You comment on records, not in any field. When a record has comments an icon appears on the left, next to the record row number.

My post was accurate, please reread it. Also, I did not say someone could comment on any field. I referred to long text fields, and they can be commented on, but do not have icons next to them when someone has done so, with the exception of the primary Name column.

No, they can be filled or not, as any other field. You don’t need icons, you have content itself.

I don’t see how you comment on a field:

Maybe you mean when other user adds more text to a Long Text field? That is not a comment anyway. In that case I recommend you to create an Interactions (or Comments, or whatever) table and link it. I have a similar one in an Events Tracking base.

That icon is about the Record comments:

Or I am missing something?

Yes, there seems to be confusion over the word “comment”. @DavidMa - a user adding additional content to a long text field is not what Airtable calls a “comment”. But to accomplish what you want to do, create a “comments” table that is linked to your main table, with each new comment being a new row in comments table.

Thanks guys. I don’t think I explained myself well. I was referring to @mention in a long text field. The person mentioned can then come back, and reply with their own @mention in the long text field. I was referring to this as a “comment” even thought I realize that it is not technically so.

My concern is that since @commenting is allowed in long text fields, now and then conversations will end up there, with other team members not realizing they need to be opening the item to review it, since there may not be any comment icon (the icon that show up to the left a the name field to alert you that there is commenting).

So I was suggesting that if a long text field had @mentions in it, there should be some type of commenting icon there, or next to the main field, so the @mentions are not missed. Having said all that, I can see that might present its own challenges, and perhaps the way they have it now is best.

I’ve just tested it, and you get a notification when someone mentions you (and an email). Anyway, I think that is not the place to have conversations, you should have them in the Comments section of the Records, or maybe in the suggested Interactions/Comments/Conversations table.

If you plan or are thinking about using it for some type of system functionality, which is what it sounds like, I would definitely consider adding a comments/conversations table.

Thanks Kevin, I will experiment with that.

Ehhh, I said if first!

I liked your post but not Kevin’s if that makes you feel better Elias . Question, if I create an “Events Tracking Base”, will it just show me comments (without crossed off revised comments, partial comments etc.)? This revision history view on the main Name field is driving me nuts, it adds nothing but endless noise to every conversation. It’s nice, I just don’t like having it mixed with comments.

I feel the same way. I always thought it’d be cool if you could toggle/filter which type of “stories” you see in there. If you could somehow display only edits, or only comments, attachments, etc. - that might help clean it up a bit.

I didn’t even realize you could add a Comment to a record field until you pointed this out, as it’s pretty buried in the UI (at the bottom of the Activity panel and only visible when such is expanded).

Why isn’t there a menu item akin to Add/View Comments in the record-level menu? This is actually pretty damn annoying!

Also, speaking of comments, what I would personally like is the ability to add a comment to any given field for any given record (akin to the cell-level comments that appear as red triangles in the corner of cells in Excel). There are times when I want to add additional or qualifying comments/notes at a field-level in records without cluttering up the view.

FYI, I just added a feature request for this: The ability to add a comment to any given field for any given record

I think because this tool is more data-oriented (as is a database manager) than discussion-oriented. Anyway, open menu and lick on the Comment are 2 clics, the same that opening a record and click in the comment box

You can do that with additional fields (even Tables), take advantage of the features! :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

Well, that completely defeats the point of having comments localized to particular field

I added this as a separate feature request, which is essentially cell-level comments.

If you use them to the same goal, it is also “localized”. I mean, if you have a cell called “Content”, and you want to have a conversation around that data, you could have a “Content Comments” table, so it is “localized to the content” too.

That’s trying to solve the wrong problem. I specifically want a cell-level commenting feature (exactly like Excel provides), not a record-level comment. There are many workarounds for record-level comments. I (and others) want to be able comment directly in-context to a specific field in a record.

