Troubleshooting the review module : comments and tasks

Introduction

Use this article when an action on a comment is not available to you. Examples include being unable to close or edit your own comment, a disabled Delete button, or a comment missing from the current document version.

Summary

After this article you know which role and which workflow position each action needs, which comments you can change or delete and where, and how the status of a comment decides if it is carried over to a new document version.

Quick diagnosis

Symptom	Most probable cause	Go to
I cannot close a comment, but my colleague can	Only the creator of the comment, or a user with manager privilege, can close it.	Section 2
I cannot change the text of my own comment	The comment is shared. Shared text is locked.	Section 3
The delete option is not available in the editor	You can only delete private comments in the editor.	Section 4
The delete button is greyed out in the Tasks screen	The comment belongs to a frozen document version, or you do not have sufficient rights on the section.	Section 4
A closed comment is not visible in the current version	Closed comments stay in the version in which you closed them and are not carried over to the next document version.	Section 5
The list shows comments from last year	The Tasks screen shows the complete list of tasks. Set it to the current document context if needed.	Section 6
There are too many comments to work through	Use the filters in the editor or in the Tasks screen.	Section 6

1. The two screens

Same object, two screens
A comment and a task are the same object. You see it in two places: in the editor, next to the text it belongs to, and in the Tasks screen, as a list. You can use both screens together. Some actions are only possible in one of the two, as this article explains.

The editor

The editor shows the comments next to the text. Here you write a new comment, reply to a comment, and step through the document from comment to comment. You can also switch the comments off, to read the text without them.

The Tasks screen

Open Tasks from the main menu of the document. This screen shows the comments as a list, with the assignee, the status and the section. Use it for an overview, for filters that the editor does not have, or to delete a shared comment if allowed.

Suggestion for using the Tasks screen
Open the Tasks screen through the document main menu. The Tasks screen then shows the tasks of that document only, and not the tasks of earlier years or other documents.

2. Statuses: open, resolved and closed

A comment moves through three statuses.

Status	What it means	Who does it
Open	The comment is created and, if applicable, assigned. No action yet.	The creator
Resolved	The assignee processed the comment.	The assignee of the task
Closed	The creator approves the result. The comment is complete.	The creator, or a user with manager privilege

Why you sometimes cannot close a comment
To close a comment you must be the creator of that comment, or you must have manager privilege on the document. A writer privilege is not sufficient for comments of other users. This explains a situation in which one team member can close all comments and another can close none.

3. Changing the text of a comment

A private comment is still editable, a shared comment is not.

Private – you can still change the text.
Shared – you cannot change the text. This makes sure that the text on which your colleagues react does not change afterwards.

This limit applies to all users, also to a user with manager privilege.

How to add information to a shared comment

Open the comment.
Use Reply and write the addition as a reaction. The original text stays visible above your reaction.
If the addition is about a different subject, write a new comment instead.

4. Deleting comments and tasks

Comments are part of the writing process, so Tangelo preserves them. You can delete a comment only in the situations below.

Where	What you can delete
Editor	Private comments only. A shared comment has no delete option here.
Tasks screen	Comments that you created, one by one, through the submenu Delete or through the delete button in the opened comment.

Conditions

The document version to which the comment belongs is not frozen.
You have sufficient rights on the section to which the comment belongs.
You created the comment, or you have manager privilege on the document.

If one of these conditions is not true, the delete button is greyed out. A frozen version is the most frequent cause: the content of a frozen version cannot change, and this includes the comments and tasks in it.

Our advice: close comments instead of deleting them
A completed comment shows how the text came about. That is valuable for an internal process evaluation and for the audit trail. Close the comment, and hide it with a filter if the list is too long (see Section 6).

No bulk delete
You delete tasks one by one, bulk action option is not available.

5. Comments and document versions

When you freeze a version, Tangelo decides per comment if it is carried over to the new live version. The status at the moment of freezing decides this.

Status when you freeze the version	Result in the new version
Open or resolved	Carried over to the new version. The work is not complete, so it continues with you.
Closed	Not carried over to the new version. It stays in the frozen version.

A comment that you deleted stays available in the frozen versions in which it was present at that moment. Freezing a version keeps the content of that version complete.

How to find a comment that is not in the current version

Open the Tasks screen. This screen shows all comments of the complete document, also the comments that were closed in earlier versions.
Open the comment through the link in the list. The comment opens in the version in which it is present.
Check in which version the comment has the status closed. That version is where it stays.

The editor shows the current version only
In the editor you see the comments of the version that is open: the comments that were not yet closed in the previous version, plus the new comments of this version. A comment that is not visible there is therefore not lost and still exists in an earlier version.

6. Filtering long comment lists

A document can contain hundreds of comments. Use a filter before you consider deleting comments.

In the editor

Using the comment filter in the editor it is possible to:

Switch the comments off if you want to read the text without them.
Or apply a filter, for example:
- Every status but closed – hides the completed comments
- Assigned to: me – shows your own work only
Step through the document from comment to comment in the filtered selection.

In the Tasks screen

Open Tasks from the document main menu. The list then shows the tasks of the current document.
Use the filters of this screen, for example to find the tasks that you assigned to someone else. The editor does not have that filter.

Quick reference: who can do what

Action	Condition	Where
Create a comment	Write access to the section	Editor
Resolve	You are the assignee	Editor or Tasks screen
Close	You are the creator, or you have manager privilege	Editor or Tasks screen
Change the text	The comment is still private	Editor
Add information	Always possible	Editor, with Reply
Delete a private comment	Version not frozen, sufficient section rights	Editor
Delete a shared comment	You are the creator, version not frozen, sufficient section rights	Tasks screen, one by one

What to send us if a comment behaves differently

Some cases might need a closer look at the document itself. Contact the Tangelo support desk and include:

the document link or printscreen
the section and one concrete example of the comment
the action that fails, and the exact message in a screenshot
your privilege on the document, and if the version is frozen
if relevant any deadline you are working towards