Editor’s note: This feature is available for OneDrive consumer users. It is not yet available for OneDrive for work and school.
Ideas often come to us spontaneously, and we want to capture them the moment they do. Mobile file commenting gives us the freedom to stay connected to our projects and passions wherever we are.
OneDrive has long offered mobile commenting on Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Today, we’re expanding that capability to bring mobile commenting to non-Office file types, including photos, videos, PDFs, and over 300 other file types. This experience is now available for OneDrive personal users through the OneDrive mobile app for Android.
Any file, anywhere, any comment
Whether you're sharing photos from your camping trip or finding the perfect flooring for your remodel, you might want to add comments or start a conversation around your images or files. OneDrive makes commenting anywhere on files simple and quick.
OneDrive’s mobile commenting has a rich feature set that gives you freedom to be virtually anywhere while staying connected. With mobile commenting you can:
- Add new comments on files you own or those shared with you
- View and reply to comments
- Delete comments
- Enable/disable comments
- Get email notifications (for file owners) when’s there’s new comment activity
- See a badge when there’s new comment activity
- See the comment count on your files
- See existing comments when you are offline
Make your first mobile comment
You can now use the mobile commenting feature on the OneDrive mobile app for Android. The feature is included in all free and paid OneDrive consumer plans, including Microsoft 365 personal and family plans1. Mobile commenting in the OneDrive mobile app for iOS is expected to become available on by the end of the year.
Using the mobile commenting feature lets you comment on non-Office files2 that you own, files you have shared, or on files shared with you where you have edit permissions.
To comment on a file, follow these steps:
- Open the OneDrive app on Android (make sure you are in your personal account, not your work account)
- Tap on a file
- Tap the comment button to start a new conversation or view/reply to comments already posted
5 tips for using OneDrive mobile commenting
Ready to comment right from your mobile device? Here are some of the many ways you can use the feature:
- Add captions or comments to photos, videos, or screenshots and share them privately with your family or a friend group.
- Share a book or album cover with a note about why you loved it.
- Scan old, printed photographs into OneDrive, then share them with a personal note.
- Scan a paper document, like your favorite cookie recipe, with the OneDrive app (it will convert it to a .pdf). Then add your secret ingredient as a comment.
- Stay up-to-speed on the conversation by opting into email notifications each time new comments are added.
You can do all this with confidence knowing that your digital life is private and secured in OneDrive. We do not scan your photos, files or personal content to target ads to you. Additionally, we do not sell your data to third parties or share your data without your permission.
Stay tuned! We will be expanding the functionality of OneDrive mobile commenting soon with these capabilities:
- Commenting on folders
- @mention support
- Push notifications
- Email notification optimizations
- Badging for seen/unseen comments across OneDrive on mobile, web and PC
Download the OneDrive mobile app to begin using mobile commenting. And, feel free to send us your suggestions for making OneDrive even better on UserVoice.
1. Mobile commenting is not yet available for users of OneDrive for work or school.
2. Comments made on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files will not show up in the mobile commenting view. We recommend using the commenting feature built into Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
