How to add files and comments to a task
Attach files to a task, talk about it in its Activity feed, and read back what happened and when.
Every file belonging to a task, and everything said about it, lives on the task itself. Files sit in the Attachments section of the task panel, and comments sit in its Activity feed. The panel is covered in How to edit a task.
How do you attach a file?
Open the task and click Attach files under Attachments, then choose one or more files. They start uploading straight away, and the button reads Uploading… until they are on.
Keep each file to 25 MB or smaller. Images show as thumbnails you can click to view, and any other file downloads when you click it.
You can also attach files while creating the task, per How to create a task. A task made from a chat message brings that message's photos and files with it, per How to turn a conversation into work.
Who can attach and remove files?
Anyone with the Edit tasks row on Settings › Permissions in the task's department, which members have by default. The same people can remove any file on the task with its X, including one somebody else added.
That is deliberate. The file belongs to the task, not to the person who happened to add it.
Can you attach from your phone?
Yes. In the iPhone app, open the task and tap Attach under Attachments. Choose Take photo, Photo library or Choose file.
This is usually where photos of a damaged delivery or a finished sample come from. See How to use chat and tasks on your phone for the rest of tasks on the iPhone.
Why did a file refuse to attach?
When a file has nothing in it, a message reads "That file looks empty." Export or save it again, then attach the new copy.
A task set to repeat takes files on each task the schedule creates, not on the schedule. Open the task once it appears and attach the file there; see How to make a task repeat.
How do you comment?
Type in the Add a comment… box at the foot of the Activity feed, then click Comment. Cmd+Enter on a Mac, or Ctrl+Enter on Windows, sends it from the keyboard.
Type @ to tag a teammate, a document, another task or a record from the menu that appears. A teammate you tag gets the comment in their Work › Inbox. See How to tag people, tasks, documents and products for everything the @ menu can tag.
Commenting needs the Leave comments row on Settings › Permissions in the task's department, which members have by default.
How do you edit or delete a comment?
Hover your own comment to see a pencil and a bin. The pencil opens the text to edit, and the comment then shows (edited) beside its time.
The bin asks Delete comment? before it goes. Make sure before you press Delete, because a deleted comment cannot be brought back.
To remove somebody else's comment, use the iPhone app: press and hold the comment and choose Delete comment. That works for people with the Delete other people's tasks and comments row in the task's department, which leads have by default.
What is the Activity feed?
One list, oldest at the top, that holds the comments and what happened to the task: who assigned it, moved its status, and completed or reopened it. Reading the two together tells you more than reading them apart.
Show earlier at the top loads older entries. A task with nothing on it yet reads "Nothing here yet."
For records of your own Objects, the same feed also shows which field changed and from what. That is covered in How to comment on a record and see its history.
When should the conversation live in chat instead?
When it is a conversation rather than a note on the work. A comment is read by whoever opens the task, usually later. A chat message is read now, by whoever is in the channel.
A useful habit is to talk in chat, then turn the outcome into a task, which keeps a link back to the conversation. See How to turn a conversation into work.
If what you are writing runs past a paragraph or two and other people will need to find it again, make it a document. See What are documents?.