Comments and action items

A comment asks a question or assigns a task without touching the text. Resolve it when it is done, never delete it.

Comment or edit?

Before you change someone else’s document, ask: is this my call?

You want to Do this
Ask why something is written that way Comment
Point out a fact that needs checking Comment, and @-mention the person who knows
Fix a typo in a doc you co-own Edit directly
Rewrite a paragraph in someone else’s doc Suggest (lesson 5)
Hand a task to a specific person Comment and assign it

Comments live beside the text. They do not change it, and they survive until someone resolves them.

Three tools, from lightest to heaviest.

Three rising steps: Comment asks a question or assigns a task and leaves the text untouched; Suggest proposes a change that the owner accepts or rejects; Edit changes the text now and is for your own document or a typo
Comments ask, suggestions propose, edits decide. Choose the lightest one that gets the job done.

Writing a useful comment

A comment is read by a busy person on a phone. Make it easy to act on:

  • Select the exact words the comment is about, not the whole paragraph.
  • Say what you want, not just what is wrong. “Can we say 30 days instead of ‘soon’?” beats “vague”.
  • Mention a person with @ and their name when you need them specifically. They get a notification and the comment appears in their task list.
  • One topic per comment. Two questions in one comment get one answer.

A comment that is easy to act on looks like this.

A refund policy document with the phrase soon after purchase highlighted and a comment card beside it from Ana Ruiz asking whether to say 30 days instead of soon, mentioning Ben Ortiz with Assign to Ben Ortiz ticked, a Comment button and a Resolve tick, with four numbered habits listed: select the exact words, say what you want, mention and assign, resolve when done
Exact words selected, a specific ask, the right person mentioned and assigned, and resolved rather than deleted when done.

Assigning action items

When you @-mention someone, Docs offers to assign the comment to them. An assigned comment is a task: it shows up for that person until they mark it done. Use this for “please add the pricing” or “confirm this date”, and nothing else; assigning a vague remark just creates noise.

Resolve, do not delete

When a comment has been dealt with, resolve it. The comment disappears from the margin but stays in the comment history, so anyone can later see why a change was made. Deleting a comment removes that record. Only delete something posted by mistake.

Try it now

Open a shared document. Select one specific phrase and add a comment that asks a clear question, mentioning the person who can answer. If it is a real task, assign it. Later, when the question is answered, resolve the comment rather than deleting it.

Remember: comments ask, suggestions propose, edits decide. Choose the lightest one that gets the job done.

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