How to Enable or Disable Comments in SharePoint Online List?

The “Comment” feature introduced in SharePoint Online modern lists allows users to comment on SharePoint Online list items. Commenting is a great way to collect feedback and keep track of changes in essential documents. However, in some cases, you may want to disable comments on a list to prevent unwanted content. This article will show you how to enable or disable comments in your SharePoint list.

Disable Comments in SharePoint Online List Items

Although comments in SharePoint Online list items are a great new feature, you may want to hide it in some scenarios! E.g., It may confuse end-users of lists that already have a comments field. No one can add or view comments on list items if you disable comments. Let’s see how to disable comments in lists:

SharePoint Online: Disable comments at the list level

Comments in SharePoint lists provide an effective way of exchanging ideas and collaborating with others. To disable comments in the SharePoint Online list, do the following:

1. Go to your SharePoint list >> Click on the settings gear icon >> Select List settings.
2. On the List Settings page, click on the “Advanced” link.
3. Under the “Comments” section, set the “Allow comments on list items?” to Yes or “No” according to your requirement. This setting determines whether users can add comments to items in the list.
   

   

4. Click on OK to save the changes.

This setting turns off comments in the SharePoint Online list. The same thing can be achieved with PowerShell as well:

#Set Variables
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com"
$ListName = "Tasks"

#Connect to PnP Online
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Interactive
$List = Get-PnPList $ListName

#Disable Comments
$List.DisableCommenting = $true
$List.Update()
Invoke-PnPQuery

This setting determines whether contributors can add comments to items in the list. Once disabled, the comments panel will be hidden by default. On clicking the comments button, it gives a “Comments are turned off for this list” message (doesn’t hide existing comments, As a side note!).

How to disable list comments at the tenant level using PowerShell?

To disable list item comments globally at the tenant level, Login as a SharePoint Admin/Global Admin and use the Set-SPOTenant PowerShell cmdlet with CommentsOnListItemsDisabled parameter. This can be helpful if you want to remove the ability for users to add comments to lists in your SharePoint Online environment:

#Connect to SharePoint Online
Connect-SPOService -Url https://crescent-admin.sharepoint.com

#Disable comments on list items
Set-SPOTenant -CommentsOnListItemsDisabled $True

This PowerShell disables comments on all lists tenant-wide (not for specific sites). To enable the comments back, use the following:

#Enable comments on list items
Set-SPOTenant -CommentsOnListItemsDisabled $False

Wrapping up

While comments can be useful for collaborating and sharing ideas, in some cases you may want to disable comments. Disabling list comments in SharePoint Online can help prevent unwanted content, and ensure that your lists are being used in the most effective way possible. By following the steps outlined above, you can easily disable comments on a list in SharePoint Online, either at the list level or for the entire tenant, giving you greater control over your content and how it is used.