When you comment to a cell, you are adding data to an entity. Say you have a Due Date, and you want to comment on changes of that. What you are doing can be converted to “database style”: you are in fact using a new kind of elements (which can be stored in a new Table), which I would call Due Date Changes (for instance). Instead of having a date Field called Due Date, you could have a Linked Record field to a new Table called Due Dates, and I’d create a Rollup field to get the most recent date.

I’m pretty sure that any situation example that you give me could be converted to a new Table I think those are not workarounds butusingg the service features. Could you give me context for your use-case or an invented example?

I’m wanting functionality here that doesn’t currently exist in Airtable, as the current cell-level commenting is only available on text fields, is actually adding text/data into the fields themselves, and is really a “mention” function.

What I definitely do not want is to create more fields or tables; I merely want what could be considered a comment mode/layer that could be applied to any given cell in any given field in any given table. Excel, Google Sheets, and many other spreadsheet-based applications provide this functionality. The purpose is to be able to collaborate or add additional notes or comments in context without affecting the data in the cells themselves. This essentially requesting the same functionality that is currently available for adding field descriptions to field headers, but also allowing this at an individual cell level.

There are limitless use cases for this functionality:

• Carrying out a collaborative conversation


• Providing an editor’s note for a publicly shared table


• Adding a comment about an outlier result in a data table


• Adding notes about a set of images.


• Adding a disclaimer

Here’s the feature request.

The ability to add a comment to any given field for any given record

I know what you want, I don’t understand why. I don’t need an explanation of what a “cell comment” is

But those examples are to broad, I need concrete base structure and reasons to not use current features (o my proposed aux. table).

Anyway, I’m giving up on this :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :frowning_face:

Funny to see this thread going again. I find Elias’ comments little more than trolling. He asks for a use case, he’s given 5, then claims they are too broad. And then to top it all off with some first rate trolling, announces he’s “giving up on this”.

David, it’s not terribly difficult to understand your use cases. As you pointed out, such abilities are in many other solutions such as Google Sheets, and they work beautifully. I really like airtable, and find it strange that they are not matching these types of features, when they (airtable) are so much better in so many areas. Instead what could clearly be a far superior product is better in some areas, but much weaker in others that are super important to collaborative teams.

When I first used the product I figured it would only be a matter of time before they were purchased by Google or Microsoft or some other larger company. I think they have something very unique here, but development seems to have slowed to a snails pace.

I’m not trolling, I just don’t get the need of cell-comments for that use cases, maybe I’m missing something and that’s why I was giving up (I didn’t want going on trying to understand).

Not themselves, but for the needing of the requested feature (at least for me). Then I’ll reply to them.

But those are a different products: you can’ link a column/row values to a different sheet/table in a structured way as you can in Airtable. Of course I have some spreadsheets with comments, and they always add data that could live in a field/record in Airtable.

I’m thinking on my Events Tracking base that used to be a sheet in Google Sheets, I had a Payment column where I used to sometimes leave comments to specify the method, maybe the date, and so on. But now, I have structured that into a Payments table, linked to the Event and with some fields: date, method, receipt, etc.

About what? Why not use the Record comments instead? Again, if it is about the value of the field, you maybe need that extra table (or another tool as I mention later).

I don’t understand this. You want to give something like a description to a Table, but in a comment inside a cell (a Field of a Record)?

This example seems appropriate to me, but I still think there is other better tools, specially to discuss with a team about that specific result.

I would just have a Images Notes field.

A disclaimer of a cell content? I can’t imagine the case.

I’m not trolling, I just don’t get the need of cell-comments for that use cases, maybe I’m missing something and that’s why I was giving up (I didn’t want going on trying to understand).

The incredibly obvious use case is the ability to add comments to a single piece of data. I’m having a very difficult time understanding why this incredibly simple and common use case is difficult to understand. Almost every collaborative software offers this functionality in some form or another, and even Airtable does at the record-level. I could literally name a 100+ use cases if I had time to waste doing so. Your argument is akin to saying “I don’t understand the use of threads in a forum or chat software because I don’t use or like threads.” Just cause you don’t have a use for something, doesn’t mean LOTS of others don’t: you are not the user here, I am, and it would be very useful to me and users that I support. We don’t want to create cumbersome hacks to awkwardly simulate common functionality that exists in competing products, as this does not make things more efficient. The point of spreadsheets and databases is to organize information efficiently and we want to consider comments and conversations regarding data separate but linked directly to that data without creating entirely separate parallel constructs.

