How comments behave during document review and approval

Leo Comia Updated by Leo Comia

This article explains how comments behave during the document review and approval process, including how comments entered by the Document Author and Approvers are stored and where they can be viewed after the document is activated.

Overview

Prompt allows comments to be entered during document check-in and approval. In workflows with multiple approvers, comments are shared sequentially, and the final saved comment depends on how each approver interacts with the comment field during their approval step.

This behaviour is consistent across standard approval workflows, including scenarios with three approvers.

Comment behaviour during review and approval (3-approver scenario)

  1. The Document Author checks out the document for review.
  2. When checking the document back in, the Document Author enters a comment in the Change Comment field.
  3. During Approval, the document is routed to Approver 1.
  4. Approver 1 can see the Document Author’s comment and may:
    • Leave the comment unchanged
    • Append their own comment
    • Remove the existing comment and enter a new one
  5. The document is then routed to Approver 2 and Approver 3 sequentially.
  6. Each approver sees the comment exactly as the previous step left it and can make the same choices:
    • Append to the existing comment
    • Replace the comment entirely

What happens when the document is activated

When the final approver completes their approval, and the document becomes Activated:

  • PROMPT saves only the final content of the Change Comment field.
  • If comments were appended throughout the approval steps, the combined text will be retained.
  • If any approver cleared the field and entered a new comment, only the most recent comment will be stored.

Where to view comments after activation

Comments recorded during check-in and approval can be viewed in the following locations:

Document Information window
  1. Locate the document.
  2. Select Document Information.
  3. Navigate to History.
  4. Review the Change Comment section.

This section displays the final saved comment from the review and approval process.

Audit Report

Comments are also available in the document’s Audit Report:

  1. Generate an Audit Report for the document.
  2. Locate the CheckedIn event type.
  3. Review the Change Comment column.

The Audit Report provides a complete audit trail of check-in activity.

Tips and notes

For audit and compliance purposes, approvers should append to existing comments rather than replacing them. This ensures earlier context is retained in the final Change Comment.

PROMPT records only the final content of the Change Comment field at the time of final approval. If an approver removes earlier comments, those comments will not be retained in the activated document or history view.

How did we do?

How to Discontinue Copying from Another Organisation

How to remove approval permission from an Admin and retain other permissions

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