl+Alt+M on Windows) opens a new comment card on the selected text or on the paragraph where your cursor is. For a task line, use Comment on this item (⌘⌥M) in the item actions to comment on the whole line.
Turn review mode on or off
- Click the Review mode button in the editor toolbar or press ⌘⌥M. If your cursor is in the text when you turn it on, a comment card opens right there.
- If the editing area is at least 900px wide, cards appear in the right margin. On narrower screens, including phones, the comments side panel opens instead.
- Per-person ✓ confirmations work only on the margin cards on wide screens. The check button in the narrow comments panel means resolve, not confirm — pressing it resolves the comment right away for everyone, without waiting for confirmations.
- On wide screens, cards stay beside the text while any comment is still waiting for confirmation, and review mode can’t be turned off until then.
What you can do on a card
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Confirm | Click your own check circle (✓) on the card. Click it again for Undo my check. |
| Confirm with a short note | Check with a note, or hold ⌥ and click ✓. |
| Reply | Reply. Press ⌘Enter to send the reply and confirm at the same time. |
| Edit, archive or delete | Edit, Keep as resolved or Delete comment in the card menu. Deleting also removes replies and confirmations. |
| Go to the next comment waiting for you | Next beside the waiting count, or ⌥↓ / ⌥↑. |
| See archived comments | Show archived comments |
| Clean up in bulk | Comment tools → Remove all my comments, Remove all comments I archived. Review mode itself is turned off with the separate × button, which appears once no comments are waiting. |
In the comments side panel you can use Reply…, Mark as resolved, Reopen, Delete comment (click twice to delete) and Show in document.
Who needs to confirm
| Where the comment is | Who needs to confirm |
|---|---|
| Inside a task line handed off to someone | Only that task’s assignee |
| Anywhere else in the note | Everyone on the note with Can edit access, except View only members and the comment’s author |
| A note only you use | You, the author |
When you post a comment, the people who need to confirm get a notification asking them to check it. When the last of them confirms and the comment is archived, you get an “Everyone checked” notification.