But those are a different products: you can’ link a column/row values to a different sheet/table in a structured way as you can in Airtable. Of course I have some spreadsheets with comments, and they always add data that could live in a field/record in Airtable.

In some situations, comments theoretically could live in other fields/records, but that adds a great deal of unnecessary complexity and clutter. This also assumes that cell-level comments are useful data that should be linkable to other tables and fields, but that’s an invalid assumption in almost all of my use cases; sometimes a comment is just a comment, usually even. Many times, comments are one-offs, much like you’d see an asterisk next to content in various media to indicate an interesting tidbit of info, another consideration, a technicality, etc…

I’m thinking on my Events Tracking base that used to be a sheet in Google Sheets, I had a Payment column where I used to sometimes leave comments to specify the method, maybe the date, and so on. But now, I have structured that into a Payments table, linked to the Event and with some fields: date, method, receipt, etc.

Even in your example, someone might want to add a simple note or note regarding a payment that doesn’t fit into another neat little box or doesn’t warrant adding more fields or tables. For example, this payment paid off a loan/mortgage, this payment is the first since I set up auto-payment, this deposit is the first since I changed my asset investment allocations, this payment was for lunch with Bill and Bill gave me $10 cash for his share, etc.

About what? Why not use the Record comments instead? Again, if it is about the value of the field, you maybe need that extra table (or another tool as I mention later).

Freaking anything that I and others would like to have a collaborative side conversation about! Once again, extra tables and fields that are rarely used are clutter.

A common example is a user research spreadsheet for collecting observations from usability test sessions or interviews. Let’s say a rating-scale question was presented to a user to rate a feature on a 1-7 scale. The user might hedge on their answer and say “5 or 6, maybe 5” and the observer might want to record their choice, but also make note of their indecision. Or if their body language disputes their selection – like if they sigh loudly or express visual frustrating during a task, but then rate such very easy-to-use afterwards – research observers may want to add simple notes or “asterisk” next to this data point. And others may want to add to those notes without cluttering the data themselves (e.g., observer 2 adds “I noticed that too, he also dropped 3 F-bombs under his breath while trying that task”).

I don’t understand this. You want to give something like a description to a Table, but in a comment inside a cell (a Field of a Record)?

For example, if an external link is provided in a cell, the table creator might want to add a disclaimer that this is a sponsored or paid affiliate. Or that they used a particular brand of soy sauce in their teppanyaki recipe, but that’s just a personal preference. Or in a software comparison table that Airtable is much superior to Excel and Google Sheets but that it doesn’t offer cell-level commenting!

This example seems appropriate to me, but I still think there is other better tools, specially to discuss with a team about that specific result.

So, your recommendation is to have a direct conversation with the consumers of said data every time when a simple side-note could suffice? LOL Yeah, that’s a scalable and feasible approach, especially for table hosted on a public website! Context is king and once again the point would be to keep comments in context without adding clutter or distorting the data.

I would just have a Images Notes field.

This would add clutter and you would need to anticipate exactly what OTHER users may want to comment on. Spoiler Alert: They may want to comment on ANYTHING!

A disclaimer of a cell content? I can’t imagine the case.

An advertiser disclaimer, a disclosure, etc. For example, Full disclosure: I am an employee of Company A…I wrote this book…This is a client of ours…This client received compensation for this testimonial…Bias alert: I like dogs better than cats…I don’t recommend actually eating ham with green eggs, as they’re likely spoiled…Spoiler alert: Darth Vader becomes Luke’s father, etc.

If you’d like to store comments in a long text field, we built a feature that allows users to add new comments, but not edit existing ones. It’s a way to save time and avoid human errors.