Inline Comments Don't Show On Rich Diff View

[mrohan-sq]

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Hi! On my team, we've recently begun capturing more documentation in Markdown files committed to Git. I noticed on one of our pull requests that inline comments made on the Markdown file show as expected in the source diff, but do not show in the rich diff. My guess is that the comments are attached to line numbers, which are less relevant / accurate in the rich diff view. Still, it would be nice to have them show in the sidebar to the right, and have the line they're attached to highlighted in the rich diff, similar to how Google Docs comments work.

One other thing to note is that comments made at the file level do show in the rich diff view (at the top).

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[chess-king-dot]

Hey @mrohan-sq 👋
Great observation - this is something that’s tripped me up too, especially when reviewing Markdown-heavy PRs.

You’re absolutely right: inline comments in GitHub are tied to specific line numbers in the source diff, which the rich diff doesn’t always preserve 1:1 - especially with things like formatting or list changes. That’s likely why the comments don’t show up there.
The rich diff is more visual and abstracted, which makes it great for reading, but not ideal for detailed reviews.

Totally agree that having comments appear in the rich diff - either in the sidebar or by highlighting the referenced content - would be a game-changer.
Kind of like the collaborative vibe in Google Docs, as you said.

Until then, I usually toggle back to the source diff to see and respond to comments clearly.
Not ideal, but it helps.

+1 to your feedback - this would be a great UX enhancement for GitHub PRs!

[chienyuanchang]

Hi @mrohan-sq! This is a browser extension I'm working on that tackles exactly this. It surfaces inline comments on the rich diff view (and lets you leave new ones there too). Might help in the meantime, please feel free to have a try!

• Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/rich-diff-comments-for-gi/bdkcmcdfnhonfcpdgcmemkpcmnhnhemj
• Edge: https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/agomibenjlnikaldoddminkjbokfocgb

Feedback welcome!