TL;DR
Comment mentions in Plutio let freelancers and teams tag workspace members with @ in any comment or description, triggering an instant notification that links directly to the conversation context.
Plutio supports @mentions in four places: task comments, task descriptions, conversation messages, and file comments. Typing @ opens an autocomplete dropdown listing workspace members, and selecting a name adds that person to the comment's mentions array and fires a configurable notification via web push, desktop, mobile, or email. Over 60% of Plutio teams using @mentions report faster response times on task feedback, cutting the average delay from 8+ hours down to under 2 hours for approval requests and questions routed through comments instead of email.
Comment mentions are included on all Plutio plans starting at $19/month, with a 7-day free trial. No setup is needed beyond having team members invited to the workspace.
What comment mentions are
Comment mentions are an @-based tagging feature that notifies a specific person when their name is referenced in a comment, description, or message, creating a direct communication link inside the project context rather than through a separate channel.
In Plutio, every comment stores a mentions array that tracks which workspace members were tagged. When a user types @ in a comment field, an autocomplete dropdown appears showing all workspace members. Selecting a name inserts the mention inline and adds the user to the mentions array, which triggers the notification pipeline. The mentioned person receives a notification with the comment text and a link that opens directly to the comment location, whether that is a task, a conversation thread, or a file attachment.
@mentions in task comments and descriptions
Task comments are the most common place for @mentions. A designer finishing a mockup can @mention the project lead in the task comment to request approval, and the project lead gets a notification linking to that exact comment on that exact task. Task descriptions also support @mentions, so when writing a brief or updating requirements, tagging the developer responsible puts the update in front of them without a separate message. The mention stays visible in the description text, making it clear who was notified and when.
@mentions in conversations and file comments
Beyond tasks, Plutio's conversation messages and file comments also support @mentions. In a conversation thread about a client deliverable, @mentioning the copywriter pulls them into the discussion with a notification. File comments work the same way: leave feedback on an uploaded design file, @mention the designer, and the notification links directly to the file and comment. The distinction matters because mentions always link to the context, not just a generic notification inbox, so the recipient opens the comment, the file, or the task rather than searching for what the notification refers to.
Before @mentions, I'd email my developer about task updates and they'd miss it in their inbox. Now I @mention them on the task and they respond within the hour. Everything stays on the task where it belongs.
Why comment mentions matter for team collaboration
Without @mentions, comments are passive. Someone posts feedback on a task, but nobody gets notified, so the comment sits unread until someone happens to open that task again. On a project with 30+ tasks and three team members, feedback requests in task comments can go unnoticed for 2 to 5 days, and that delay stalls dependent work downstream.
The workaround is email. A freelancer finishes a draft, posts a comment on the task, then opens their email client to message the reviewer separately. Now the feedback lives in two places: the task comment has the context, and the email has the notification. When the reviewer responds by email instead of on the task, the reply never makes it back to the project, so anyone else on the team misses the update entirely. Across 10 projects, that pattern adds 3 to 5 hours per week in duplicated communication and status-checking.
Asana includes @mentions on all plans and has built the feature into comments, task descriptions, and project status updates. Monday.com also supports @mentions in item updates across all plan tiers. Both tools treat @mentions as a core collaboration feature rather than a premium add-on, because notification routing inside project context is what keeps teams from falling back to email for every question.
The real cost of missing @mentions is not the notification delay itself but the communication that moves outside the project. Every question asked by email instead of in a task comment is a piece of project history that disappears from the project record.
Plutio's @mentions keep questions, approvals, and feedback routed through the same task, conversation, or file where the work lives, so the full communication history stays searchable and visible to everyone on the project.
How comment mentions work in Plutio
Type @ in any comment field, select a workspace member from the autocomplete list, post the comment, and the mentioned person gets an instant notification with a direct link to the comment context.
Before using @mentions, make sure team members are invited to the workspace. Any workspace member, including collaborators and clients with portal access, can be mentioned as long as they have comment visibility on the relevant task, conversation, or file.
Step by step
- Step 1: Open a task, conversation, or file in Plutio and navigate to the comment field or description editor.
- Step 2: Type @ anywhere in the text. An autocomplete dropdown appears showing workspace members. Start typing a name to filter the list.
- Step 3: Select the person to mention. Their name appears as a highlighted mention in the text, and Plutio adds them to the comment's mentions array.
- Step 4: Write the rest of the comment with the question, feedback, or approval request. Post the comment.
- Step 5: The mentioned person receives a notification (configurable: web push, desktop, mobile, or email). Clicking the notification opens the exact comment in context, whether on a task, in a conversation, or on a file.
Practical tip: mention the person at the start of the comment when asking a direct question, so the notification preview shows who is asking and what they need. Recipients can then prioritize without opening every notification.
Who needs comment mentions
Freelancers working with subcontractors, agencies managing multi-person projects, and any team where task feedback requires a response from a specific person get the most value from @mentions in comments.
A freelance web developer working with a designer and a copywriter on a $5,000 website project needs to route feedback to specific people on specific tasks. Without @mentions, the developer posts a comment on the homepage design task asking the designer for a revision, then sends a separate Slack message to make sure the designer sees it. With @mentions, the comment itself triggers the notification, and the designer responds on the task where the revision request and all previous feedback are visible. Mention-based notifications save roughly 45 minutes per week on a 4-week project by eliminating duplicated messages across tools.
Agencies with 5+ team members and 10+ active projects rely on @mentions to keep approvals moving. A project manager reviewing deliverables can @mention the responsible team member on each task comment, creating an auditable trail of who was asked, when, and what they responded. Slack popularized @mentions in team messaging, and teams moving project discussions from Slack channels into Plutio task comments expect the same @mention behavior, with the added benefit that mentions live inside the project record rather than in a separate chat tool that has no connection to task status or deadlines.
Freelancers evaluating Trello alternatives often compare Trello's @mention support in card comments with Plutio's broader implementation across task comments, descriptions, conversations, and file comments. Trello's @mentions work within card comments but lack the notification customization (web push, desktop, mobile, email) that Plutio offers through its notification settings.
Bottom line: any team with more than one person contributing to a project needs @mentions to route questions and approvals through the project itself rather than through email or a separate messaging app.
