Give feedback with comments and mentions
Leave feedback on the exact place it belongs, pull in the right person with a mention, and keep track of what is still open.
Feedback loses half its meaning the moment it floats free of the thing it is about. A comment in ALLO lives on the work: pinned to the exact sticky note, image, or page it refers to, with a reply thread and a resolved state, so weeks later you can still see what was decided and why.
A comment here is anchored feedback, and the anchor is what makes it reviewable later: every thread also shows up in the Comments tab, so open questions stay findable instead of scattered. An @ pulls in the one person who has to act, and resolve or reopen tracks whether the issue is settled.
You can also mention ALLO in a comment for an AI reply; select Only me before sending if the conversation should be private. ALLO can also provide source-backed research or perform an explicit canvas action. See Use AI in canvas comments for the AI-specific workflow, privacy boundary, and credit behavior.
The short version
Put a comment on an object when the feedback is about that object, and on the page when it is about the whole section. Type @ to mention the one person who needs to act. Reply to keep a discussion in one thread, resolve it when it is done, and reopen it if the issue comes back. Comments are the durable record; use chat and calls for the live conversation and write the decision back into a comment when it lands.
Use ALLO in a comment
A comment can start an AI thread when the request belongs to the object or page where you place it. Type @, choose the structured ALLO mention, and write the request after it. Plain text that only looks like @ALLO stays a normal comment.
| Ask ALLO to... | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Explain, review, or compare | A reply in the same thread using the comment and canvas context. |
| Research a topic | Source cards with the reply when outside evidence is needed. Research-only requests stay in the thread. If you ask ALLO to put, add, or turn the research into the canvas, it creates concise, sourced post-it notes without requiring a note count or placement. |
| Create or edit canvas content | A supported note or edit only when you ask explicitly. Text edits require an editable text object attached to the comment. |
Page and non-text comments can still request an answer or a new supported note, but they are not editable text targets. Open verified website and image evidence from the comment's Sources control and modal. Visible replies may include search-image attachments, but author-only or private replies do not publish those attachments. Mark the conversation Only me before sending when the request and AI replies should be visible only to you; anything ALLO creates on the canvas remains visible to people who can access it. AI replies use credits and appear as AI comment in credit history, separately from AI chat. See Use AI in canvas comments for the full privacy, attachment, credit, and canvas-action rules.
The 👀, 🧠, ✅, and ❌ that ALLO adds to an @ALLO request are system states, not human reactions.
- 👀: The credit check passed and the request is queued while ALLO prepares the canvas context.
- 🧠: The context is ready and ALLO is analyzing, researching, or creating.
- ✅: The reply is posted or the requested canvas action is complete.
- ❌: The work did not finish because of a credit, context, or processing error.
If you cancel the request, ALLO removes the in-progress emoji and never adds ✅.
Who can do what
Comment access governs adding, replying, and reacting. Signed-in members with comment access can also resolve or reopen a thread; guests can participate in the conversation but cannot manage its state.
| You can open the canvas and... | What you can do with comments |
|---|---|
| have view access only | Read every visible comment. You cannot add, reply, react, or resolve. |
| are a signed-in member with comment access | Add, reply, @mention, react, resolve or reopen a thread, and edit or delete your own comments. |
| have edit access | Everything comment access allows, plus editing the content the comment points to. |
| are a guest with comment access | Add, reply, @mention, and react. You cannot resolve, reopen, or delete a whole thread. |
| own the canvas or are a workspace admin | Delete threads and other people's comments. |
Three boundaries matter: with comment access, you can edit or delete your own comment; signed-in members with comment access can resolve or reopen a thread, but guests cannot; and deleting someone else's comment or a whole thread is reserved for the canvas owner or a workspace admin. If the comment tool is disabled, the cause is comment access, not a bug: the canvas is shared to you read-only, or guest access here does not include commenting.
Deleting a comment removes it from the canvas and Comments tab, but Activity keeps the original comment activity, including its full rendered text. Anyone who can view that Activity can still read the comment after deletion. If a version from before deletion is available, use Version History to restore it. This restores the canvas state, not just one comment, and can overwrite current work.
