Commenting in Freehand V7

To learn more about commenting in prototypes, read this article: Commenting in InVision V7 prototypes.

With Comment mode in Freehand, you can supplement your real-time online whiteboard collaboration with threaded conversations the team can refer back to at any point.

You can tie comments to specific elements in the canvas, start new comment threads, reply to existing comments, mention others, create tasks from comments, and switch comment visibility on the fly. 

Freehand comments panel

Never miss out on the conversation! The comments panel in Freehand combines all conversations taking place on that document, giving you a bird’s-eye view of all threads in a Freehand document. Browse, reply, edit, delete, filter, and solve comments, all in one place.

To open the comments panel, select Comments () in the toolbar. You can refine your search using the filters at the top of the panel.

Select each entry to see each full individual thread, reply, edit, delete, and resolve comments. This also brings you to the relevant point in the canvas.

Conversations are sorted by recency, with the newest comments appearing first. Unread comments appear highlighted in blue so you always know what requires attention first.

The comments panel and the comment cards are always in sync, allowing you to go back and forth between both tools without losing any context.

Filter comments

Always find what you need. You can use the filters to see all comments in a document or to view only unread comments or conversations where you’re mentioned. You can also switch the visibility of resolved comments.

To fine-tune comment visibility in Freehand:

1. Select Comments ().
2. Click the Show me dropdown.
3. In the Filter Comments modal,
   • switch between All comments, Unread comments, or Mentions.
   • select Resolved comments to display or hide resolved comments.

Adding comments

To add a comment in Freehand:

1. In the toolbar, select Comments () or use the keyboard shortcut C.
2. To add a new comment, click anywhere on the screen and begin typing in the comment field.
   To add a new comment tied to a specific element in the canvas, hover over a specific element, click on it, and begin typing in the comment field.
3. Once finished, select Post.

To move a comment to a different position in the canvas, drag the comment to the new position.

Create tasks from comments

Create tasks from comments in Freehand to indicate there's a task that needs to be completed, provide all the context needed, and follow along as that task gets completed.

1. In the toolbar, select Comments () or use the keyboard shortcut C.
2. Click anywhere on the screen to add a comment.
3. Type @ and the name of the user you want to assign the task to. A dropdown list opens. Select the user from the dropdown list.
4. Select Assign as task.
5. Select Assign.

When you assign a task to a user, they receive a notification by email, in the inbox, and by Slack (if they've installed the InVision app in Slack).

The user assigned to the task can select Mark as complete in the comment when they complete the task.

Replying to comments

To reply to a comment or thread in Freehand:

1. Select the thread from the comments panel. You can also select the Pointer tool and and then select the comment marker in the canvas.
2. Once you've entered a response, select Reply.

Resolving comment threads

To resolve a comment or thread in Freehand:

1. Select the thread from the comments panel. You can also select the Pointer tool and then select the comment marker in the canvas.
2. In the top-right corner of the comment card, select Resolve thread .

If you resolved a thread by mistake, you can revert that action. Open the comment and select the checkmark again. This returns the dark (Resolved) icon back to its light (Unresolved) state.

Toggling comment visibility

At the bottom of the comments panel, use Show comment markers to hide or show the comment indicators in the Freehand canvas.

To learn about viewing comments in your InVision V7 inbox, read Inbox in InVision V7