Project communication rarely stays confined to the documents themselves. Questions move to email, decisions happen in phone calls, and by the time a drawing is revised, nobody can fully reconstruct who said what or when. This creates accountability gaps and makes it difficult to manage change as the project grows.
Rather than emailing the structural engineer about a clash in the foundation drawings, the design manager creates a comment directly on the drawing in Dalux, assigns it to the relevant user group, and the entire coordination team sees the status in real time.
Once comments and communication channels are in place:
- All dialogue is linked directly to the relevant drawing, document, or model
- Decisions and clarifications are stored as part of the project record
- The right stakeholders are involved in the right conversations
- Communication stays out of email and inside the project
The benefit of comments
Comments are structured messages typically linked directly to a document, drawing, or BIM model, replacing fragmented external communication with traceable, document-linked dialogue. A comment can carry annotations, a status, a deadline, a responsible party, and a full message thread, all tied to the exact location in the document it concerns.
Comments are not a chat tool. They are a coordination record. Without structure, all comments flow into one undifferentiated stream.
Use the available fields consistently
The predefined comment type in Box Standard includes four fields: created by, assigned to, deadline, and priority. Filling them in on every comment ensures each issue has a clear owner, a timeframe, and a sense of urgency, making it easier for the whole team to prioritize and follow up.
Give the right user groups access to comments
In Box Standard, all user groups with access to comments can create and view all comments in the project. Review which user groups need to be part of the coordination and make sure access is assigned accordingly before the team starts working.
How to activate comments
Comments are activated by default in new projects. If not, activate them in your Box settings:
Then, add all roles that should be able to create comments to the 'Groups with access'.
Note
In Box Standard, you can use a predefined comment type and give users access via user groups. For projects that require structured coordination categories, such as clash coordination or document review, Box Pro supports multiple communication channels and comment types, giving team smore precise control over who participates and what comment types are used in each.
Best practice for comments
When enabling communication for your project, keep access to a minimum at first and gradually increase it as needed. The following groups should always have access:
- Architects and Engineers review designs from other disciplines and address the comments assigned to them.
- Design managers coordinate comments and issues with the entire design team.
- The building owner is responsible for making final decisions on comments when the decisions are unclear.
Read more
We recommend following the step-by-step articles before deep-diving into features, but if you want to read about comments in more detail, read these articles:
With your folder structure, user groups, file areas, and communication in place, you're ready to invite users to the project. The final step is to verify your setup before going live.