Salesforce Case Comments: Setup and Best Practices
Salesforce Case Comments let agents and customers add information to a Case without overwriting the original description. A comment can be public or private, making the feature useful for customer updates, internal notes, troubleshooting details, and follow-up questions.
The most important rule is simple: agents must know exactly who can see a comment before they post it. A public comment can be exposed to an eligible customer through a portal or Experience Cloud experience, while a private comment is intended for internal users.
Quick answer: Use a public Case Comment for information the customer should see and a private Case Comment for internal context. Use email when you need a direct message and delivery trail, a File for a document or image, and a video request when the customer needs to demonstrate a visual or multi-step issue.
1. What are Case Comments in Salesforce?
A Case Comment is a child record related to a Salesforce Case. It adds a dated, attributable note to the case history and appears in the Case Comments related list or a configured case experience.
Common uses include:
- Asking the customer for more information
- Sharing a progress update
- Recording an internal troubleshooting observation
- Documenting a workaround
- Noting why the case was escalated
- Confirming that the customer approved closure
Case Comments are separate from the Case Description field. The description should explain the original issue, while comments should document the conversation and progress that follow.
Case Comments are only one part of the complete support workflow. Our Salesforce Case Management guide explains how comments, routing, investigation, escalation, and resolution fit into the full Case lifecycle.
2. Public vs. private Case Comments
Salesforce supports both public and private Case Comments.
Public Case Comments
A public Case Comment is intended to be visible to external users who are allowed to view the Case through the configured customer experience.
Public visibility does not grant access to the Case by itself. The external user still needs the appropriate record access, and the Experience Cloud site or portal must be configured to display comments.
Use a public comment for:
- A question the customer must answer
- A status update
- A workaround or resolution step
- A request for confirmation
- Information that is safe and useful for the customer to read
Before posting, remove:
- Internal speculation
- Employee names that should not be exposed
- Security-sensitive details
- References to other customers
- Internal escalation or engineering discussions
Private Case Comments
A private Case Comment is intended for internal users.
Use a private comment for:
- Triage notes
- Internal handoff context
- Engineering observations
- Escalation rationale
- Draft thinking that is not ready for the customer
- Sensitive operational information that belongs on the Case
Private does not mean unrestricted. Internal access still follows the organization’s Salesforce security model.
Do not use Case Comments as a substitute for an approved system for highly sensitive information.
3. The CaseComment object
Developers and integrations work with the CaseComment object.
Core fields include:
In most implementations:
- IsPublished = true means the Case Comment is public.
- IsPublished = false means the Case Comment is private.
To understand how CaseComment connects with the parent Case and other related records, see our technical guide to the Salesforce Case object.
Example: query recent Case Comments
SELECT Id,
ParentId,
CommentBody,
IsPublished,
CreatedById,
CreatedDate
FROM CaseComment
WHERE ParentId = '500XXXXXXXXXXXX'
ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC
Example: create a private Case Comment in Apex
CaseComment comment = new CaseComment(
ParentId = caseId,
CommentBody = 'Internal note: issue reproduced in the test environment.',
IsPublished = false
);
insert comment;
Example: create a public Case Comment in Apex
CaseComment comment = new CaseComment(
ParentId = caseId,
CommentBody = 'We reproduced the issue and are testing a fix. We will update you tomorrow.',
IsPublished = true
);
insert comment;
API editing and deletion behavior can be more restrictive than many teams expect.
Salesforce’s object reference notes that users generally need elevated permissions to modify a Case Comment after insertion. Without the appropriate permissions, updates may be limited to the publication status, and deletion may also be restricted.
Treat Case Comments as durable case history and verify the exact permissions in your Salesforce organization.
4. How to add Case Comments to the page
For internal users, ensure that the relevant Case page layout or Lightning page includes the Case Comments related list or the component used by your support team.
For customers, the configuration depends on the Experience Cloud or portal implementation.
Salesforce provides a Case Comments Publisher component for customer and agent collaboration in supported site templates.
Test the customer experience using a real external-user profile rather than relying only on an administrator preview.
Your test plan should confirm that:
- The customer can see only Cases they are authorized to access.
- Public comments are visible.
- Private comments are not visible.
- The customer can add a comment only when intended.
- Attachments and files follow the expected visibility rules.
- Email notifications contain no unintended internal content.
File visibility must be tested separately from comment visibility. Our guide to uploading files to Salesforce records explains the main upload methods and the permissions involved.
5. Case Comment notifications
Salesforce Support Settings can control notifications for new Case Comments.
Depending on the configuration, the Case owner or Case contact may receive an email notification when a comment is added.
Before enabling notifications broadly, decide:
- Which comments should trigger an email
- Whether customers should be notified about public comments
- Which sender address should be used
- Which email template should be applied
- How customer replies will be captured
- Whether automated comments should notify a person
Avoid duplicate communication.
When an agent sends an email and posts the same text as a public comment, the customer may receive two messages and the case timeline can become unnecessarily noisy.
6. Case Comments vs. other Salesforce communication options
The right communication method depends on the audience, record history, notification requirements, and type of information being shared.
