Home > Blog > AI Tools > How to Use Google Docs Comments and Suggestions to Review a Document in 20 Minutes
You send a draft to a teammate for a quick check, and the reply comes back as a long chat message: change the second paragraph, the date is wrong, and I am not sure about the last line. By the time you open the document again, you have lost track of which line they meant. Comments and suggestions in Google Docs keep each note next to the exact words it is about, so you can work through them one by one instead of guessing.
In short: Open the document, switch to Suggesting mode, add a comment where you have a question, make suggested edits where you want a change, then reply to and resolve each comment as you deal with it. Work from the top of the document to the bottom, and check that nothing is left open before you share the final version.
In this guide
- Step 1: Open the document and switch to Suggesting mode (4 minutes)
- Step 2: Add a comment where you have a question (4 minutes)
- Step 3: Make suggested edits instead of rewriting the text (4 minutes)
- Step 4: Reply to comments and resolve them as you go (4 minutes)
- Step 5: Do a final pass and share the clean version (4 minutes)
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Quick check before you finish
- Final thoughts
Step 1: Open the document and switch to Suggesting mode (4 minutes)
Start by opening the document you want to review, not a copy of it. If you review a copy, your notes will stay in the wrong file and the writer will have to move them by hand. Check the title at the top of the page before you type anything, and make sure it is the version everyone else is using.
Next, switch the editing mode to Suggesting. In Editing mode, every change you type goes straight into the document, and the writer cannot tell what was changed or why. In Suggesting mode, your changes appear as suggestions that the writer can accept or reject, one at a time. That difference matters most when more than one person is reviewing the same draft.
Take a quick look through the whole document before you start marking it. For this guide, use a short example: a one-page plan for a community fair. Read it once from start to finish, so you can see whether a note near the top is answered later in the text. A fast first read stops you from asking a question that the next paragraph already answers.
Step 2: Add a comment where you have a question (4 minutes)
Use a comment when you have a question, not a ready answer. Select the exact words you are asking about, then click Comment. A small box opens at the side of the document, with the selected words shown at the top. Type your question in plain words, then click Comment again to post it.
Try it with the fair plan. Select the sentence, Tickets will be on sale soon. Then write: Do we have a date for ticket sales yet? The poster needs a date before it can be printed. That comment is useful because it says what is missing, why it matters, and what you need to move on. A comment that only says, This is unclear, leaves the writer guessing about what to fix.
Add one comment for each separate point. If a paragraph has a wrong date and a missing name, write two comments, one for each problem. The writer can then answer one point, resolve it, and still see the other point clearly. Long comments that mix three problems are easy to half-answer and hard to close.
Step 3: Make suggested edits instead of rewriting the text (4 minutes)
Use a suggestion when you know the exact wording you want. With Suggesting mode on, select the words you want to change and type the new wording. Your new text appears as a suggested change, and the old text stays visible next to it, so the writer can compare the two versions before deciding.
Go back to the fair plan. Change Tickets will be on sale soon to Tickets will be on sale from 9 June. The writer can see the old sentence and the new one side by side, and can accept the change or reject it. That is much clearer than deleting the sentence and typing a new one, which would hide what changed.
Keep each suggestion small. Change one sentence, one date, or one name at a time, and leave a short note in the suggestion if the reason is not clear from the text. For example, add a comment next to a changed date that says, This matches the date on the booking form. Small, clear suggestions are faster to accept than a paragraph rewritten in one go.
Step 4: Reply to comments and resolve them as you go (4 minutes)
When you are the writer, answer comments in the document, not in a separate chat. Click a comment, type your answer in the Reply box, and send it. That way the answer stays next to the question, and anyone who opens the document later can follow the whole exchange without hunting through messages.
For the fair plan, reply to the ticket date comment with the confirmed date and where you found it, for example: Confirmed, 9 June, as shown on the booking form. Then the reviewer can check that answer against the source and accept the suggested change to the sentence. If the answer raises a new question, add it as a reply in the same comment, rather than starting a new comment somewhere else.
Click Resolve only when the point is truly dealt with, not when you have only read it. Resolving a comment marks it as done, so the list of open comments shows only what still needs work. Work from the top of the document down, and reply to each comment before you resolve it, so no one has to reopen a comment to ask what happened.
Step 5: Do a final pass and share the clean version (4 minutes)
Before you share the document again, read it once more from the top. Check that every suggested change has been accepted or rejected, and that no comment is still open. A document with one rejected suggestion left hanging can look finished while still holding an old wording that no one meant to keep.
Read the changed sentences in full, not just the changed words. A new date, name, or number can make the rest of a sentence wrong, even when the change itself is right. In the fair plan, check that the sentence about ticket sales still matches the date on the poster and the booking form, and that the rest of the paragraph still makes sense with the new date in it.
Now share the clean version. Click Share at the top of the document and check who can open it before you send it on. If the document is ready for a wider group, make sure the people who need it can open it, and that the comments you resolved are no longer blocking the reader. A short note with the shared document, saying what changed, helps the reader know what to look at first.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Reviewing a copy of the document, so your comments never reach the writer.
- Staying in Editing mode, so your changes go straight in and the writer cannot see what changed.
- Writing one long comment for three different problems, then wondering why only one was fixed.
- Resolving a comment after only reading it, instead of after dealing with the point it raises.
- Answering comments in a chat app, so the answers are lost when the document is shared again.
Quick check before you finish
You should finish with no open comments, no suggested changes left undecided, and a document that reads cleanly from top to bottom. Open the fair plan example and check three things: the ticket date is the same everywhere it appears, every comment has a reply, and every suggestion has been accepted or rejected.
One error is easy to spot: a comment that was resolved with no reply. That usually means someone closed it to tidy the page, not because the point was answered. Reopen that point in a new comment if needed, get a clear answer, and only then resolve it.
Final thoughts
Try this on a short document first, even if the document you usually review is much longer. One page, five comments, and a few suggestions are enough to learn the habit: question in a comment, wording in a suggestion, answer in a reply, and Resolve only when the work is done.
Once that habit is in place, longer reviews get easier, because each note sits next to the words it is about and nothing is left to guess. Start with the next draft that comes your way, work from the top down, and share it only when the open list is empty.
Related guide
For a simple monthly plan to go with a shared team document, see also: How to Use Google Sheets to Track a Monthly Budget in 20 Minutes.
To sort the mail that comes with a shared document, see also: How to Organise Gmail with Labels and Filters in 15 Minutes.