Every major record type in Aha! Ideas includes a comments section. You can use it to create the perfect message by creating tables, adding attachments, and reacting with emojis. Comments are perfect for collaboration and keeping communication flowing. You can comment on any record in your Aha! Ideas account — you can even comment on images attached to Aha! Ideas records.
People who use your ideas portal can add comments to ideas too. Any portal user can comment on feedback that is visible to them to provide additional insight and start a dialogue with your product team.
Click any of the following links to skip ahead:
Comment user permissions
To interact with the comments section on a record type, you must have the following user permissions:
Viewer |
Reviewer |
Contributor |
Owner |
Administrator* |
|
View comments |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
Create comments |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
Add emoji reactions |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
Add a public portal comment to an idea |
X |
X |
X |
||
Add an internal comment to an idea |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
Edit another user's comment |
X |
*Administrators with account permissions
Comments overview
Aha! users with reviewer, contributor, and owner permissions can add a comment to any record in your Aha! Ideas account. These comments are only visible to other users in your Aha! account.
Idea comments
There are two types of comments that you can add to ideas: internal comments and portal comments.
Internal comments: Only Aha! users can add internal comments to ideas. These comments are only visible to other users in your Aha! account. They do not appear in your ideas portal.
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Portal comments: Your ideas portal users can add comments to ideas in your portal or respond to others' comments in threaded conversations. Aha! users can also add portal comments to ideas. These comments have different visibility than comments within your Aha! Ideas account.
Read our article about portal comments to learn more about who can create and view portal comments from your ideas portal.
Add a comment
To add the first comment on a record, click the Add comment button located in the Comments tab of a record. Use the toggle to choose between Portal comments and Internal comments. To add a comment to an existing thread, begin writing your comment in the text box at the bottom of the thread.
Customize your message using the toolbar. To learn more about editing text using the toolbar, check out our support article on the Aha! Ideas text editor.
Comments can be edited and deleted. To edit a comment, hover over the comment until the text box is highlighted. Click the text box to begin editing the comment. To delete a comment, click the Delete link in the comment header.
To directly reach out to a fellow Aha! Ideas user in a comment, you can type the @ key followed by the user’s name. This will send a notification to the user with your comment. You can also link to an Aha! Ideas record by typing the # key followed by the first few characters of the record.
Add an emoji reaction
Emoji reactions are used for a more visual and fun collaboration experience that encourages lightweight feedback.
To add an emoji reaction, click the Add emoji icon on a comment and choose an emoji. If another user has already added an emoji that you agree with, click that emoji to increase the reaction count. To see the names of users who reacted, hover over an emoji.
For example, you might add a trophy or a checkered flag to celebrate a new idea. Show gratitude for your team with a thumbs up or raised hands emoji. Or just add a simple smile emoji to indicate that you acknowledge and appreciate a comment from one of your colleagues.
Add attachments
To add an attachment to your comment, click the Attach files link and select the file you wish to attach. You can choose files on your local machine or select from one of our file storage integration options (Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive for Business).
If your Aha! account was created before February 1, 2023, you can also click Create mockup to add a customized mockup to your comments.
You can promote a comment attachment to be an idea attachment by clicking the star icon that appears in the upper-left corner of the attachment thumbnail image.
Add comments to images
Aha! Ideas helps you collaborate on images with the ability to comment on specific locations within image attachments (PNG, JPG, and GIF file types). Users can reply to these comments, keeping the conversations organized around specific points on the image.
To comment on an image:
Open an attachment and click the View and add comments icon located on the top of the image preview modal.
Click anywhere on the attachment to start a conversation — clicking on the image will add a numbered orange dot to the location of your comment. Add your first comment to start a conversation and click Save comment.
When the reason for your conversation has been addressed and/or sufficiently discussed, click the Resolve button located on the header of the conversation. When you resolve a conversation, the color of the numbered dot changes from orange to green. Comments are still accessible after a conversation has been resolved.
The count that appears on the View or add comments icon and the attachment preview icon indicates the number of unresolved conversations on your attachment.
If you created your Aha! account before February 1, 2023, you can also comment on mockups. The comments will remain on the attachment as changes are made to the mockup.
Add in-line comments to notes
Comments provide a clear and contextually relevant space for discussions, clarifications, suggestions, and revisions — enhancing collaboration and alignment among stakeholders. Add a comment in-line to weigh in on specific concepts within a note.
