Members and Teams can collaborate, @mention, share, and assign actions using Comments associated with records or specific fields within a record.

Our main objective when designing SmartSuite's comment feature was to support and encourage discussion directly where the content (record) is being worked on. Stand-alone collaboration tools are great, but they typically require pivoting between the system where the work is being done and the system where the conversation about the work being done is occurring.

This common "system gap" makes it easy to lose sight of actions resulting from collaborative discussions. Comments in SmartSuite can be assigned and tracked until resolution, and real time notifications help members stay informed of actions.

Open the Comment panel within a record to start a new conversation. Just click on the chat icon, which displays the number of open comments associated with each record.

NOTE: You must have Viewer permissions in order to start or join a conversation.

Keep conversations going by clicking on a comment to reply directly.

However, you can't create nested comment threads by replying to a reply. To keep things simple, we keep messages on the same level – right under the original comment.

Your comments are not carved in stone!

SmartSuite allows you to edit and delete them, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

Comments have built-in status controls to help track conversation threads. Easily view comments by status - Open, All, Assigned, and Resolved.

Open comments are listed by default when you open a record.

Open Status

Open is the default state for comments. Often in the course of work, discussion occurs before clear actions or decisions emerge. Should we do this? Should we do that? What about this? Comments can remain in an Open state indefinitely, or they can be marked as Resolved to formally acknowledge the discussion points are closed or actions within the comment thread are complete.

Assigned Status

Comments can be formally Assigned to members. See this article on Assigned Comments to review best practices. Assigned comments typically represent an action or task to be completed.

Resolved Status

Any comment can be marked as Resolved to inform team members when discussion points are closed or assigned items are complete.

Mark comments as Resolved to keep track of items that have been completed and to stay on top of what's most important.

Note: Only the member who created the comment or the assignee can resolve a comment.

Resolved comments can be Reopened as needed.

SmartSuite will let you know about changes in comments you care about. You'll be notified when someone @mentions you, assigns a comment to you, or replies to your comment. Also, if you're following a record, changes in comments will trigger alerts that pop into your notifications panel.

Clicking an item in your Notification Center takes you directly to the record and opens the comment panel for quick access.

@Mentions ensure comments show up in other team members' notifications, and images can be added to enrich conversations.

Express sentiment or acknowledge content with reactions in the record comment panel.

(We don't know why changing a priority level makes someone angry...embrace change, people! It's just work!)

Deep links to all comments can be generated and shared to invite others to join the discussion or for reference in other communications. Sharing links can help elevate focus on open items, keep teams organized, and maintain clear priorities.