React Data Grid Comments

Add a comment (a note) to a cell, using the context menu, just like in Excel. Edit and delete comments. Make comments read-only.

In this article

• Enable the plugin
• Add comments via the context menu
• Set up pre-set comments
• Basic example
• Make a comment read-only
• Set a comment box's size
• Set a delay for displaying comments
• Related keyboard shortcuts
• Related API reference

Enable the plugin

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

<HotTable
  data={[
    ['A1', 'B1', 'C1'],
    ['A2', 'B2', 'C2'],
  ]}
  comments={true}
/>

Add comments via the context menu

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

• Add/Edit comment
• Delete comment
• Read-only comment

Set 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 you can declare as any value of the respective 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

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react'; import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry'; import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css'; // register Handsontable's modules registerAllModules(); export const ExampleComponent = () => { return ( <HotTable 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" autoWrapRow={true} autoWrapCol={true} licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation" /> ); }; ReactDOM.render(<ExampleComponent />, document.getElementById('example1')); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@14.2/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@14.2/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react@17/umd/react.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react-dom@17/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@handsontable/react@14.2/dist/react-handsontable.min.js"></script> <script src="https://handsontable.com/docs/14.2/scripts/fixer.js"></script> <div id="example1" class="hot "></div>

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

export const ExampleComponent = () => {
  return (
    <HotTable
      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"
      autoWrapRow={true}
      autoWrapCol={true}
      licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
    />
  );
};

Make a comment read-only

By default, all comments are editable. To change this, set the readOnly configuration option 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.

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react'; import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry'; import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css'; // register Handsontable's modules registerAllModules(); export const ExampleComponent = () => { return ( <HotTable 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" autoWrapRow={true} autoWrapCol={true} licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation" /> ); }; ReactDOM.render(<ExampleComponent />, document.getElementById('example2')); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@14.2/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@14.2/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react@17/umd/react.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react-dom@17/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@handsontable/react@14.2/dist/react-handsontable.min.js"></script> <script src="https://handsontable.com/docs/14.2/scripts/fixer.js"></script> <div id="example2" class="hot "></div>

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

export const ExampleComponent = () => {
  return (
    <HotTable
      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"
      autoWrapRow={true}
      autoWrapCol={true}
      licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
    />
  );
};

Set a comment box's size

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

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react'; import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry'; import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css'; // register Handsontable's modules registerAllModules(); export const ExampleComponent = () => { return ( <HotTable 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" autoWrapRow={true} autoWrapCol={true} licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation" /> ); }; ReactDOM.render(<ExampleComponent />, document.getElementById('example3')); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@14.2/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@14.2/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react@17/umd/react.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react-dom@17/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@handsontable/react@14.2/dist/react-handsontable.min.js"></script> <script src="https://handsontable.com/docs/14.2/scripts/fixer.js"></script> <div id="example3" class="hot "></div>

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

export const ExampleComponent = () => {
  return (
    <HotTable
      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"
      autoWrapRow={true}
      autoWrapCol={true}
      licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
    />
  );
};

Set a delay for displaying comments

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

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react'; import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry'; import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css'; // register Handsontable's modules registerAllModules(); export const ExampleComponent = () => { return ( <HotTable 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" autoWrapRow={true} autoWrapCol={true} licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation" /> ); }; ReactDOM.render(<ExampleComponent />, document.getElementById('example4')); <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@14.2/dist/handsontable.full.min.js"></script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/handsontable@14.2/dist/handsontable.full.min.css" /> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react@17/umd/react.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/react-dom@17/umd/react-dom.production.min.js"></script> <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@handsontable/react@14.2/dist/react-handsontable.min.js"></script> <script src="https://handsontable.com/docs/14.2/scripts/fixer.js"></script> <div id="example4" class="hot "></div>

import { HotTable } from '@handsontable/react';
import { registerAllModules } from 'handsontable/registry';
import 'handsontable/dist/handsontable.full.min.css';

// register Handsontable's modules
registerAllModules();

export const ExampleComponent = () => {
  return (
    <HotTable
      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"
      autoWrapRow={true}
      autoWrapCol={true}
      licenseKey="non-commercial-and-evaluation"
    />
  );
};

Related keyboard shortcuts

Windows	macOS	Action	Excel	Sheets
Ctrl+Alt+M	Ctrl+Option+M	Add or edit a comment	✗	✓
Ctrl+Enter	Cmd+Enter	Save and exit the current comment	✗	✓
Escape	Escape	Exit the current comment without saving	✗	✗

Related API reference

• Configuration options:
  • commentedCellClassName
  • comments