Commenting and collaboration
Commenting and collaboration features enable you to add contextual discussions directly within the planning sheets. Use these capabilities with your team to review data, provide feedback, assign tasks, and track discussions all within the planning sheet environment.
Data-level commentary is commonly used in analytical and planning scenarios. The Planning Sheet provides built-in support for notes, annotations, and collaborative comments, which are dynamically associated with specific data points such as cells, rows, columns, or report sections that remain linked to the relevant data context even when filters or hierarchies change.
Prerequisites
A planning sheet with the required dataset is saved.
You have appropriate user permissions to create, reply to, or manage comments.
Add data-level comments
Data-level comments let you add discussions to a specific cell, row, or column in a report.
Select the cell, row, or column where you want to add a comment.
Select Comments from the toolbar or Add new comment from the Comments dropdown.
Enter the comment in the comment editor.
Apply formatting, such as color, links, or text styling, as required.
You can make a comment important by selecting the star icon, which turns it into a starred comment.
Select Assign to User to assign a user from the dropdown list as needed.
Select the Send icon to post the comment.
The comment is saved along with metadata such as author name and timestamp.
Mention users and collaborate
You can notify other users by mentioning them in a comment.
Select the cell and add a comment.
Type @ followed by the user’s name.
Select the user from the list of suggestions.
Post the comment by selecting the send icon.
Mentioned users receive Teams notifications with a link to the sheet so they can respond or take action.
Comments help you assign and track tasks for effective workflow collaboration.
The task status is initially Open and can later be updated to Resolved when the task is completed.
Lock, resolve, and reopen comment threads
You can manage comment threads to control discussions.
Lock a thread
Hover over the comment indicator in the planning sheet to open the comment thread.
Select the three-dot menu and then select Lock Thread.
Locked threads are greyed out, and no one can edit or reply to them unless they are unlocked. Unlock the thread by selecting the unlock icon.
Resolve a thread
Hover over the comment indicator to open the comment thread.
Select the three-dot menu and then select Resolve Thread.
You can reopen a resolved thread if further discussion is needed. Reopen the thread by selecting the undo icon 
or by replying to the thread.
Reply to comments
Comments support threaded conversations that allow multiple users to collaborate.
Hover over the comment indicator to open the comment thread.
Enter your response in the Reply editor.
Post the message by selecting the send icon.
Replies appear as part of the same comment thread, making it easier to track discussions.
View all comments
You can view all comments in a centralized panel to track discussions across headers, rows, columns, and cells.
To view all the comments:
Select View all comments from the Comments dropdown.
The All Comments panel opens with the Data Level tab selected by default.
Comments are organized by category, along with the number of comments in each category:
Header Comments: Comments added at the header level.
Row Comments: Comments associated with specific rows.
Column Comments: Comments associated with specific columns.
Cell Comments: Comments added to individual cells.
Expand each section by selecting > to view the associated comments.
Add report-level comments
Report-level comments allow users to discuss the entire report instead of a specific data point.
To view report-level comments:
Select View all comments from the Comments dropdown. The All Comments panel opens.
Select the Report Level tab.
Enter the comment in the side panel.
Select Add Comment.
Report-level comments support the same capabilities as data-level comments, including mentions, replies, formatting, notifications, and task assignments.
Configure comment settings
You can customize how you want to display comments and configure notification settings.
To open the Comment Settings pane:
Select Comments on the toolbar.
Expand the Comments dropdown, and then select Settings.
The following options are available:
Enable Commenting - Turn commenting on or off for the planning sheet.
Comments Column - Show or hide the dedicated Comments column. For more information, see Add a comments column.
Rollup Indicator - Display or hide rollup indicators that summarize comments when hierarchical rows are collapsed.
Star indicator for starred comments - Display or hide star indicators for comments marked as starred.
Indicator Size - Specify the size of the comment indicator that appears in the planning sheet in pixels.
Indicator Position - Choose where the comment indicator is displayed within a cell.
Preview - Preview how the selected indicator size and position appear.
Teams Notification - Turn Microsoft Teams notifications for comments on or off.
Delete all comments - Permanently remove all comments from the table.
Reset - Discard any unsaved changes and restore the previously saved settings.
Finally, select Save to apply the changes made in the Comment Settings pane.
Note
Deleting all comments permanently removes all comment threads from the table. This action cannot be undone.
Add a comments column
You can add a dedicated Comments column to capture row-level discussions. When a comment is assigned as a task, Assignee and Status columns are also added to display the assigned user and the current task status. Comments added in the Comments column are grouped under Row Comments.
To add a comments column:
Enable the Show comments column toggle in the Comment Settings panel. A Comments column is added to the table.
Double-click the required row in the Comments column. The comment editor opens.
Enter the comment, and then select the Send icon to post it.
Comments in the Comments column support replies, user assignments, and task status tracking. To show or hide the Assignee and Status columns, select the > icon in the Comments column header.
To remove the Comments column, turn off the Show comments column toggle in the Comment Settings pane.
Configure comment access
You can control who can access, manage, and interact with comments using the Security settings.
Open comment security settings
Select Security from the toolbar.
In the left pane, select Comments.
The Comments settings page opens.
Manage comment access
Use the following options to define access:
Who can view comments Specify users who can view and interact with comments. Enter names or email addresses to grant access.
Who can lock or unlock comments Define users who can lock or unlock comments.
Who can star comments Specify users who can mark comments as important (starred).
Note
Report authors and editors can delete comments from other users (such as, inappropriate comments).
Save or discard changes
Select Save to apply changes.
Select Cancel to discard changes.
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