Fractal comments
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Fractal comments allow you to create comments inside Workflowy and reply to them to have discussions
Comments can branch infinitely. You can also reply to someone's entire comment or just to a specific point they've made. This allows you to have rich, deep discussions about very complex topics in a simple and manageable way.
You can do anything inside a comment that you can in a normal Workflowy bullet like zooming in, nesting items, adding images, and even changing the layout.
Note: To start using comments, you need to invite users to a share via email or secret link. Those users need to have 'Can edit' or 'Admin' permissions in order to have conversations.
You can start a conversation by mousing over any item in a share and clicking the 'Discuss' icon to the right of it.
Note: Comments are not sent automatically and no-one can see your reply until you publish it. Unpublished comments are automatically saved as drafts
1. Mouse over any item in a share
2. Click the 'Comment' icon that appears on the right side
3. Click it to create a new comment
4. Mention people with the @ symbol
5. Click 'Post' or hit the keyboard shortcut
You can reply to any comment to start a conversation, whether you're mentioned or not. You can also reply to individual points in a person’s comment to create branching conversations.
Note: When you create a reply, the person that created the comment will be automatically mentioned in your draft reply with @.
1. Locate a comment you want to reply to
2. Click anywhere in the comment
3. Hit [Enter] to start drafting a reply and start a conversation
4. Write your reply
5. Click 'Post' or hit the keyboard shortcut
You can also start a new thread where one already exists. Above every discussion there will be a '+New' button you can click to start a completely new thread.
Doing this will create a new parallel thread.
1. Locate an existing discussion
2. Click on the '+New' link in the top right side
3. Mention people with the @ symbol
4. Click 'Post' or hit the keyboard shortcut
When you have unread comments, a blue notification dot will be displayed in the menu bar. If you have the left sidebar open, you’ll also see a comments counter.
When you’re zoomed into an item, you will also see a blue comment counter to the right of it that lets you know how many unread comments are contained within the zoomed in section. Each of those items will also have a single blue dot to indicate where the unread comments are located.
You can click any of these counters or blue dots to enter ‘Comments mode’. This mode will display a navigation bar directly below the menu bar.
You can then use the arrows in the comments bar to navigate through your unread comments.
1. Click the notification dot in the menu bar or the unread button in the sidebar
2. Scroll down to see more unread mentions or use the navigation widget
3. Mark comments you don't want to see anymore as 'Read'
Any item that has comments will have a ‘Show comments’ icon to the right. Clicking this icon will display all comments, this is one way to view comments that have been marked as read, or comments where you were not mentioned.
Comments are left as unread by default, viewing them will not automatically mark them as read. Replying to comments also automatically marks them as read.
This makes it easy to return to them later if you're not ready to deal with them at that time.
1. In the sidebar, click 'Comments' to enter unread view mode
2. Scroll down to see unread comments or use the navigation widget
3. Click 'Mark read' on the comment
Comments are not shared until you publish them. Until then, they're automatically saved in the sidebar in a section called 'Drafts'.
This section will only be visible if you have any drafts.
1. Open the sidebar if it's closed
2. Click on 'Drafts'
3. Scroll down to see more drafts
You can also mention anyone outside of a comment by simply typing @ and then their username.
They will receive a notification just like when you mention them in a comment.This is useful for getting someone's attention or assigning tasks to them without starting a discussion.
1. Find an item where you want to mention someone
2. Type @ to bring up the tags widget
3. Select or type out the user you want to mention
You can view the comments related to a specific person using the filter in 'comments mode'.
This allows you to view all comments made by that person for the specified time range, and all comments where that person was mentioned.
Users in this filter are grouped by the parent item where that user has access.
1. Enter 'Comments mode' - the simplest way is to click on the comments button in the sidebar
2. Click the filter labeled 'Anyone' and choose the person you want to filter
3. You can refine your search using the 'Unread', and 'Anytime' dropdowns
Fractal comments are also available on the mobile app. You can access comments by clicking the comments icon in the bottom menu bar. A blue notification dot on this icon indicates unread comments.
