Summary: Markups and comments are an essential part of the proofing process. Ziflow offers a variety of tools that are used to highlight areas that need attention. In addition, reviewers can Like, Reply, Label, and Resolve comments and Attach files. All threads of conversation are kept within the Ziflow Viewer.

Available for any user or guest reviewer that has been granted Comment permissions.

Features outlined in this article:

Once you are inside the Legacy Proof Viewer, click on the Comment button in the upper right corner. This will open up a comments section. Now, you can start typing your comment or create a comment with a markup. If you want to do the latter, simply select your tool (square, circle, arrow, line, freehand drawing tool, or text annotation tool) from the pop-up window:

Next to the markup tools is the color picker, where you can decide what color you want your markups to be set in:

Once you have selected your markup tool, click and drag over the area on the proof you wish to markup. Once you have placed the markup on the page, you have the ability to:

Once you've added the markup, type in a comment that will be associated with it.

You can see other reviewers' comments as they will appear in real-time. You can click on any comment in the list, and it will highlight the markup on the page. In reverse, you can also click on any of the numbered pins on the proof, and it will highlight the comment.

If you click through the comments, Ziflow will automatically display the markup at a convenient zoom ratio, making it very user-friendly to scroll through all the comments.

There are two types of comments/replies that can be added to a proof:

Option to switch between public and private comments/replies will show when public and private comments are allowed in the stage settings on the proof:

Reviewers can switch between public/private comments using the button under the comment field.

In the Ziflow Viewer, reviewers can also filter comments/replies by their type (public & private). This helps if you want to display only comments/replies that were posted as public or only those that are private.

If you change your mind and you want to alter a public comment to private (or vice versa), you can do it by opening a comment menu and choosing a needed option.

Administrators of Ziflow Enterprise-grade accounts can choose the default comment visibility setting for their team. Inside the account comment settings, there's a toggle that allows deciding if reviewers who open Ziflow Viewer will start by entering their comments in private or public mode.
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The option to include private responses to public comments is extremely valuable for enabling internal teams to post private replies to public comments.

In the proof workflow example below, you can see that the proof stage called CLIENT, has only public comments enabled. The second stage of the same proof workflow (INTERNAL) has both types of comments (public & private) switched on.

With these settings in place, reviewers from the second proof stage can post private replies to public comments made by reviewers from the CLIENT stage. This ensures that the reviewer who posted a public comment will not see any replies made to his comment/markup.

If you want to edit a comment, you can do so by clicking the comment menu icon. Please note that you can only edit your own comments.

You can delete your own comments by clicking on the comment menu icon, however, this can only be done while the proof is unlocked. You can no longer remove your comments once the proof is locked or a new version is uploaded.

If you have Manage permissions, you can remove other users' comments in addition to your own.

**Please note that if you delete a comment, it will also delete any replies and any files that have been attached to the comment.

If you change your mind and want to restore the deleted comment, you can use the Restore option visible in the placeholder field. To view the placeholders for the deleted comments, you need to enable the Show deleted comments option:

*The Restore option is available for Proof Owners and reviewers with Manage or Admin permissions. They can restore all deleted comments. Reviewers with Comment permissions can restore only their own comments.

You will notice that underneath each comment is a Reply button.

You can reply to comments and start a discussion thread. This is very useful in clarifying comments so that the feedback is crystal clear.

The circle icon near the comment allows reviewers to resolve comments. Once clicked, it will turn green, and Ziflow will send an email notification about the action. A reviewer can also unresolve a comment by clicking on the green circle icon.
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The flag icon allows reviewers to choose a label such as To do. Other labels can be added by account admins under Proofing Settings, so when the reviewer clicks on the icon, a list of all available labels will be presented. After selecting a label, it will be added to the comment/reply, and Ziflow will send an email notification regarding this action.

If you need to show a particular comment to someone, you can copy its link and share it. The person who will open the link will be redirected to the proof opened in the Proof Viewer with your comment highlighted.

When comparing proof versions, you may copy a comment from one version to another. While copying comments to another version, you can select if the action should copy the whole thread along with replies or just the main comment.

Attaching files to comments/replies can be done in two ways.

Option 1: When adding a comment or replying to a comment, click on the paperclip icon under the comments box, then navigate to the file you wish to attach.

Option 2: Simply drag the file(s) you wish to attach directly into the comment box. The comment box will turn into an upload icon and then show a progress bar once you drop the files in.

Option 3: Use your keyboard shortcut to copy a desired image (Ctrl+C) and then paste it (Ctrl+V) into the comment text box.

If you wish to remove your attachment, simply click on the trashcan in the comment box next to the file.

If you want to download an attachment from a comment, then simply click on the attachment (as shown in the screenshot below). This will open the file where you can click the download button.

Summary: @mentions are an easy way to draw someone's attention to a conversation or message.

Available for: Any reviewer with Comment permissions on all Ziflow editions.

Where is the feature accessible? @mentions can be used when adding comments or replies within the Proof Viewer.

Once you use the @ sign, a dropdown menu with a list of all the reviewers within that stage will appear. Select the reviewer by clicking on their name to confirm your selection.

As a Ziflow user with admin rights, you have the ability to manage the individuals who can be mentioned on a proof level. You can customize the options to determine which contacts are eligible to be selected when using mentions in the Ziflow Viewer.

This option is available in Settings > Proofing settings > General.

Read more about allowing mentioning settings in the following article.

Yes, a special account setting allows all contacts to be listed when using @mentions. It is located under Settings > Proofing Settings > General.

Available for: users on our Business and Enterprise plans.

When the above option is enabled, and you use @mentions when commenting, you will be able to see who is not added as a reviewer on the proof.

When you @mention someone who is not added to the review process, you will be asked to share the proof with them and assign them to the chosen stage.

Once a reviewer uses @mentions to draw another reviewer's attention, Ziflow sends an email containing comment/reply text and proof details.

Summary: We're excited to announce a new feature in Ziflow that allows you to add reactions to comments. With this feature, you can now easily respond to comments with a quick Like, Verified, Insightful, or Rejected emoji.

Reactions are a great way to show your support for a comment, express agreement or disagreement, or simply acknowledge that you've seen it. They're also a fun and easy way to add a bit of personality and emotion to your conversations.

Available for: Any reviewer with Comment permissions on all Ziflow editions.

Adding reactions is simple and easy. To add a reaction, hover over a comment and click the reaction button. You'll see a list of available emojis to choose from, and you can select the one that best fits your response.

We hope this new feature will make communicating with others even easier and more enjoyable.

Comment reactions are not included in automatic emails sent by Ziflow.

Added comment reactions will also be shown under comments while exporting comments to PDF.

If you're a Ziflow administrator and want to enable/disable specific reactions in your account, please open the Comments settings and adjust reactions according to your needs.

Proof owners/managers can also see comment reactions in the proof activity log when they view proof details.

Some reviewers may also need to filter comments/replies with specific reactions. That's where the comments reactions filter comes in handy.

With the following filter applied to the comment list, reviewers will be able to display only comments/replies that they are looking for in terms of specific comment reactions.

Read more about Ziflow Viewer Filter Comments & Settings.

By default, reviewers are not allowed to post/edit their comment reactions when their stage or whole proof is locked. When stage/proof is locked, the React button will be disabled, and already-added reactions will be greyed out.

Ziflow administrators can adjust this mechanism and, if needed, change a setting responsible for blocking reviewers from adding new comments. If you're a Ziflow admin, please refer to this article for more information.