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About Comments

Users can enter comments on your Help topics. These comments may be viewed (and replied to) by all other users viewing the output.

Controlling which comments are added to the output As the author, you have control over whether new user comments should be reviewed before they are displayed in the online output. If you specify that all incoming comments require review, those comments will have Pending status until you take action on them (e.g., accepting, discarding, hiding). If you specify that reviewing comments is not necessary, all incoming comments will automatically move to Accepted status and become immediately visible in your online output. You can always change the status of a comment, thereby affecting whether it is visible and to whom. See Specifying Whether New Comments Need to be Reviewed.
Enabling anonymous comments When users submit comments, they may be required to register, providing information such as user name, email address, and more. However, you can set up a Feedback file so that anonymous users will be accepted. In that case, users will not need to register; instead, they simply enter any user name when submitting a comment. See Enabling Anonymous Comments.
Entering comments (users) Learn how users submit these types of comments from your online output. See How End Users Submit Comments.
Viewing comments After users enter comments, you can view them in Feedback Explorer. This can be done from the Comments window pane, which can be accessed by selecting View>Comments. Initially all comments are displayed. However, you can use the filter drop-down in the local toolbar to narrow which types of comments are shown (e.g., Accepted, Pending, Hidden). See Viewing Topic Comments.
Accepting pending comments If you set up MadCap Feedback so that new comments require approval before being added to the online output, those comments move to Pending status by default. Therefore, you must accept a comment before it is added to the online output to be viewed by everyone. Even after you accept a comment, you can later change your mind and assign a different status to it (Hidden, Pending Review) or discard it any time you want. See Accepting Pending Comments.
Hiding comments If you do not want a comment to be visible to all users in the community, but you also do not want to delete it from the system, you can change its status to Hidden. That way, you can continue to access the comment in Feedback Explorer, but end users will not see it in the online output. You can assign a different status to it (Accepted, Pending Review) or discard it any time you want. See Hiding Comments.
Setting comments to Pending status If you set up MadCap Feedback so that new comments require approval before being added to the online output, those comments move to Pending status by default. This means that the comment is visible only to you and the end user until you accept it. If at any time the comment has a different status than Pending (i.e., Hidden, Accepted), you can apply the Pending Review status to it. See Setting Comments to Pending Status.
Editing comments From the Comments window pane you can modify a comment's subject, status, and text. For example, you might use this feature if you misspell a word in your reply to a reader's comment. This allows you to correct your mistake after the fact. See Editing Comments.
Discarding comments If you do not want to keep a comment in the system, you can permanently delete it at any time. After you do this, you will no longer be able to access the comment. See Discarding Comments.
Replying to comments After you receive comments from users, you can reply to them. You can either obtain the individual's email address and send a private response, or you can reply to the user from the online output so that everyone in the community sees your response. When you reply in the output, you can do so in two different ways. The easy way is to reply from a notification email you receive. Otherwise, you need to navigate in the output to the correct topic and reply from there. If you reply to new comments from an email notification that you receive, you do not need to go through the process of accepting that comment, or your own comment for that matter. When you reply to a comment from the email link, not only is a reply created, but the original comment and your reply comment are approved at the same time. See Replying to Comments.
Viewing active users You can view a list of active users for your online output. In other words, the list shows the users who have registered and submitted at least one comment. See Viewing Active Users.

Note: If you want end users to be able to enter Feedback comments in the online output, you need to enable comments. This is done by opening the skin in Flare that is associated with the target, selecting the Feedback tab, and clicking Display topic comments at the end of each topic. For more information, see the online Help in Flare.

Note: If comments are not showing up in the output or Feedback Explorer after they are submitted, this could be caused by a combination of old browser cookies and the Feedback database being cleared (see Clearing the Feedback Database). For example, let's say that you submitted comments while testing your output. You then cleared the database and published the output. If you then try to submit a new comment in the output, it is not processed. In order to be able to submit new comments, delete the cookies in your Internet browser and try again. You will be asked to re-register (if necessary) before submitting a comment.