Working in the margin with an AI agent
A comment is usually a note to yourself. Here it is also a channel: the one place where you, MindMax's AI and a connected app all read and write the same thing. A request can therefore sit exactly where the change has to happen, instead of describing its own location in a chat window — "the third paragraph", "the bit about the trial", plus the passage pasted in to be sure.
This guide covers that channel in both directions: you commenting so the AI changes something, and the AI commenting so you can.
Before you start
- A document in the folder MindMax has open — Markdown, or a
.docx. PDFs, ebooks and slides take comments but not edits; see what will not happen. - Either MindMax's own AI, or an app connected to the same folder (connect an AI app). Both sides use the same threads, so you can mark a passage now and hand it over from either one later.
What a comment carries
Three things travel with a comment, and all three matter to the AI reading it:
| Part | What it is | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| The anchor | The words you selected | The AI gets the passage itself, not your description of where it is |
| Your words | One line, or nothing at all | “This repeats the paragraph above” is enough; so is a bare “?” |
| The intent | Note, question, rewrite, doubtful, needs a source | Tells the AI what kind of answer you want when the words are thin |
An intent with no text is a complete request. Mark a doubtful figure and set it to Doubtful, and the AI is expected to check it against your files and the web — you do not have to write the sentence out.
A bare highlight is not a request. Highlighting says this mattered; commenting says do something about it.
Who has the turn
Every thread is waiting on exactly one side. That is derived from the messages, not from anything you assign, so it cannot get out of step with what is actually in the thread.
| The thread | Turn goes to | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| You commented, or picked an intent | The AI | The panel counts it in N comments waiting for the AI |
| The AI replied, or proposed an edit | You | A chip saying {app} replied, and the panel's count drops |
| You marked it done, or an accepted edit closed it | Nobody | It leaves the waiting count and the open filter still lists it |
This is what keeps a back-and-forth from turning into two assistants answering each other: whoever replies last hands the turn back to you, and nothing moves again until you either answer or ask for another pass.
Asking for the changes
- Mark the sentence. Select the words that are wrong and comment on them. Repeat for every place you care about — five comments in five places beat one paragraph describing all five.
- Hand it over. Press Handle all N in the comments panel to use MindMax's AI. To use a connected app, press Hand to {app} in the panel or the button in the document's toolbar: it copies a sentence such as “Handle the comments on the chapter I have open in MindMax” for you to paste. Typing that sentence yourself works the same way — the range comes from what you said, not from the button.
- Read what comes back. A change arrives as tracked changes on that passage (see reviewing AI revisions), and the comment gets a reply saying what was changed and why. A comment the AI cannot act on safely stays open with the reason, so you can sharpen it instead of guessing what happened.
Accepting the change marks the comments behind it done. Rejecting leaves the thread exactly where it was — nothing closes on your behalf.
When the AI writes the comments
Ask for a review instead of a rewrite:
Read the chapter I have open in MindMax the way a referee would, and write what is wrong as comments on the passages. Don't change the text yet.
The notes arrive in the margin, each on its passage, each signed with the app that wrote it, and each waiting for you. From there:
| You want to | Do this | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Act on it | Reply with what you want, then ask for a pass | The reply turns the thread back to the AI |
| Do it yourself | Edit the text and mark the comment done | It leaves the waiting count |
| Disagree | Reply saying so | The thread stays open, waiting for the AI's answer |
| Ignore it for now | Nothing | It stays in the panel; the count does not include it |
This is the shape of a review that would otherwise be a meeting: the AI writes down what it thinks is wrong, you answer the parts you disagree with, and the pass happens after your answers rather than before them.
Which AI reads it
| You use | What handles the comments | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| MindMax's AI | Handle all N in the panel, or ask in the assistant | MindMax credits |
| A connected app | Hand to {app}, or type the request yourself | Your app's own tokens; no MindMax credits |
Both read the same threads, in whatever state they are in. A comment answered in Claude Code and one answered in MindMax are the same conversation, not two versions of it.
What will not happen
- A comment will not edit a PDF, an ebook or slides. Those are read-only: the AI answers or checks and the answer lands in the thread. A PDF gets an editable Markdown copy beside it; a Word file is revised from a request in the assistant.
- A comment will not be closed for you. Only you resolve a thread, or accept the edit that answers it.
- Two assistants will not work the same thread at once. There is no assignment and no queue: whichever one replies last gives the turn back to you.
- A highlight will not be treated as an instruction. Marking a passage is not asking for anything; adding a comment — even one word — is.
- Nothing outside the open folder is in reach. The AI reads the workspace MindMax has open.
When it goes wrong
A comment is not on the passage it was about. You rewrote that sentence after commenting, so the anchor no longer matches. The thread still shows the text it quoted; reply with the current wording, or comment again on the new sentence.
The AI answered a different comment than the one you meant. Check that the comment is on the sentence you think it is. Two comments on overlapping passages are easy to mix up; merging them into one is usually faster than arguing with the second.
“No comments are waiting for the AI.” Then they are waiting on you: the AI has replied and the turn is yours. Open the thread and answer it, or mark it done.
The edit was proposed but nothing changed. Accepting is a separate step. Nothing is written to
the file until you accept, and for a .docx you can also tick Write as Word tracked changes so
the change is visible in Word.
Next
- Reviewing and revising with AI — the review panel, groups, and what applying writes for each format
- Reading and annotating — highlights, comments and regions on material you are reading
- Revise in the margin, one comment at a time — the same round as a workflow
- Stop saying “the third paragraph” — write the instruction on the sentence — the argument behind the workflow