# Spotlight Comments and Document Comments

**URL:** https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738
**Category:** Tips
**Created:** [August 16, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738 "2017-08-16T12:52:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![halloleo](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/halloleo/32/28940_2.png) [@halloleo](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/halloleo)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/1 "2017-08-16T12:52:31Z")

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What do these two metadata field differentiate on? Why is there not only one field? And can I make the Document Comment field appear in the pop-over of a record as the Spotlight comment does?

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### Author: ![Greg\_Jones](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/greg_jones/32/7251_2.png) [@Greg\_Jones](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Greg_Jones)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/2 "2017-08-16T13:11:47Z")

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All the document properties, including comments, are metadata for a particular document type, not universal properties that can be edited for any document. DEVON has a pretty good blog post explaining this:

[blog.devontechnologies.com/2016/ … seful-for/](http://blog.devontechnologies.com/2016/11/tuesday-tip-what-the-properties-pane-is-useful-for/)

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### Author: ![halloleo](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/halloleo/32/28940_2.png) [@halloleo](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/halloleo)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2017, 8:15am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/3 "2017-08-18T08:15:07Z")

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Thanks Greg. The blog post explains it all.

So as a general notes field usable for all record types I guess the Spotlight comment is the way to go…

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### Author: ![Greg\_Jones](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/greg_jones/32/7251_2.png) [@Greg\_Jones](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/Greg_Jones)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2017, 9:48am UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/4 "2017-08-18T09:48:57Z")

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I agree completely.

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### Author: ![vasbinde](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/85f322/32.png) [@vasbinde](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/vasbinde)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/5 "2020-10-15T17:36:40Z")

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I was looking for this exactly today, but since 2017, the link has changed. This is the new link in case anyone needs it: [https://www.devontechnologies.com/blog/tuesdaytipwhatthepropertiespaneisusefulfor](https://www.devontechnologies.com/blog/tuesdaytipwhatthepropertiespaneisusefulfor)

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### Author: ![BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bluefrog/32/135_2.png) [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2020, 5:43pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/6 "2020-10-15T17:43:24Z")

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It’s also no longer currently pertinent since DEVONthink 2.x is out of development and DEVONthink 3 had the **Document \> Properties** inspector.

 ![image](https://devontech-discourse.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/original/3X/9/5/95250788dcde0790b02359225136930378e62075.jpeg)

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### Author: ![vasbinde](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/85f322/32.png) [@vasbinde](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/vasbinde)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/7 "2020-10-15T17:44:59Z")

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I was more interested in _why_ I could not edit the Comment field for a PDF itself, but could add it to the Finder metadata. Unfortunately, I cannot find which documents support which document fields.

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### Author: ![BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bluefrog/32/135_2.png) [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/8 "2020-10-15T17:50:40Z")

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> _why_ I could not edit the Comment field for a PDF itself, but could add it to the Finder metadata.

Because they are not the same thing. Spotlight comments in the Finder are distinct from the comments in the Properties inspector _(and this was also the case in DEVONthink 2.x)_.

> Unfortunately, I cannot find which documents support which document fields.

From the blog post you linked… `PDF and rich text (RTF) documents support certain kinds of metadata.`.

Also in the DEVONthink 3’s **Help \> Documentation \> Inspectors \> Document \> Properties** …

 ![image](https://devontech-discourse.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/original/3X/c/a/ca6d2ac03e008d8a7f87f7636a5c764f50e9c372.jpeg)

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### Author: ![vasbinde](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/v/85f322/32.png) [@vasbinde](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/vasbinde)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/9 "2020-10-15T17:56:02Z")

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I noticed this item in the documentation above, “Depending on the document type, you may be able to edit or view these properties. More fields may be available depending on the document type.”

Which document types allow you to edit each property? Do we have a list somewhere? FYI - If PDFs are allowed for editing the Comments field, it’s not working on mine.

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### Author: ![BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bluefrog/32/135_2.png) [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/10 "2020-10-15T18:10:20Z")

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Rich text supports all the properties.  
PDF supports: Author, Title, Subject, and Keywords.

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### Author: ![capa](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/capa/32/21242_2.png) [@capa](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/capa)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/11 "2024-02-07T19:57:06Z")

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I found this post while trying to learn more about the “Comment” field and just wanted to check – I have added comments for a couple of PDFs in DTTG yet when I check the same files through DT3, the comment field isn’t editable. What am I missing? And is there any way to make the text added in the Comment section visible in DT3 as metadata? Thank you!

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### Author: ![BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/user_avatar/discourse.devontechnologies.com/bluefrog/32/135_2.png) [@BLUEFROG](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/u/BLUEFROG)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2024, 10:20pm UTC](https://discourse.devontechnologies.com/t/spotlight-comments-and-document-comments/22738/12 "2024-02-07T22:20:43Z")

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You’re looking at the wrong comment field in DEVONthink.  
You should be looking at the **Finder Comments** field in the **Annotations & Reminders** inspector, not the **Info \> Properties** inspector. They are not the same thing.
