--- title: "Comments, @Mentions and Deep Links in Questions and Answers" description: "Reference for the collaboration features of the Vitextra Questions and Answers web part: comments on questions as standard SharePoint list comments, the comment counter and the folding of long discussions, @mentions shown as live profile cards, who can comment and how to turn commenting off, and deep links — the Copy Link button, the ?questionId=N address, how the linked question is opened, highlighted and fetched, and how to use links in support work." url: https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10381 language: en published: 2026-10-31 modified: 2026-10-31 products: - "Questions & Answers" author: "Lidija Reising" tags: ["FAQ comments SharePoint web part", "list item comments web part", "@mention live profile card", "deep link to FAQ question", "questionId URL parameter", "copy link to question SharePoint", "disable comments SharePoint list", "Vitextra Questions and Answers"] --- # Comments, @Mentions and Deep Links in Questions and Answers Reference for the collaboration features of the Vitextra Questions and Answers web part: comments on questions as standard SharePoint list comments, the comment counter and the folding of long discussions, @mentions shown as live profile cards, who can comment and how to turn commenting off, and deep links — the Copy Link button, the ?questionId=N address, how the linked question is opened, highlighted and fetched, and how to use links in support work. ## Overview Two features turn a static FAQ into something people use together. **Comments** let readers add to an answer — a tip, a correction, a follow-up question — right under it. **Deep links** let anybody point a colleague to one specific answer with a single address. This article describes both in detail: where the data lives, who can do what, and how the behaviour is controlled. ## Comments ### What readers see With **Show Comments** switched to *Show* in the **Show/Hide** group, every expanded question ends with a **Comments** block: a text box *Add a comment…* with a send button, and the existing comments below it with the author's photo, name, text and relative time. The header shows the number of comments — **Comments (4)** — and the speech-bubble badge in the question header is colored when at least one comment exists. Up to five comments are shown; when there are more, a **Show more** link reveals the rest. Without comments, the block says *No comments yet. Be the first one to comment.* ![The Comments block](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10381/comments-block-en.png) *The Comments block* ### Where comments are stored The comments are the **standard SharePoint list comments** of the question's list item — the same comments you see when you open the item in the list and expand the comments pane. Nothing is stored outside the list. Consequences: - comments written in the web part appear in the list, and comments written in the list appear in the web part; - they follow the retention, eDiscovery and audit settings of the site like any other list content; - Microsoft 365 sends the usual notifications for list comments (for example, to a mentioned person); - deleting a question deletes its comments. ### @Mentions A comment that mentions a colleague with **@** — written in the comments pane of the SharePoint list — is shown in the web part with the name as a **live profile card**: hovering over it opens the Microsoft 365 card with contact details and the chat and call buttons. The comment box of the web part itself is a plain text box; to mention somebody, write the comment in the list, where SharePoint offers the people picker when you type **@**. ### Who can comment Comments follow the SharePoint permissions of the list. Everybody who can open the list sees the comments; to **add** a comment, a user needs the right to contribute to the list — in practice the **Contribute** or **Edit** permission level, the same as for **Ask a Question**. A reader with view-only access sees the comments and the input box, but SharePoint rejects the comment. A comment can be deleted by its author and by users who manage the list; editing a comment is not possible in SharePoint. ### Turning comments off Two levels: - **For the web part** — set **Show Comments** to *Hide* in **Show/Hide**. The block and the badge disappear from the page; the comments stay in the list. - **For the list** — open the list, **Settings → List settings → Advanced settings → Comments → No**. Commenting is then impossible everywhere, in the list and in every web part connected to it; the web part shows the existing comments but no input box. 📝 **Note** Comments are for discussion, not for maintaining the answer. When a comment points out that an answer is wrong, the editor updates the **Answer** column — readers who skim the answer do not read the comments. ## Deep links ### The Copy Link button With **Copy Link** enabled in the **Behavior** group, every question header shows a link button on hover. Clicking it writes the address of the current page with the parameter `?questionId=` to the clipboard, where `` is the ID of the list item; the icon turns into a check mark for two seconds to confirm. The address looks like `https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/intranet/SitePages/FAQ.aspx?questionId=42`. It can be pasted into chat, e-mail, a ticket or another page. ![The Copy Link button](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10381/copy-link-en.png) *The Copy Link button* ### What happens when a link is opened When the page is opened with `?questionId=N`: 1. the web part loads the list as usual (the first page, if paged loading is on); 2. if question *N* is not among the loaded questions, it fetches that question separately and adds it to the list in the configured sort position; 3. the question is **expanded**, regardless of **Collapse by default**; 4. the page **scrolls** to it and the question is **highlighted** for a moment. If the question does not exist, is unpublished or belongs to another list, nothing happens: the page shows the knowledge base normally. A deep link therefore never reveals an unpublished question. The links are independent of the page's other features: a page with the category filter or search box opens the linked question just the same, and a page with several Questions and Answers web parts highlights the question in the web part whose list contains that ID. ### Where deep links help - **Support and service desk** — answer a ticket with the link to the ready answer instead of retyping it; the user lands on exactly the right place and sees the whole knowledge base around it. - **Onboarding checklists** — link each step of a checklist to the relevant question. - **Announcements and news** — "The travel policy has changed, see the updated answer here." - **Teams** — paste the link in a channel; it opens in the browser with the question expanded. A link remains valid as long as the question keeps its ID — editing the answer does not change the link; deleting the question and re-creating it does.