To create a new inline comment, highlight the text you want to comment on and click the comment icon that appears on the right side of the text editor. Your text will be highlighted and underlined in orange, the Comments side panel will appear, and you can start creating your comment. Click Save comment once you are done.
When your note is in full-screen mode, you can click >> to open the side panel at any time and view a note's existing comments.
Inline comments include almost everything in the Aha! text editor. Mention individual Aha! users in your account, insert tables to structure your thoughts, and even embed images or other media to make your comment more visual. Click Save comment once you are done.
Click Resolve to resolve your comment. Resolved comments disappear from the list of comments unless you choose to show them by checking the Show resolved checkbox at the top of the Comments sidebar. (You can hide them again by unchecking that box.) If you choose to show resolved comments, text highlighted and underlined in green will indicate a resolved comment, and you will see a collapsed list of resolved comments in the Comments sidebar. If you reply to a resolved comment, it will become unresolved again.
Through the More options button, you can also Copy a link to your comment — so you can directly reference it elsewhere — or Delete it.
Add in-line comments to whiteboards
Adding comments to your whiteboard can provide an avenue for team members and stakeholders to share their thoughts, provide feedback, and engage in thoughtful discussions — strengthening asynchronous collaboration. Add comments to individual objects to add feedback about something specific, or add comments to a general area of a whiteboard to weigh in on broader themes.
Select the Comment icon at the bottom of your screen and click anywhere on your whiteboard to start a conversation. This will add a numbered orange dot to the location of your comment. Use the text editor to type out your first comment to start a conversation and click Save comment. You can also add a comment to a specific object on your whiteboard by selecting the object and clicking the Comment icon in its toolbar.
Comments will appear in numbered order in the right sidebar of your whiteboard. You can turn a comment into a threaded conversation by replying to it.
When your conversation has been addressed or sufficiently discussed, click the Resolve button located on the header of the conversation. When a comment is resolved, the color of the numbered dot will change from orange to green.
View comments
Users accessing your whiteboard from guest accounts will not see or be able to add comments to your whiteboard.
Anyone with access to your whiteboard can view the comments that users have added to it. Reviewers with Edit access to your document can add and respond to comments. Guests with View and Comment access to your document can also add and respond to comments. Comments will appear in the sidebar on the right of your screen. It will be collapsed by default — but you can click the << icon to open it. If there are unresolved comments on your whiteboard, a Comment icon with an orange dot will show here as well.
All unresolved comments will appear in the sidebar. Check the box next to Show resolved in your Comments side panel to show all resolved comments.
Click a comment in the Comments sidebar to navigate to the area of it the whiteboard it is added to. Likewise, click an orange numbered dot on your whiteboard to navigate to its corresponding comment in the Comments sidebar.
More options
Comments are a great way to start a conversation — and sometimes they are worth sharing individually. The More options menu on each comment enables you to do a few useful actions:
Cut objects cuts the comment so it can be pasted elsewhere on your whiteboard.
Paste objects pastes a comment you have previously cut from another area of your whiteboard.
Copy link to object copies a directly link to your comment that you can share with someone. When they click it, it will direct them to the area of the whiteboard that where the comment is added.
Group objects groups comments when you have multiple comments selected.
Ungroup objects ungroups comments that have been previously grouped.
Lock will lock a comment to your whiteboard or an object so it cannot be moved.
Delete will remove a comment completely.
Manage comment notifications
Comment notifications work a little differently depending on what type of comment you leave.
When you add a comment, you are automatically added as a subscriber to the comment thread and a watcher on the record. As a subscriber, you will be notified of any comments that are made on the thread. To add or remove yourself as a subscriber, you can click the Subscribe / Unsubscribe button in the bottom corner of the comment thread. You can also add or remove yourself as a watcher. Notifications for subscribers can be further customized at Settings ⚙️ Personal Notification preferences.
When you @mention someone in a comment, the user you mention in the comment will receive a notification and become a subscriber on the comment thread.
If an administrator edits someone’s comment, notifications will be sent to users watching the record or subscribed to the comment stream.
When you add an emoji reaction to a comment, no notification is sent. Emoji reactions are also not logged in the history of a record.
Inline comment notifications work just like notifications throughout Aha! Ideas — if a user creates, is @mentioned, or interacts with an inline comment thread, they are notified about changes to that comment thread. If a user is a watcher on the record where comments are taking place, then they are notified about all changes to comments on that record.