# Approve and answer reader comments

_Category: Statistics and feedback_

Reader comments turn articles into conversations: questions, tips and corrections from the people who use them. You choose whether new comments wait for your approval, and you approve, answer or remove them from the Comments page.

**Who can do this:** Owners, Admins and Editors (deleting and recovering comments: Owners and Admins) · **Plans:** All plans

## How readers comment

Readers can comment when your article page has the **Comments** component. See [How do I turn on reader comments?](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/turn-on-comments)

Readers fill in their **Name**, **Email** and **Comment** and click **Leave a comment**. Signed-in readers comment under their account. The reader sees their comment at once. When **Require approval** is on for the Comments component, the form notes that it needs to be approved before it appears for everyone. When it's off, the comment is published straight away.

Readers can also click **Reply** under any published comment. Replies show under the comment they answer and follow the same approval setting. A reply to a reply shows in the same thread, with an **In reply to** link to the comment it answers.

![Screen recording. Readers fill in their name, email and comment and click Leave a comment. The reader sees it at once. Others see it after you approve it.](https://helpcenter-io.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/self/5lr5BOByltOXBCDa6ipxUvXorxsnq9M7P0MS13pV.gif)
Other readers see a comment only after you approve it.

## Approve and answer comments

1. In the left menu, click **Comments**. The badge shows how many comments are waiting.
2. Comments waiting for approval are listed under **Pending**, each with the article it was left on.
3. Click **Approve** to publish a comment on the article.
4. To answer, click **Reply**, write your answer and click **Reply** again. Your reply is published at once, under the reader's comment.

![Screen recording. Click Comments in the left menu. The badge counts comments waiting. Click Approve to publish it on the article. To answer a reader, open Published and click Reply. Click Reply again. Your reply is published at once.](https://helpcenter-io.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/self/nqCDUI0MmcvTrYpn9IBw9gmmO3SdbOuBF5CmxMG0.gif)
Approved comments and your replies appear on the article right away.

**Comments** appears in the left menu once you publish a design that has the Comments component. If it isn't there, publish a design that has it. See [Add ratings and comments to articles](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/ratings-and-comments).

## Find comments

Each tab shows how many comments it holds: **Pending**, **Published**, **Unpublished** and **Deleted**. Above the list you can:

- search the text of comments and commenters' names and email addresses,
- pick a language, or **All languages**, if your help center has more than one. The menu shows how many comments wait in each language,
- sort by **Newest first** or **Oldest first**,
- switch between **Threads**, which shows each comment with its replies, and **List**. Pending and deleted comments, and search results, are always listed one by one,
- click **Refresh** to load new comments.

To see one article's comments, open the article in the editor and click **All comments** in its comments panel. The Comments page opens with only that article's comments. Clear the filter to see them all again.

## Other actions

| Action | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Unpublish** | Takes a published comment off the article and moves it to **Unpublished**. **Publish** brings it back. |
| **Move back to pending** | In the row's menu. Returns a published or unpublished comment to **Pending**. |
| **Delete** | Moves the comment to **Deleted**. If it has replies, readers see "This comment was deleted." in its place. |
| **Restore** | Brings a deleted comment back. |
| **Delete permanently** | Removes a deleted comment for good. It appears only for comments that never had replies. |
| **View on help center** | Opens a published comment on the article. |

After you approve, publish, unpublish or delete a comment, click **Undo** in the confirmation within ten seconds to reverse it.

To handle several comments at once, tick them, or tick **Select all**, then pick an action from the bar that appears: approve, publish, unpublish, delete or restore, depending on the tab.

When you reply, you can format your answer in bold or italic and link to one of your articles. Replying to a pending comment shows an **Also approve** tick, so the reader's comment and your answer go live together.

Editors can approve, unpublish and reply. Deleting, restoring and permanently deleting comments are for Owners and Admins.

## Emails about comments

- When a reader comments on an article, the article's author gets an email: "A new comment has been posted".
- When a reply to a reader's comment is published, the reader gets "Your comment got a reply". Readers can unsubscribe from these emails.

You can also list, approve and answer comments from an AI assistant. See [What AI agents can do in your help center](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/ai-agent-tools).

## Troubleshooting

**Readers can't see a comment form.** Add the **Comments** component to your article page in the template editor and publish your design. See [Add ratings and comments to articles](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/ratings-and-comments).

**Approved comments don't appear under the article.** Check that **Show comments below the article** is on for the Comments component. When it's off, readers can still comment, and you read the comments here.

## Related articles

- [Add ratings and comments to articles](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/ratings-and-comments)
- [How do I turn on reader comments?](https://self.helpcenter.io/content/turn-on-comments)