How to Format Comments in Google

Learn 3 Tricks to Make Your Comments "Richer"

Do you recall when you used to work in a word processing application and then send a copy of the file to someone else to check your work? If you do, you probably remember "sending" files by bringing someone a floppy disk too.  Ha!

I'm not trying to make you feel (too) old here. What I am hoping to do is emphasize how great we have it now when it comes to collaborating on documents.  Just today, I was with a bunch of librarians (media specialists), and I saw cursors of various colors dance around the document. I should probably be used it by now, but I still find myself in awe of just how cool that ability actually is.

Being able to provide feedback is an area where Google's G Suite products shine above other applications that I have tried.

Why Bother Commenting

As educators, this powerful system gives you the opportunity to provide targeted feedback and suggestions to each student/colleague and their work. Not only can your students see your comments, but they can take on a life of their own as you both can reply to each other's comments.

If you have not yet tried to use the commenting and feedback system built into many of the Google apps, we encourage you to start as soon as possible. Perhaps on your next document or an assignment your students are doing? Do the work in Google and share the files. You will most likely enjoy the experience.

How to Comment

Of course with Google, there is more than one way to accomplish this task. For us, here is the easiest way to comment in a Google Doc:

1. Highlight some text
2. Click the "Add a Comment" button that appears on the right (See Figure 3)
3. Type your comment and click "Comment"

Figure 3

How to Format Comments in Google

If you want to get fancy with your comments, you can apply three formatting options to your text:

1. Strikethrough - which looks like this
2. Bold - which looks like this
3. Italics - which looks like this

Applying these formats is as simple as adding special characters before and after your comment text:

1. To achieve a Strikethrough, add dashes like this: -Strike this out-
2. To make text bold, add asterisks like this: *Make this bold*
3. If you want italics, add underscores like this: _Italicized text is cool_

Watch the Video on Formatting Google Comments

What do you think?

Is this something you might use when making comments within Google apps? Let us know your thoughts below. We'd love to hear them.