Comments and Annotations - make private or turn off

Hi ​@MWMWMWMWMWMWMW, welcome to the Box Community! I’m happy to help you configure your folders securely.

Here is what you need to know about comments, annotations, and collaborator visibility in Box, along with the recommended settings to completely prevent external reviewers from discovering one another.
 

1. Turning off comments and annotations

In Box, comments and annotations cannot be set to “private” on a per-previewer basis while still remaining visible to the folder owner. However, you can completely disable commenting and annotations across the entire folder:

1. In Box, navigate to the folder you are sharing.
2. Click the ellipsis (…) next to the folder name (or right-click) and select Settings.
3. Scroll down to the Commenting section.
4. Check the box for Disable commenting for this folder.
5. Click Save Changes at the top right of the page.

What this does:

• Existing comments and annotations on files within the folder are hidden from collaborators.
• Collaborators (including Previewers) will no longer be able to add new comments or create annotations.
• The @mention autocomplete functionality is completely removed, preventing anyone from typing a letter to look up names of other collaborators.
   

2. Best practice: Combining privacy settings

To ensure complete collaborator anonymity, Box recommends pairing the Hide Collaborators setting with Disable Commenting:

• Step 1: In Folder Settings > Privacy, check Hide collaborators and their activity from non-owners.
• Step 2: In Folder Settings > Commenting, check Disable commenting for this folder.

When both settings are enabled together, non-owner collaborators will only see themselves and folder owners/co-owners in the collaborator sidebar, and the @mention feature in comments/annotations will be entirely suppressed.
 

3. Other potential exposure areas to keep in mind

To ensure your reviewers cannot discover each other in any other way, please be aware of the following:

• Version history: Non-owner collaborator names appear in the file version history when they upload a new file version. Because your reviewers are assigned the Previewer role, they do not have upload permissions, eliminating this risk.
• Tasks: Avoid assigning tasks on files within this folder, as task assignment histories or notifications may display collaborator names.
• Box Notes & real-time co-authoring: Collaborative editing in Box Notes displays active user icons and names. (Note: Microsoft Office Online co-authoring is automatically disabled when the Hide Collaborators setting is active).
• Shared links: Ensure you are inviting users directly via scoped folder collaboration rather than using open shared links (e.g., “People in your company”).

Please let us know if you have any further questions. Have a great day!

I am currently on a Business Starter trial, and I don’t see these options. Are they only available in a higher tier membership?

Hi ​@MWMWMWMWMWMWMW, thank you for the additional information about your account. To clarify, the advanced features are only available on higher tier plans.

Here are the tier requirements and availability restrictions for the features and settings I’ve mentioned above:

1. Disable Commenting for this folder

   • Plan / Tier Limitation: The folder-level commenting setting "Disable commenting for this folder" is available only to Enterprise-level accounts (e.g., Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Advanced). It is currently not available in Starter, Business, or Free/Individual tiers.

2. Previewer Role (and other advanced roles)

   • Plan / Tier Limitation: The Previewer collaborator role (along with Co-owner, Uploader, Viewer Uploader, and Previewer Uploader) is only available on Business and Enterprise accounts. On Starter and personal accounts, only the Editor and Viewer collaborator roles are supported.

3. Hide Collaborators and their activity from non-owners

   • Availability: This setting is available in folder settings across Business/Enterprise plans where folder privacy and custom collaboration controls are supported.

4. Shared link security options (password protection & expiration)

   • Plan / Tier Limitation: Features such as password-protecting shared links and setting shared link auto-expiration are restricted to paid plans only and are not available on free Individual accounts.

5. Standard features available across plans:

   • Tasks, Version History, Box Notes, and standard Shared Links are core Box collaboration features available across tiers, though specific administrative controls, retention, and advanced permission enforcement depend on having a paid/business tier.

Thank you!