Salesforce stores modern Files differently from legacy Attachments. Read our Salesforce Attachment Object vs. Files guide before building reporting, migration, or integration logic around customer evidence.
7. When a Case Comment is not enough
Case Comments work well for concise, text-based communication. They are less effective when an agent needs to understand a sequence of events.
Consider this comment:
“The page freezes after I click Save, but only sometimes.”
The agent still needs to know:
- Which page and record were involved
- What values were entered
- The exact sequence of clicks
- Whether an error message appeared
- What happened before and after the freeze
- Which browser, device, and environment were used
A screenshot may show the final state, but it does not capture the sequence.
A short screen recording can show the complete path, page state, error, and customer narration.
With Videolink’s Salesforce integration, an agent can request a video directly from the Case workflow. The customer opens a link and records the issue without needing a Salesforce account, a scheduled meeting, or a long written explanation.
Another option is to let the customer upload supporting evidence through a public workflow. When using this approach, follow the security practices in our guide to Salesforce guest-user file uploads.
The resulting video context stays connected to the Case for the agent and any escalation team.
A useful public comment can accompany the request:
“We need to see the steps leading to the error. Please use the secure video-request link below to record your screen, reproduce the issue, and briefly explain what you expected to happen. Avoid displaying passwords or other sensitive information.”
8. Salesforce Case Comment best practices
Write for the intended audience
Before posting, ask whether the comment is customer-safe or internal-only.
Use templates for common public updates, but personalize them enough to address the actual Case.
Put one clear action in a customer request
Do not ask five unrelated questions in one long paragraph.
Use a short list and clearly state what the customer should provide next.
Do not paste sensitive data
Avoid including:
- Passwords
- Authentication tokens
- Private keys
- Full payment-card data
- Protected health information
- Information prohibited by your organization’s security policy
Redact screenshots and videos where necessary.
Keep the current status understandable
A reader should be able to scan the latest comments and understand:
- What happened
- What is being investigated
- What has already been attempted
- Who is expected to act next
Use comments as history, not as a knowledge base
When a resolution applies to many customers, create or update a Salesforce Knowledge article.
Do not require agents to search through old Case Comments to find a standard solution.
Test external visibility after every site change
Experience Cloud permissions, components, sharing settings, and file visibility can interact in complex ways.
Include public and private Case Comment tests in your release regression checks.
Avoid silent automation
When Flow or an integration creates Case Comments, make the source and purpose clear.
Automated text should not look as though an agent personally wrote it when that would mislead the customer.
Case communication is also influenced by the wider support stack around Salesforce. Our overview of Salesforce customer support software covers tools for visual issue capture, telephony, automation, knowledge management, and reporting.
9. Troubleshooting common Case Comment issues
Customers cannot see a public comment
Check that:
- The customer has access to the Case.
- The comment is public.
- The Experience Cloud site includes the correct comments component or related list.
- The external user’s profile, sharing set, and site settings are correct.
- The latest page version has been published.
- The experience has been tested outside an administrator session.
Customers can see a comment they should not see
Immediately review:
- The IsPublished value
- Case record access
- The Experience Cloud component configuration
- Automation
- Custom Apex or integration code
- Sharing rules and sharing sets
Treat accidental disclosure according to your organization’s incident-response policy.
The Case owner did not receive a notification
Review:
- Salesforce Support Settings
- Notification templates
- Sender settings
- Email deliverability
- The identity of the person who posted the comment
- Any automation controlling notifications
Salesforce documents scenarios in which a Case owner does not receive a notification for a comment they posted on their own Case.
An integration cannot edit or delete a Case Comment
Review the CaseComment object’s API restrictions and the integration user’s permissions.
Design integrations to create accurate comments the first time rather than depending on later edits.
10. Frequently asked questions
Are Salesforce Case Comments visible to customers?
Public Case Comments can be visible to customers who have access to the Case through the configured Experience Cloud or portal experience.
Private Case Comments are intended for internal users.
What does IsPublished mean on CaseComment?
IsPublished controls whether the Case Comment is public.
In a typical Salesforce configuration:
- true means public
- false means private
Can Case Comments include files?
The comment text itself is stored in CommentBody.
Files are handled through Salesforce Files or the relevant customer-experience component and related records.
Confirm visibility separately for the Case Comment and the File.
Can Case Comments be edited?
Case Comments can be managed in supported Salesforce user interfaces, but API modification and deletion are restricted by permissions and object behavior.
Verify the exact requirements before building an integration that depends on editing existing comments.
Should agents use Case Comments or email?
Use Case Comments when the communication should become part of the portal-visible or internal Case timeline.
Use email when direct delivery and email replies are central to the interaction.
Many support teams use both, but they should avoid sending duplicate messages.
Can an agent request a customer video from a Case?
Yes. Videolink’s Salesforce integration lets agents add video context and request a recording from the customer as part of the Case workflow.
Sources and further reading
Salesforce, Create and Edit Case Comments
Salesforce Developers, CaseComment Object Reference
Salesforce, Case Comments Publisher
Salesforce, Case Comment Notification Sender Guidance
