diff --git a/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb b/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
index 7076ca81..4da2bf5c 100644
--- a/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ class CommentsController < ApplicationController
   def index
     #@comments = Comment.all
     #if admin, show all comments.
-    #check whether user is the author of the passed file_id, if so, show all comments. otherwise, only show comments of auther and own comments
+    #check whether user is the author of the passed file_id, if so, show all comments. otherwise, only show comments of the file-author and own comments
     file = CodeOcean::File.find(params[:file_id])
     #there might be no submission yet, so dont use find
     submission = Submission.find_by(id: file.context_id)
@@ -31,7 +31,10 @@ class CommentsController < ApplicationController
         # fetch all comments for this file
         @comments = Comment.where(file_id: params[:file_id])
       else
-        @comments = Comment.where(file_id: params[:file_id], user_id: user_id)
+        # fetch comments of the current user
+        #@comments = Comment.where(file_id: params[:file_id], user_id: user_id)
+        # fetch comments of file-author and the current user
+        @comments = Comment.where(file_id: params[:file_id], user_id: [user_id, submission.user_id])
       end
 
       #@comments = Comment.where(file_id: params[:file_id])
diff --git a/app/controllers/submissions_controller.rb b/app/controllers/submissions_controller.rb
index 59a05ab6..87cf825f 100644
--- a/app/controllers/submissions_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/submissions_controller.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class SubmissionsController < ApplicationController
   def create
     @submission = Submission.new(submission_params)
     authorize!
-    #copy_comments
+    copy_comments
     create_and_respond(object: @submission)
   end
 
@@ -28,13 +28,14 @@ class SubmissionsController < ApplicationController
     # copy each annotation and set the target_file.id
     unless(params[:annotations_arr].nil?)
       params[:annotations_arr].each do | annotation |
+        #comment = Comment.new(annotation[1].permit(:user_id, :file_id, :user_type, :row, :column, :text, :created_at, :updated_at))
         comment = Comment.new(:user_id => annotation[1][:user_id], :file_id => annotation[1][:file_id], :user_type => current_user.class.name, :row => annotation[1][:row], :column => annotation[1][:column], :text => annotation[1][:text])
         source_file = CodeOcean::File.find(annotation[1][:file_id])
 
-        #comment = Comment.new(annotation[1].permit(:user_id, :file_id, :user_type, :row, :column, :text, :created_at, :updated_at))
+        # retrieve target file
         target_file = @submission.files.detect do |file|
           # file_id has to be that of a the former iteration OR of the initial file (if this is the first run)
-          file.file_id == source_file.file_id || file.file_id == source_file.id #seems to be needed here: (check this): || file.file_id == source_file.id
+          file.file_id == source_file.file_id || file.file_id == source_file.id #seems to be needed here: (check this): || file.file_id == source_file.id ; yes this is needed, for comments on templates as well as comments on files added by users.
         end
 
         #save to assign an id