Place a comment in a workspace, on a sheet, or on a specific row in a sheet to foster conversation with resources and stakeholders.
Permissions and sharing levels you need to interact with comments
As long as you have access to the sheet, you’ll be able to view or print comments.
You’ll need additional permission levels for other actions, though:
- Create or reply to a comment: Owner, Admin, or Editor access to the sheet
- Edit or delete a comment: You can delete the comment you created, but only sheet Owners and Admins can delete any comment or comment thread
Interact with comments in Smartsheet
To add or access comments, go to the Conversations pane.
How you open the Conversations pane will depend on where in Smartsheet you want to use comments.
| To access comments from here | Do this |
|---|---|
| A row in grid view | In the left column, select the Comments icon. |
| A card in card view |
|
| A sheet |
In the right-hand bar, select the Conversations button. |
| A workspace |
In the upper-right area of the workspace, select the Add a comment or view a summary list of comments icon. |
| On mobile |
See the following articles for information on comments in the mobile apps: |
> Comments.Create a new comment or reply to a comment
Once you’re in the Conversations pane in a sheet or report, or Comments form in a workspace, you can do the following tasks:
- Add a comment
- In the comment box, type your comment; then, select Post comment.
- Reply to an existing comment
- In the comment where you want to reply, select Reply (or Add reply in workspaces).
- Select Post comment (or press Enter or Return).
You can change the Enter key behavior. To do this, at the bottom of the Conversations pane, select the Choose Enter key behavior icon. Then choose the behavior you want to happen when you press the Enter key in the comment box: Press Enter to post a comment, or Press Enter for a new line.
How comments are displayed
Comments are displayed in the Comments window in chronological order based on the date they were created or replied to:
- The most recent comment will appear at the bottom of the Conversations pane or Comments form.
- Replying to a comment will bring the comment and its replies (the thread) to the top of the pane or form.
- Replies within a thread will be displayed starting with the oldest reply and ending with the most recent; that is, the most recent reply will appear at the end of the thread.
- Rows with new comments will have a new comment notification.
- You can view comments in the Conversations pane by following:
- Row: Comments in a single row
- Sheet: Sheet-level comments
- All: Row-level and sheet-level comments
- Unread: Comments you haven’t read yet
When viewing workspace comments, in the Comments form, use the Collapse all or Expand all buttons to hide or find comments, respectively.
Tag people in comments with an @ sign
To tag someone in a comment, type @<user’s email address>.
When you tag them, they'll receive a notification with a link to the comment so they can quickly find it and respond.
How a person receives the notification will depend on their own notification settings. Want to know more about notification settings? Check out the Configure How You Receive Notifications from Smartsheet help article.
When you @mention someone who isn’t shared to the sheet
You’ll be prompted to share the sheet, and give appropriate permissions to them so that they can have access to the comment. Note that you’ll only receive this prompt if you have Owner, Admin, or Editor - Can share access to the sheet.
See unread comments in a conversation
Rows with new comments are marked with a red dot (
).
To view comments on the row and clear the notification
- Go to the Conversations pane.
- Select the Unread tab.
- To mark a comment as read and remove the comment indicator from the row, select
.
Apply other actions to a comment
In the Conversations pane in a sheet or report, you can edit, delete, print, or email a comment. You can also follow or unfollow a comment thread.
To apply comment actions in sheets or reports
- Hover over a comment, and select
.
- Select a command from the list.
- Edit comment: Modify your comment
- Email comment: Send a comment via email
- Print comment: Print a copy of the comment thread, or save the comment thread as a PDF file
- Delete comment: Remove the comment you added
- Follow thread: Subscribe to a comment thread
If you’re already subscribed to a comment thread, the option you’ll see is Unfollow thread.
Apply comment actions in workspaces
The comment actions in workspaces are slightly different:
- Open the Comments form.
- In the comment, select the dropdown icon.
- Choose from any of these commands:
- Email comment
- Print comment
- Edit comment
- Delete comment
- Email thread
- Print thread
Attach files to comments
To provide more context to a comment, you can include an attachment with it.
To add an attachment
In the lower-right area of the comment box, select the Attachments icon.
You can attach files uploaded from your computer, links to websites, or files stored in Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, Evernote, or Egnyte. Need more information about attaching files from an online resource? Read the Attach a File or Link From an Online Resource help article.
The file size limit depends on your user type. Not sure of the file size limit for the attachment you want to upload? Check out the Attach Files Stored on Your Computer to a Sheet help article.
To remove an attachment
- Go to the Conversations pane of a row.
- Hover over the comment that includes the attachment, and select
. - Select Edit comment.
- Hover over the attachment, and select
.
- In the dialog that appears, select Delete.
- To save the change, select Save.