Documentation Center

Understanding detached comments

Comments can become detached from the original text (or graphic) if content changes or the publication version is updated in Content Manager.

In fact, the entire topic or publication to which the comment belongs could be deleted.

In the scenarios that follow, comments can become detached, but still exist and refer to the historical content stored in Content Manager.

Retaining comments when you delete a publication

When you delete a publication, you have the option to delete both the publication and all comments in it, or delete the publication but retain the comments.
  • If you choose not to delete the comments when you delete a publication, the publication is removed from, but the comments remain available.
  • If you do delete all comments when you delete the publication, the comments are permanently removed from both the publication and the repository. The comments no longer appear in Comments (tabular view).

Undeleted comments still appear in Comments (tabular view) after the publication is deleted. Topic links are inactive because the topics were deleted along with the publication. If the publication is re-published (using the same name and same version, but creating a new revision), the comments are re-attached to the topics and the links in Comments (tabular view) become active.

Creating a new version of a publication

When you create a new version of a publication in Content Manager, no comments in any topics appear when that publication is published.

Removing a Topicref from a map

If you add comments to a topic that is subsequently removed from a map that is referenced in a publication that is then re-published, those comments become detached, and topic links in Comments (tabular view) become inactive.