Mentioning teammates
Type @ to tag a colleague in a note, task, or lead — they get an in-app notification that takes them straight to what you wrote.
Work rarely belongs to one person. A note needs a second opinion, a task needs whoever actually owns it, a lead needs the person who spoke to them last. Mentions are how you pull someone in without leaving what you're working on: you tag them where the context already lives, and Ona tells them.
Tagging someone
Type @ and a picker opens under your cursor. Keep typing to narrow it — it matches on name and email.
- ↑ and ↓ move through the list
- Enter or Tab inserts the highlighted person
- Esc dismisses the picker and leaves your
@as ordinary text - Or just click a name
Only active members are suggested. Someone you've invited who hasn't accepted yet won't appear until they do — see Inviting your team and roles.
What a mention looks like
The inserted mention is a highlighted chip carrying the person's name.
The chip is part of the text, not an attachment to it. It saves with everything else, survives later edits, and is still there when someone reads the note next month. Backspace removes it in one press.
Where you can mention people
- Patient notes — the Notebook on any patient record
- Task descriptions — both when you create a task and in the detail panel afterwards (Using tasks)
- Lead notes — the Notes field on a lead
- Lead activity — the notes, calls, and other entries you log on a lead's timeline (Managing leads)
What the person you mentioned sees
The notification arrives in the bell at the bottom of the sidebar, on the Notifications card on their dashboard, and as a brief pop-up if they're already working in Ona. It usually lands within a minute.
Opening it takes them to the exact place — the task, the lead, or that note in the patient's Notebook — and clears the notification from the list.
When a notification is sent, and when it isn't
Ona only announces new mentions:
- Editing around a mention doesn't send it again. Notes and task descriptions save as you type; the person is told once, when you first tag them.
- You're never notified for mentioning yourself.
- Removing a mention and adding it back does notify again — treat that as a deliberate second nudge.
- Deactivated members aren't notified, though their chip stays readable in older notes.
A mention doesn't grant anyone access. It points someone at something their role already lets them see — see Roles, licences and permissions.
Using mentions well
A mention is a claim on someone's attention, and attention is finite. Tag the one person who needs to act rather than everyone who might be curious: a note naming four people tells none of them it's theirs.
Write the ask next to the name, too. "@Dana — can you confirm this dosage before Thursday?" does work that a bare "@Dana" leaves to guesswork. And when something genuinely concerns the whole team, a mention is the wrong tool — that's what notification settings and shared channels are for (Notification settings).
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