Collaborate with Comments

Comments are how discussion happens on a Document without touching its content. They anchor to specific blocks, update in real time for everyone viewing, and are the source of nearly every notification Folio sends.

Who can comment

Anyone who can open a Document can comment on it — including people with read-only access.

Editing a Document and commenting on it are separate capabilities. A reviewer with read-only access to your account plan can still leave comments on it.

It also means commenting is unaffected by the edit lock. While someone else holds editing, you can still comment freely — which makes comments the natural way to contribute when a colleague is mid-edit.

Three ways to start a comment

Select text, then click the comment button. Highlighting text in the body surfaces the comment action, and the thread anchors to that text.
Node handle → Comment. In Editing mode, click a block’s node handle and choose Comment from its menu.
In Viewing mode, use the per-node comment button. There is no text-selection commenting in Viewing mode at all. Instead, hovering a block — or the empty gutter to its left — reveals a small circular comment button where the node handle would be. Click it to start a comment anchored to that block. This works on every block type.

The mode difference matters. If you’re in Viewing mode and try to highlight text to comment, nothing will happen and the feature will look broken. Use the hover button in the gutter instead, or switch to Editing mode.

Mentions inside comments

Typing @ inside a comment searches both people and records. The two have sharply different consequences, and this is the most important thing on the page.

Mentioning a person

Search returns only active users who hold a Folio Docs license.
They receive a notification.
They are automatically granted read-only access to the Document, so the notification’s link actually opens for them.

Mentioning a colleague in a comment shares the Document with them. Re-mentioning the same person does not duplicate the access, and the Document’s owner is skipped since they already have it.

Read-only access from a mention is exactly that — it does not let them edit the Document.

Mentioning a record

Inserts a reference only — a link out to that record from within your comment text.
It creates no relationship. The record does not appear in the Related & Tags drawer, is not linked to the Document, and nothing is shared.

This is the opposite of a Record Link in the document body, which does create a relationship. Same @ key, same search, very different result — the difference is whether you’re typing in the body or in a comment.

Mentioned names display the record’s or person’s current name, so renames stay accurate. If a reader lacks access to a referenced record, they see the name as it was stored rather than a broken link.

How threads anchor to content

A comment anchors to a specific block, and threads track that block through ordinary editing — typing around it, moving it, reformatting it.
Copied and pasted content never carries its comments. Pasting produces new blocks, so threads don’t come along.

Deleting a commented block deletes its thread. This is applied when the Document saves. If a thread matters, resolve it — or re-anchor it — rather than deleting the block it’s attached to.

Moving a thread to a different block

You can re-anchor a comment rather than deleting and rewriting it.

Click the anchor icon on a comment to enter Re-Anchor mode. Every block you hover over highlights in orange; click one and the comment moves to it.

The thread comes with it — every reply, and every resolve and reopen event. Use this when content moves during editing, or when a comment ends up attached to the wrong block, so the discussion is preserved rather than recreated.

Replying, resolving, and reopening

Reply within a thread to keep discussion together rather than starting a parallel one.
Resolve with the green check in the comment box’s upper-right corner.
Resolved threads are read-only. Attempting to reply returns “This thread is resolved. Reopen it to reply.” Reopen to continue. Editing and deleting existing comments is likewise blocked while a thread is resolved.
Resolve and reopen events are recorded in the thread, so its history shows who resolved it and when.
You can edit or delete only your own comments.

Deleting the first comment in a thread deletes the whole thread, including every reply beneath it — including replies written by other people. Deleting a reply removes only that reply. If a thread has useful discussion in it, resolve it rather than deleting the comment that started it.

Finding and navigating comments

Floating comment boxes appear beside their anchor blocks and scroll with the Document, showing while their block is on screen. Clicking one focuses it and centers the Document on its anchor.
The comments panel opens from the comments button and has an Open / All toggle — Open shows unresolved threads only, All includes resolved ones.
Comment pills. With the panel closed, a small dark-blue pill sits in the right margin beside each block that has an unresolved thread. Hovering shows how many comments it holds and who posted them; clicking opens the panel focused on that thread.
Copy Link to Comment produces a direct link to a specific thread — the way to point a colleague at one comment rather than the whole Document.
Copy Link to Block does the same for a block itself, without involving comments. It’s on the node handle menu, and is available in Documents on blocks that carry an anchor.
Unread means comments written by other people since you last opened comments on that Document. Opening the comments view marks them read.

Comments update in real time

Comment activity propagates to everyone viewing the Document immediately — new comments, replies, edits, deletions, and resolve/reopen all appear without a refresh. There is no setup required.

Together with View and Edit at the Same Time, this is what collaboration looks like in Folio: one person editing, everyone else reading and commenting live.

Notifications

Folio notifies you when something happens that involves you. All but the first trigger below originate in comments.

What triggers a notification

You’re @-mentioned in a Document body
You’re @-mentioned in a comment
Someone replies on a thread you started
Someone replies on a thread you’re a participant in
Someone resolves or reopens a thread you started
Someone resolves or reopens a thread you’re involved in
Someone comments on a Document you own — only when none of the above already covers you

Rules that shape what you actually receive

These rules limit how many notifications a single thread generates:

You are never notified about your own actions.
The most specific notification wins. If you’re mentioned in a reply on your own thread, you get the mention only — not a mention and a reply notification.
Repeat activity refreshes rather than stacks. While a notification is still unread, further activity on the same thread updates it in place instead of adding another.
Only active users with a Folio Docs license receive notifications.

Where they appear

The Notifications area on the Folio Docs home page, with a red dot when you have unread ones. This is the org-wide view across every Document you have access to.
The bell icon in the Document header, showing notifications for the Document you’re currently in.

It’s the same notification in two places. Opening it in one location marks it read in both. Both update in real time, with no page refresh.

Acting on a notification

A notification about being @-mentioned in a Document body opens the Document.
A notification about comment activity opens that specific comment within the Document — not just the Document, but the thread itself.

Managing them

Mark notifications read or unread, individually or several at once. Archive them to move them out of the list entirely; archived notifications live under View archive and can be pulled back out if you need them.

Notifications are kept for a period set by your admin — 6 months by default.

Folio notifications are in-app only. Folio deliberately does not use Salesforce Custom Notifications, so nothing arrives by push or email. Everything is in the two places above.

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