You have disabled comments on a Notion page, yet comment bubbles or the comment thread still appear for other workspace members. This happens because Notion treats comments as part of the page content, not as a simple toggle. Disabling comments only prevents new comments from being added, but existing comments remain visible unless they are manually deleted. This article explains why comments persist and provides a clear, step-by-step method to fully remove visible comments from any Notion page.
Key Takeaways: Removing Persistent Comment Visibility in Notion
- Page menu > Turn off comments: Prevents new comments but does not hide existing ones.
- Three-dot menu > Delete all comments: Permanently removes all comment threads from the page.
- Comment bubble icon in top bar: Collapses the comment sidebar but does not remove comments from the page history.
Why Comments Remain Visible After Disabling Them
Notion separates the ability to comment from the visibility of existing comments. When you use the page menu to turn off comments, you only revoke the permission to write new comments or reply to existing threads. The existing comment objects stay embedded in the page database. Any workspace member who can view the page can still see those comment icons and the full thread in the sidebar.
The root cause is that Notion treats comments as page content, not as a temporary overlay. Deleting a comment thread is the only action that removes its visual presence. If you want a page that looks as if comments were never used, you must purge all comment threads before or after disabling the comment feature.
How Comment Permissions Work in Notion
Notion page permissions are set at the page level. The comment permission is a boolean: allowed or not allowed. When you disable comments, the system blocks the comment input field and the reply button. However, the comment database entries remain in the page’s block tree. The page rendering engine still loads those blocks and displays them as gray comment bubbles next to the text. The only way to stop the rendering is to delete the comment blocks.
Steps to Completely Remove Visible Comments From a Notion Page
- Open the page where comments are visible
Navigate to the Notion page that still shows comment bubbles or the comment sidebar. Make sure you have full edit permissions for this page. Only the page owner or an admin can delete comments. - Open the comment sidebar
Click the comment bubble icon in the top-right toolbar of the page. This opens the comment sidebar that lists every thread attached to the page. - Delete each comment thread
Hover over a comment thread in the sidebar. Click the three-dot icon that appears on the right side of the thread header. Select Delete from the menu. Repeat this for every thread on the page. There is no bulk delete option for comments in Notion as of this writing. - Confirm deletion
A confirmation dialog appears asking if you are sure you want to delete the thread. Click Delete to confirm. The thread and its associated comment bubble disappear immediately. - Disable new comments (optional)
If you also want to prevent future comments, click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of the page. Select Turn off comments. The comment input field and reply button will be hidden from all viewers. - Verify the page
Refresh the page or ask another workspace member to open it. Confirm that no comment bubbles appear next to the text and that the comment sidebar shows no threads.
If Notion Still Shows Comment Indicators After Deletion
Comment Bubble Appears but Sidebar Is Empty
This can happen if a comment was only partially deleted due to a sync lag. Close the page, wait 10 seconds, and reopen it. If the bubble persists, check the page history. Click the three-dot menu and select Page history. Look for a recent edit that might have restored a deleted comment. If you find one, restore the page to a version before the comment was re-added.
Guest or External User Can Still See Comments
Comments are visible to anyone who has access to the page, including guests. Deleting the threads removes them for all users simultaneously. If a guest still sees comments, they may be viewing a cached version. Ask the guest to hard refresh the page by pressing Ctrl+F5 on Windows or Cmd+Shift+R on Mac.
Comments Reappear After Page Duplication
When you duplicate a page, Notion copies all content including comments. If you delete comments on the original page but then duplicate it again from an older version, the comments come back. Always delete comments on the source page before duplicating, or delete them on the duplicated page immediately after creation.
Notion Comment Visibility: Disabled vs Deleted vs Hidden
| Item | Disabled Comments | Deleted Comments | Hidden Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | New comments blocked | All threads permanently removed | Comments collapsed but still in database |
| Visibility to editors | Existing threads visible | No threads visible | Threads hidden until expanded |
| Visibility to viewers | Existing threads visible | No threads visible | Threads hidden until expanded |
| Recovery possible | Yes, re-enable comments | No, unless restored from page history | Yes, expand the sidebar |
| Effect on new comments | Prevented | Prevented only if also disabled | Allowed |
The table above shows the three states of comment visibility in Notion. Disabling comments blocks new input but leaves old threads visible. Deleting comments removes them entirely but does not block new ones unless you also disable the feature. Hiding comments is not a native feature; the closest behavior is collapsing the sidebar, but that only hides the sidebar, not the inline comment bubbles.
You can now remove all visible comments from any Notion page by deleting each thread manually and then disabling the comment feature if needed. To prevent this issue in the future, delete sensitive or outdated comment threads immediately after they are resolved. As an advanced tip, use Notion’s page history to check if a deleted comment was accidentally restored by a collaborator and revert the page to a clean state.