This page covers a non-latest version of Handsontable.

# Comments

Overview
Enabling the plugin
Adding the comments via the Context Menu
Setting up pre-set comments
Basic example
Make a comment read-only
Set a comment box's size
Set a delay for displaying comments

# Overview

This feature makes it possible to add, edit and remove comments in Handsontable easily.

# Enabling the plugin

Set the comments property to true to enable the feature and add all the needed context menu items. For example:

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: Handsontable.helper.createSpreadsheetData(10, 10),
  comments: true
});

After you've enabled the plugin, the Context Menu gains a few new items:

Add/Edit comment
Delete comment
Read-only comment

# Setting up pre-set comments

You can also pre-define comments for your table. Comments are stored in the table's/column's/cell's metadata object and can be declared as any value of that type. For example:

cell: [
  { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Hello world!' } }
]

In this example, the comment "Hello world!" is added to the cell at (1,1).

# Basic example

const container = document.querySelector('#example1');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['', 'Tesla', 'Nissan', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Mazda', 'Ford'],
    ['2017', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2020', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2021', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16]
  ],
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  contextMenu: true,
  comments: true,
  cell: [
    { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Some comment' } },
    { row: 2, col: 2, comment: { value: 'More comments' } }
  ],
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> 

<div id="example1" class="hot "></div>

# Make a comment read-only

By default, all comments are editable. To change this, set the readOnly parameter to true when adding a comment. This example makes the "Tesla" comment attached to a cell read-only, whereas the "Honda" comment attached to another cell is editable.

const container = document.querySelector('#example2');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['', 'Tesla', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Ford'],
    ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2020', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
  ],
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  contextMenu: true,
  comments: true,
  cell: [
    { row: 0, col: 1, comment: { value: 'A read-only comment.', readOnly: true } },
    { row: 0, col: 3, comment: { value: 'You can edit this comment' } }
  ],
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> 

<div id="example2" class="hot "></div>

# Set a comment box's size

To set the width and height of a comment box, use the style parameter.

const container = document.querySelector('#example3');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['', 'Tesla', 'Nissan', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Mazda', 'Ford'],
    ['2017', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
  ],
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  contextMenu: true,
  comments: true,
  cell: [
    { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Some comment' } },
    // add the `style` parameter
    { row: 2, col: 2, comment: { value: 'Comment 200x50 px', style: { width: 200, height: 50 } } }
  ],
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> 

<div id="example3" class="hot "></div>

# Set a delay for displaying comments

To display comments after a pre-configured time delay, use the displayDelay parameter.

const container = document.querySelector('#example4');

const hot = new Handsontable(container, {
  data: [
    ['', 'Tesla', 'Toyota', 'Honda', 'Ford'],
    ['2018', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2019', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
    ['2020', 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16],
  ],
  rowHeaders: true,
  colHeaders: true,
  contextMenu: true,
  comments: {
    // on mouseover, wait 2 seconds before the comment box displays
    displayDelay: 2000,
  },
  cell: [
    { row: 1, col: 1, comment: { value: 'Some comment' } },
  ],
  height: 'auto',
  licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation'
});

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script>
<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@11.1/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> 

<div id="example4" class="hot "></div>

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