When you annotate attached files, AODocs can capture every annotation and comment into a structured table on the document. You can then export this table as an Excel comment sheet for contractors or external reviewers who don't have access to AODocs, and automatically import their responses back into the document when they return the filled sheet.
This turns visual markups on drawings into a complete, traceable review cycle: one place for every comment, every response, and every decision.
Notes:
– This feature requires the annotation features and the comment capture to be activated in your library. The export and import actions are set up by your library administrator – their names can differ in your library.
– Comment sheets are available only in libraries using Google Cloud or Azure storage (not Google Drive).
This article explains how to:
Automatically generated table of contents
How the review cycle works
1. Reviewers annotate the attached files. Each annotation and comment is automatically captured as a row in the document's comment table.
2. You export the comment table as an Excel comment sheet, attached to the document.
3. You send the sheet to the contractor, who fills in the Response and Status columns.
4. You upload the filled sheet back on the document and run the import: the responses and statuses are written back into the comment table, matched comment by comment.
View annotations as structured comments
Once comment capture is activated, every annotation and comment made on the document's attached files appears as a row in the Annotation Comments table on the document page. Each row includes:
| Column | Content |
| Comment Id | The comment's unique identifier – used to match responses when you import the filled sheet. |
| File Name | The attached file the annotation was made on. |
| Comment Author | Who wrote the comment. |
| Comment | The comment text. |
| Date / Page | When the comment was created and on which page of the file. |
| Document Version | The document version the annotation belongs to. |
| Response / Status | The reviewer's or contractor's answer and review status. These are the only two columns you can edit – manually on the document page, or automatically by importing a filled comment sheet. |
| Annotation Type / Annotation Text | The type of markup (note, highlight, rectangle…) and its text, if any. |
| Burned? | Whether the annotation is selected to appear in saved (burned) PDF copies. |
screen: The document page with the Annotation Comments table showing several captured annotation rows.
Notes:
– Because the comments are a normal table property, you can also display and filter them in views, like any other metadata.
– The table only shows the annotations you're allowed to see. Learn more: Configure annotation permissions.
Export the comment sheet
Run the export action on the document (set up by your library administrator). AODocs generates an Excel file and attaches it to the document.
Depending on how the action is configured, the sheet can:
- include a header block – for example, the project name and the response due date
- contain only the comments of a specific attached file – useful when the document carries several drawings
- leave out technical columns that the contractor doesn't need
screen: A document with the generated comment sheet (.xlsx) attached, and the sheet open in Excel showing the header block and the comment rows.
Important: The Comment Id column is the key used to match the contractor's responses when the sheet is imported back. Don't remove it from the sheet.
Collect the contractor's responses
Send the exported sheet to your contractor. They fill in, for each comment:
- Response – their answer to the comment
- Status – the review status
The contractor must not change the Comment Id column or the column headers.
Import the responses back into the document
1. Upload the filled sheet as an attached file on the document. Its file name must end with _Response.xlsx.
2. Run the import action (set up by your library administrator).
AODocs matches each row of the sheet to the comment table by Comment Id and updates the Response and Status columns.
screen: The Annotation Comments table after the import, with the Response and Status columns filled in.
Notes:
– If some comments in the sheet don't match the table – or some table rows are missing from the sheet – the import reports them as warnings and continues; nothing else is changed.
– After a successful import, the response file is renamed with a _Response_Processed_ suffix and timestamp, so it can't be imported twice. The next review cycle simply uses a fresh _Response.xlsx file.
Troubleshooting
"There is no comment response sheet to process." The uploaded file name doesn't end with _Response.xlsx. Rename the attached file and run the import again.
"Having more than one unprocessed comment response sheet is not allowed." The document has several _Response.xlsx attachments. Remove the extra ones and keep a single response sheet to process.
"Matching comment section was not found in the response sheet." The sheet's header row – with the Comment Id column – was changed or removed. Re-export the sheet and copy the contractor's responses into it.
Some responses weren't imported. Their Comment Id doesn't match any row in the comment table – for example, because the annotation was deleted, or the id was edited in the sheet. Check the import warnings.