As reviewers work through your specification, feedback will accumulate in the Collaborate tab. You'll receive email notifications when reviewers post new comments, so you can stay on top of feedback as it comes in. Once all reviews are complete, you'll address that feedback and publish the final version. This article walks you through both.
Working with Comments and Suggestions
The Collaborate tab is where all reviewer feedback lives. You'll see two types of feedback:
Comments
Comments are questions, concerns, or general feedback from reviewers. For each comment, you can:
Reply: Respond directly to create a conversation thread, ask clarifying questions, or explain your reasoning
Resolve: Mark the comment as resolved once you've addressed it or decided no action is needed
Resolving comments helps you track what you've handled versus what still needs attention. Resolved comments aren't deleted—they're just marked as complete and can be viewed later if needed.
Suggested Edits
Suggested edits are specific text changes proposed by reviewers. They appear in the document as green text (additions) or red strikethrough (deletions). For each suggestion, you can:
Accept: Apply the suggested change to the specification. The text updates automatically and the suggestion is marked as accepted.
Reject: Decline the suggestion and keep the original text. The suggestion is marked as rejected.
Filtering Feedback
Use the filter dropdown at the top of the comments panel to focus on what needs your attention:
Open: Comments that haven't been resolved and suggestions that haven't been accepted or rejected
Resolved: Comments you've marked as resolved
Accepted: Suggestions you've accepted
Rejected: Suggestions you've rejected
All: Everything—useful for reviewing the full history of feedback
Making Your Own Edits
You're not limited to accepting or rejecting reviewer suggestions—you can edit the specification directly at any time during the review process.
Click into any section of the class specification to make changes. Your edits are saved automatically. This is useful when:
A reviewer's comment points to an issue, but you have a different solution in mind
You want to revise based on feedback but with different wording than what was suggested
You spot something that needs fixing independent of reviewer feedback
All edits are tracked in the specification's history, so you have a complete record of how the document evolved.
Publishing Your Specification
Once all reviewers across all stages have completed their reviews, you're ready to publish.
Before You Publish
Take a moment to:
Review pending suggestions: Any suggestions you haven't accepted or rejected will be treated as rejected when you publish—the original text stays. Use the "Open" filter to make sure you haven't missed anything you meant to accept.
Review unresolved comments: Make sure you've addressed any questions or concerns. You don't have to resolve every comment, but you should review them.
Read through the full specification: Give it one final review to make sure you're happy with the final version.
How to Publish
Go to the Workflow tab
Click the "Publish spec" button
You'll be prompted to confirm; press "Publish" to publish the specification
What Happens When You Publish
The specification status changes from "In Review" to "Published"
This becomes the official, active version of the specification
If there was a previously published version, it's automatically archived
The specification is locked from further edits—to make changes, you'll need to create a new draft
To learn more about version history in the Holly platform, see the article Working with the History Tab.
Next Steps
Congratulations—your specification is published! From here, you can:
Share the published specification with stakeholders
Create a new draft if updates are needed in the future
Start a new specification using AI generation or from scratch
Need More Guidance?
Check out our related articles:
Building an Approval Workflow: How to set up stages, steps, and reviewers
Managing an Active Approval Workflow: Track progress, send reminders, and adjust the workflow
Reviewing a Specification: How reviewers provide feedback and complete their review