Put the comment where it belongs
Where the comment lives is the first decision you make. Each starting point below drops the thread in a different place, so pick the one that matches what the feedback is about.
| Start a comment from | Use it when |
|---|---|
| The Comment tool in the toolbar | You want to drop feedback on a specific spot or object. |
| The inline toolbar | You already have the object selected. |
| The element menu | You need the object's full menu. |
| Add comments in the page menu | The feedback is about the whole page. |
| The Comments tab in the collaboration side panel | You are reviewing or replying to existing threads. |
Object comments stay tied to the thing they point at, so "replace this screenshot with the latest export" only makes sense when the comment is on that screenshot; anchored comments also appear in the Comments tab and can be resolved, which a stray text box never will. Page comments attach to the section ("this page is ready for review", "fold this before the client sees it"), so they travel with the page and count when it is deleted.
In a real review, the canvas keeps the product visual, supporting files, comments, and decisions visible together.
Mentions and notifications
Type @ and pick the person who has to do something, not the whole room. A thread with eight names is a thread nobody owns. Mention the decision-maker in the comment that contains the ask, not three replies later. Guests can mention people too when guest commenting is on; who appears in the suggestion list and how team or whole-canvas mentions resolve depends on sharing and membership (Mention people and canvas collaborators covers the targets).
A comment reaches someone two different ways: an explicit @mention is the strong signal that puts the comment in the recipient's Home Mentions and their Inbox, while thread participation is the soft signal. A plain reply in a thread they are part of shows in their Inbox but not in Home Mentions. So if you actually need a specific person, @ them.
| Signal | Timing and conditions |
|---|---|
| Inbox and unread badge | Update first. |
| Mention email | Scheduled about one minute after the Inbox event, sent only per the recipient's notification settings. |
| Push and device notifications | Depend on settings, device permissions, quiet-time, and whether the canvas is still accessible to that person. |
Reply, resolve, and find threads
Reply inside the thread to keep a discussion connected; react when a thumbs-up would do. You can attach a supporting file by dropping it into the composer, but if the file needs visual review, put it on the canvas as an object and comment there. Edit your own comment to fix wording; if it captured a decision, resolve the thread instead of deleting it so the record survives.
Resolving collapses a thread to its latest comment, tucks earlier replies behind a N more comments disclosure, and stops new replies; reopen it from the thread header if the issue returns. Signed-in members with comment access can resolve and reopen a thread. Guests can keep talking but cannot change its state. To find feedback, use the lime unread bubbles, the slide rail flags on pages with unread activity, and the Comments tab, rather than panning for bubbles; opening a thread marks it read. You can drag a bubble off the work it covers (it stays clamped to the page), and use Copy comment link to send someone straight to a thread, but a comment link is a pointer, not a key, so the person still needs canvas access. If unsure, share the canvas first (private vs share links explains the difference).
Before you delete an object or page
Comments live on the thing they are attached to, so deleting that thing takes the discussion with it. ALLO does not let this happen quietly: deleting an object or page with comments shows a confirmation naming exactly how many comments and threads will go. When that warning appears, usually resolve the thread if the discussion is finished, copy the comment link or text into a task or decision log first, or fold the page instead of deleting it so the comments stay.
For the live conversation, use chat for coordination and calls to talk something through, but write any decision that matters tomorrow back into a comment or the canvas itself. Chat and calls are not the record.
Troubleshooting
- You cannot add a comment. It needs comment access. Check your role in Share; wait if the canvas is still loading; or note the canvas may be read-only because of the owning workspace's plan or billing, not your role. This turns off editing and commenting for everyone when that workspace is over its Free limit, over storage quota, or has an unpaid subscription. On a shared canvas the owner's workspace counts, so ask them to check their plan or fix a payment issue.
- Someone you mentioned cannot open the comment. They lack canvas access. Share the canvas, then resend the comment link.
- Resolve or reopen is missing. You are a guest, or you do not have comment access. Resolve and reopen are available to signed-in members with comment access. Deleting someone else's comment or a whole thread is restricted to the canvas owner or a workspace admin.
- A comment disappeared. Its object or page was deleted. If the page was only folded, the comments are still there. Find it in the slide rail or Comments tab.
- A mention did not notify anyone. Confirm you used an explicit
@(a thread reply does not reach Home Mentions), that they have canvas access, that the thread is not already resolved, and that their notification settings or quiet-time are not holding back email and push. Inbox updates immediately; email is about a minute behind by design.
Related guides
- Use the page menu
- Use Version History
- Share a canvas
- Private links and share links in Canvas
- Use the collaboration side panel
- Collaborate with guests
- Mention people and canvas collaborators
- Use AI in canvas comments
- Review activity
- Members, guests, and external collaborators