How to remove comments in google docs

This article is written for G Suite for Education Administrators.

Comment is an essential feature in cloud based collaborative apps G Suite editors. It keeps people informed when someone else made edits or feedback to a document. Having that said, in schools, some smart students repurpose the comment feature as a convenient messenger.

Since Admin Console does not have an option to configure this feature, this article explains how Safe Doc chrome extension disable the comment feature. If you have yet to install Safe Doc, apply a 30 days trial.

What's changing?

Before

The comment appears in many places in Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings. Adding a comment can be done in Insert > Comment menu or the

How to remove comments in google docs
icon in the toolbar of any of these apps.

Students can initiate a comment, edit a comment, reply to others' comment, delete a comment or approve / reject others' comments.

How to remove comments in google docs
Insert > Comment menu in Google Docs

How to remove comments in google docs
Comment feature in Docs editors

At the top right of these apps, you will also find a

How to remove comments in google docs
comment history button. This opens up the a list of current document's past comments from anyone. Students can reply to comments in place.

How to remove comments in google docs
Comment history in Google Slides

Comment also appears in Google Drive file preview.

How to remove comments in google docs
Comments in Google Drive previewing files

After

Safe Doc disables the Comment feature in all of these apps. Students are disallowed to post comments. Students, however, can still see comments from the teachers.

As the comment feature is everywhere, we only demonstrate most visible scenes.

The Insert > Comment menu in Docs editors is removed.

How to remove comments in google docs
Insert > Comment menu removed from docs editors

The

How to remove comments in google docs
Comment button is removed from the Docs editors.

How to remove comments in google docs
Comment button in toolbar of editors removed

The

How to remove comments in google docs
Comment button on the edge of a Google Document is removed.

How to remove comments in google docs
Google Doc's right edge Add Comment button removed

The Comment item in the context menu is removed.

How to remove comments in google docs
Comment in context menu removed in Google Drawings

In the comment history dialog, students are not allowed to initiate new comments or reply to others' comments. That said, students still receive comments from the teacher and acknowledge them.

How to remove comments in google docs
Removed comment capability in comment history dialog

In previewing Google Drive files, comments are disabled as well.

How to remove comments in google docs
Comments feature disabled in previewing Google Drive files

How to get started

Given that you have deployed Safe Doc and learned how to configure Safe Doc, the step is to disable the comment feature is very simple. Add the following policy to your students' organizational unit (OU).

"BlockComment": {
  "Value": true
}

On / off by default?

Safe Doc does not block the comment feature in editor apps if this policy is not set.


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Can you remove comments on Google?

Delete a comment left on your post Open the post with the comment you want to delete. Delete comment. Click Delete.

Can I hide comments on Google Docs?

You can switch the document to viewing mode. You can uncheck “Show comments” in the View menu. You can hide a comment by marking the “X” button at the top of the comment.

How do I delete all comments in Google Drive?

You can do this by going to Tools > Review Suggested Edits and click on the blue Accept All button. You can also remove the comment by clicking on the Reject All button as well.

How do you get rid of Green comments on Google Docs?

If you think that's what you're doing, click the three dots in the upper right corner of the doc. It will reveal a menu of options. I believe the second option will be Suggest changes, and it will be toggled on. Toggle it off, and then any changes you make will just show as you type them.