Use comments & action items

To add comments to Microsoft Office files in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, change the file to a Google Docs file.

1. On your computer, open a document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
2. Highlight the text, images, cells, or slides you want to comment on.
3. To add a comment, in the toolbar, click Add comment .
4. Type your comment.
5. Click Comment.

1. On your computer, open a document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
2. In the top right, click Open comment history .
3. To close, click Open comment history again.

Tip: At the bottom of any comment window, you can also click Open all comments.

You can find comments and their location in a Google Sheet.

From a sheet tab

1. At the bottom of the sheet, point to the comment notification on a tab . 
2. In the window, click the cell name to see the comment and it’s location. 

Tip: To see all comments in the sheet, click See all comments.

From the comments panel 

1. In the top right, click Open comment history .
2. Click on the comment to see it’s location.

You can filter comments in Google Docs and Sheets. 

1. In a Doc or a Sheet, click Open comment history . 
2. On the left of the Comments window, click All to filter the comments by any of the following: 
   • All 
   • For you 
   • Open
   • Resolved
3. All comments in that category will appear in the window. 

You can filter comments by sheet in Google Sheets. 

1. In a Sheet, click Open comment history . 
2. On the right of the Comments window, click All Sheets , to change the filter to Current sheet .

1. On your computer, open a document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
2. On the comment you want to edit or delete, click More .
3. Click Edit or Delete.

To make your comment visible to someone, you can add them to the comment. They will receive an email notification with your comment.

Tip: If someone has set their status to “Out of office” and you have permission to view their calendar, you will get a notification in the comment as you add them. 

1. On your computer, open a document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
2. Insert and type a comment.
3. Anywhere in your comment, enter "@" and their name or email address. When the correct person is suggested, click their name.
4. Click Comment.

Note: If you add someone who doesn't have permission to see the file, you will be asked to share the file.

1. On your computer, open a document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
2. In the top right corner of the file, click Comments .
3. Click Notifications.
4. Choose when you want to receive notifications:

• All: Whenever any comments are made.
• Only yours: Whenever others reply to your comments or comments you are added to.
• None: Never receive emails about comments for that file.

Reply to comments in documents or presentations

1. On your computer, open a document or presentation.
2. Click the comment.
3. Click Reply and type your reply.
4. To save, click Reply.

Tip: In Google Docs, at the bottom of the text box, you can click on a Smart Reply.

Reply to comments in spreadsheets

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet.
2. On the sheet tab, click Add comment .
3. Click the comment you want to reply to.
4. Click Reply and type your reply.
5. To save, click Reply.

Tip: If someone has set their status to “Out of office” and you have permission to view their calendar, you get a notification in the comment as you reply to them.

1. On your computer, open a document, spreadsheet, or presentation.
2. Click the comment you want to close.
3. In the top corner of the comment, click Resolve.

To see a comment that you closed, click Comments at the top corner of the window. To reopen a closed comment, click Re-open in the top right corner of the comment.

1. On your computer, open a Google file.
2. Highlight the text, images, cells, or slides you want to comment on.
3. To add a comment, go to the toolbar and click Add comment .
4. Type your comment.
5. Somewhere in your comment, add the email address, with @ or + in front of it, of the person you want to assign it to.
6. Click the box next to "Assign to [name]."
7. Click Assign. The person you assigned the action item to will get an email.

Tip: If someone has set their status to “Out of office” and you have permission to view their calendar, you get a notification in the comment as you assign it to them.

1. On your computer, open a Google file.
2. Click the comment.
3. Click Reply.
4. Type your comment.
5. Somewhere in your comment, add the email address, with @ or + in front of it, of the person you want to reassign it to.
6. Click the box next to "Reassign to [name]."
7. Click Reassign. The person you assigned the action item to will get an email.

Suggested action items appear when you use actionable words.

1. On your computer, open a document in Google Docs.
2. As you type, if Google Docs detects an action item (for example, “AI: Jen to send a follow-up email” or “Todo: Alex to finish the presentation”), a suggested action item will appear.
   • To accept the suggestion, click Assign.
   • To ignore the suggestion, click Dismiss.
   • To edit the suggestion, click More   Edit.
   • To turn off suggestions, click Tools Preferences and uncheck "Suggest action items."

   For action items to be suggested, the text must:

   • Mention someone’s name or email.
   • Mention someone with access to the file.

1. On your computer, open a Google file.
2. In the top right corner of the comment, click Done .

1. On your computer, open the Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides home screen or Google Drive.
2. In the top right corner of a document, click the number. If you don’t see a number, you don’t have any follow-ups for that document.
3. You can see the number of open:
   • Action items
   • Suggestions
4. To go to the first action item or suggestion, click an option from the list.
5. To close the menu, click the number.

You can select a comment and use keyboard shortcuts to:

• Navigate between comments.
• Reply to comments.