Comments and working together

Leave comments on individual fields, resolve discussions, and see who else is editing.

Writing a protocol is a team effort. Trelice lets you discuss individual fields right where they are, see who else is working in a section, share a link that lands a colleague on the exact field you mean, and make clear who owns each section. None of it requires email.

Commenting on a field#

Every field in a form section can carry its own discussion, anchored to that field so the context is never lost.

1. Rest your mouse on the field's label. A faint speech-bubble chip appears beside it. (Once a field has comments, the chip stays visible and shows the count; it turns amber while any discussion is still open.)
2. Click the chip. A panel opens headed with the field's name.
3. Type into the box that says "Start a discussion on this field…" and click Comment.

What you'll see: your comment appears as a thread marked Open, with your name and how long ago you wrote it.

In free-text sections there are no individual fields, so a single comment chip sits at the top right of the text area and anchors discussion to the section's content as a whole. The Additional Notes (optional) panel in form sections has its own chip too.

Replying and resolving#

• To reply, open the thread, type in the box that says "Reply…", and click Reply (or press Enter).
• When a discussion is settled, click Resolve at the top right of the thread. The thread turns gray, is marked Resolved, and its replies collapse out of the way.
• Changed your mind? Click Reopen on a resolved thread.

Note: resolving is bookkeeping only — it tidies the list but never blocks or approves anything. Approval decisions live in the review process.

Finding all discussion in a section#

You do not need to hunt through fields. Above the section's action bar sits a Discussion button showing counts like "2 open" and "5 threads".

1. Click Discussion.
2. Threads appear grouped by field, with unresolved ones first.
3. Click a field's name in the list to scroll straight to it in the form.

Seeing who else is here#

When a colleague has the same section open, a blue banner appears across the top of the editor with their name: "…is also editing this section. Your save will warn before overwriting their changes."

This is a courtesy notice, not a lock — you can both keep working. If you do save over each other, Trelice steps in with a clear choice and keeps every version in the history; see conflict handling in the editor overview. Still, when you see the banner, a quick word with your colleague saves everyone time.

Sharing a link to an exact field#

Instead of writing "in Study Design, under Overview, the third box down", send a link.

1. Rest your mouse on the field's label. A small chain-link icon appears (its tooltip reads Copy link to this field).
2. Click it. The icon briefly turns into a green check and the tooltip says Link copied.
3. Paste the link into a comment, an email, or a chat message.

When a colleague opens the link, Trelice opens the protocol, switches to the right section, scrolls to the field, and highlights it. If they are not signed in, they sign in first and land there afterwards. The pending tasks page and notifications use the same kind of deep link.

Assigning a writer#

Each section can have one assigned writer — the person responsible for drafting it.

1. Open the section. In the panel below the editing area, find Assigned writer:.
2. Click + Assign writer and pick a colleague from the list. Each entry shows their name and role.
3. To unassign, click the small × on the writer's name chip.

What you'll see: the writer's name appears in a purple chip beside Assigned writer:, and in small purple text under the section's title in the left-hand list — so anyone scanning the protocol can see who owns what.

Being assigned means the section counts as that person's work: it appears against their name in Pending tasks, and the due dates set beside the assignment — Authoring due: and Review due: — are measured against them. When a due date passes, the section shows Overdue or Review overdue in red in the section list.

Note: assignment is about responsibility, not permission. Colleagues with editing rights can still contribute to the section; see Roles and permissions for who can edit what.

Troubleshooting: if the comment panel says "You don't have permission to comment here.", your role has read-only access to this protocol. Ask an administrator if that seems wrong.

When the section is drafted and discussions are settled, the next step is sending it for review.