Aha! Roadmaps | Comments

Every major record type in Aha! Roadmaps includes a comments section. You can use it to create the perfect message by creating tables, adding attachments, and reacting with emojis.

You can even go a step further and comment on images attached to Aha! Roadmaps records or comment directly on text.

Click any of the following links to skip ahead:

• User permissions

• Comments overview

• Add a comment

• Add an emoji reaction

• Attachments

• Add comments to images

• Add inline comments to notes

• Add inline comments to whiteboards

• Manage comment notifications

• Inline comments and integrations

User permissions

To interact with the comments section on a record type, you must have the following user permissions.

*Administrators with account permissions

Reviewers can add comments to documents that you have granted them access to edit.

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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.

• 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 Comments tab on almost any record in your Aha! account, then click Add comment.

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 tools located in the toolbar. To learn more about editing text using the toolbar, check out our support article on the Aha! 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! account 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! account record by typing the # key followed by the first few characters of the record.

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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 the 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 feature. 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 teammates.

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Add attachments

To add an attachment to your comment, click Attach files and select the file you wish to attach. You can choose files from your local machine or select from one of our file storage integration options (Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive).

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 convert a comment attachment into a record attachment by clicking the star icon that appears in the top-left corner of the attachment thumbnail image.

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Add comments directly to images

Leave precise feedback by commenting directly on the image attachments. Users can reply to these comments, keeping the conversation organized around specific points on the image.

Image files need to be .png, .jpg, or .gif.

To comment on an image:

1. Open an attachment and click the View and add comments icon located on the top of the image preview modal.

2. 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.

3. 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.

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Add inline comments to notes

The most effective way to leave feedback on text? Comment inline and start a conversation thread. Much like the ability to add comments to images, you can use inline comments to focus the conversation.

You need to be an owner, contributor, or reviewer to add or resolve inline text comments. Viewers can see comments that @mention them specifically, but they cannot respond to or resolve them.

You can inline comment on any text in a note, custom note field, the cell of a table, or any text in a record's description field. You cannot inline comment text in comments, or a record's create modal.

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.

You can add inline comments to the descriptions on most of the records in the Aha! Roadmaps data model.

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. (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.

Inline comments have access to the full text editor, so feel free to format your text, @ and #mention Aha! Roadmaps users and records, add and color tables, or insert media.

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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 the 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 feature. 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.

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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 a feature or requirement attachment by clicking the star icon that appears in the upper-left corner of the attachment thumbnail image.

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Add comments to images

Aha! Roadmaps 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:

1. Open an attachment and click the View and add comments icon located on the top of the image preview modal.

2. 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.

3. 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.

Note: 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.

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Add comments directly to text

The most effective way to leave feedback on text? Comment inline and start a conversation thread. Much like the ability to add comments to images, you can use inline comments to focus the conversation.

You need to be an owner, contributor, or reviewer to add or resolve inline text comments. Viewers can see comments that @mention them specifically, but they cannot respond to or resolve them.

You can inline comment on any text in a note, custom note field, the cell of a table, or any text in a record's description field. You cannot inline comment text in comments, or a record's create modal.

To add an inline comment, highlight the text you want to comment on and click the Add comment + icon that appears on the right side of the text editor. Your text will be highlighted and underlined in orange, the Comments sidebar will appear, and you can start creating your comment. Click Save comment once you are done.

Inline comments have access to the full text editor, so feel free to format your text, @ and #mention Aha! Roadmaps users and records, add and color tables, or insert images.

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. (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 or Delete your comment.

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Add inline 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.

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Add ideas portal comments

Your ideas portal users can add comments to ideas in your portal or respond to others' comments in threaded conversations.

• Public comments: Anyone with access to your ideas portal can view public comments.

• Private comments: Only the creator of a comment and employee portal users can view private comments.

You may have portal users who wish to share feedback privately. You may choose to enable private comments in your portal to allow them to share details with you in a comment that they do not want other customers to see. When private comments are enabled, portal users can check or uncheck the option to Only share privately each time they comment on an idea. Private comments will appear to the comment's creator and employee portal users as a Lock icon to denote that they are private.

Aha! Ideas users and employee portal users can add @mentions in portal comments to bring people into the conversation. Type @ and the first few letters of a portal user's name to reveal a list of portal users. When you mention a portal user this way, they will receive a notification that they have been mentioned in a portal comment.

An account administrator can enable private comments for your ideas portal. You can also configure default comment visibility for portal users, employee users, and Aha! users so that users who tend to submit sensitive information can have their comments default to private.

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Manage comment notifications

Comment notifications work a little differently depending on what type of comment you leave. For comments that are not inline comments:

• 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! Roadmaps do — 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.

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Inline comments and integrations

Inline comments and integrations work a little differently since the integrated tool usually does not have the UI to display inline text comments. Instead, Aha! Roadmaps sends a link to the inline text comment to the integration. Users clicking that link will be taken back to Aha! Roadmaps to the comment.

You can send links to inline text comments from Aha! Roadmaps to any tool with a 2.0 integration. Please see this article if you are still using a 1.0 integration and would like to convert it to a 2.0 version.

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