I want to start using the native Coda row comments:
Does anyone know how to reference them with a formula? Or even better create one with an action/button?
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Would love to see more substance around this with future features. Would love to be able to hit a button, and pop up the comments box, or a mini-modal where an individual comment could be entered. It would be one of the mini-modals discussed here:
I have spoken with some of the Coda team about even a Column type âcommentâ, with some configurability, for example display the latest comment at the top. In this case, you could have a very useful Project Update View: Have a list of your Projects, and the most recent comment from each displaying right in the row in quick view. At a glance you could see multiple projectsâ latest updates, very useful.
This is in fact a core feature of Asana that is a differentiator for them, and with simply implementing a comment column type, Coda would duplicate this, too!
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Yes @ABp I agree a column type âCommentâ which is an array of the comments would be perfect. You could then show the most recents, filter, search, and hopefully append with a button/action!
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@Johg_Ananda great, glad you think this is a potential good implementation to achieve what you are looking for. I too would really like to see a ton more around comments.
And on a related note, I am very eager to see how Coda evolves the Column âtypes.â Another Iâd really like to see is one for any related row across all of Coda, posted about it here (speaking of relating, haha!)
Iâm sure there are some other really useful âtypesâ of Columns, canât wait to see what the Product Team comes up with! The current arrangement is very strong - no overkill, manageable via the right click menu, great UX. I think handling of Columns is a super strength of Coda, and I hope the Product Team thinks this idea is good enough to incorporate!
Yeah I think this would be similar to the created() or rowid() functions that are attributes about the specific row. If they handled it this way they wouldnât have to add another âtypeâ per se.
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Excellent @Johg_Ananda! Very cool to hear you think this shouldnât be a huge technical challenge to implement.
By the way appreciated your post:
I watched the webinar later on YouTube, was indeed the top request.
As you can tell, Iâd be a consumer of these services, and I am already eager to consume them! Have spent way too much of my own time in Coda the last several months when much of it is over my head. Lately I pulled an actual developer on my team in to help, but I think we could still have a need for consultancy.
I donât really have an idea how this would look, so no help there. To reiterate my main point of feedback - I just hope this doesnât go down the road of Atlassianâs Marketplace. Talk about a time suck trying to use apps in there. I would say in my experience maybe 80% of them were bug-ridden, had bogus documentation, and generally next to useless! All the while Jira seemed to stall with evolving key features like Roadmaps, expanded hierarchy, reporting, time tracking, and others, leaving it to the app developers. I have faith that wonât happen with Coda, but I thought Iâd add this experience from the point of view as a âbuyerâ of the services. Currently the Coda community seems to be populated with mostly experts, so I think youâre likely to get that point of view in comments to your post. My hope is this point of view of a buyer/consumer may add some texture to the discussion, since most of you guys who will comment are likely to be the Makers providing the service!
Cheers and nice chatting!
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No way to add comments with an action.
Sorta way to access comments from a formula using system grids ($$[grid:_Global-Comments]), but only for a day or two, after which your doc gets disabled by Coda staff 
(and still a half-baked way to access comments, since only the text and the thread ID are there, no author or time or whatever)
+1 for this feature request.
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Hi @Paul_Danyliuk did you ever got feedback on your request?
And is there an option to add a comment via a button?
No, thatâs still not possible and I donât think itâs a priority feature. Iâm not a Codan though, just speculating.
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Really like this thread. I have a table where each row contains text content to be approved, revised or rejected. Some rows have comments where a side conversation about the text is taking place. I would love to be able to filter the table to only show rows that have comments.
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+1 from me. Would like to create filtered table view & change column field if comments is not blank or better yet ânot resolvedâ
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This is also something that I am very interested in! Iâve created a database where new Codans are using the db to access information and sometimes they need to leave comments for me. I tried to put specific instructions to them for how to do it, but it appears that most people donât like reading instructions. Lol! I need to make it easier for them somehow. A pop up button would be amazing!
Hi @Reiley_Ney,
Being able to more easily reference comments would be a great feature and itâs one weâve explored a lot. Itâs not on the immediate roadmap, but it is an idea we visit regularly and are looking for the right solution.
For now, if the issue is needing a user prompt for adding comments, I find that buttons work wonders. Here is an example of a button that pops up the row modal where people are hopefully able to see the comments area more clearly. Iâm not sure if this was the type of button you had in mind, so thought Iâd add it just in case.
Hey @BenLee this is a great stop gap measure. What Iâm looking to do is be able to create a row/task summary using format() to display pertinent information at a glance, and this would usually include the first or last comment. Thanks!
Hi @BenLee,
Your proposed doc is something I have been using to simulate a comment modal. I usually make a button with a speech balloon emoji that activates the modal view of a purpose-created view of the table where all columns are hidden, leaving only the comment area. itâs works, but itâs clunky and leaves my users a bit confused as the comment area is not prominent in the middle of the modal.
The main issue for me however is the inability to filter my tables based on the existence or not of comments resolved or unresolved. As an example, this is crucial for something like an expenses table with 1000s of rows and 10 users adding comments with questions about the status of their expenses to our finance person. She ideally should have a way to make a âfocused viewâ and address and resolve their questions.
So, for me a simple few additional row attributes, such as thisrow.ResolvedComments() and thisrow.UnResolvedComments() - each just returning the count of comments, will solve 95% of the problem. The full access suggested by @ABp and @Johg_Ananda would get that to 100%.
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+1 for a bit more here. For now just an automated âlast commentedâ column like âlast modifiedâ would be great. I use Coda as a CRM and this would help me see when I last made contact since I note it there.
The comments are an excellent place for notes (rather than using a field) since they tend to be little text descriptions that are relevant only at a certain point in time.
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Is there a way to make that button actually scroll down to the comment section? For some reason (which I honestly canât figure out why) you seem to have the comment section hidden at the bottom of a page. So if I have several hundred words, or pictures, or any actual content on the page, I canât quickly look at any comments. Making the button open the modal and go straight to the comment section would at least be a workaround.
I think youâre talking about a row being shown in the popup modal display. We donât have a link to scroll down to the comments in that display automatically, but they are available in the sidebar.
Any updates on this in 2022? Similar to other users above, Iâm looking for the ability to add a comment with a button click.
Use case: Tracking agenda action items with deadlines, Iâve developed a button that allows a team member to update the existing deadline date. Ideally, Iâd like to automate a comment creation that logs who pressed the button and what the date field was when it was pressed, (i.e. âSara Jean Kwapien updated the deadline from Sep 9, 2022.â)
I know I can create a change log and build this out in another table, but this would be so much easier and faster and something I could see myself implementing in countless ways.