diff --git a/core/comments/comment_view.ts b/core/comments/comment_view.ts
index bda2b9762..798f51f96 100644
--- a/core/comments/comment_view.ts
+++ b/core/comments/comment_view.ts
@@ -684,6 +684,11 @@ export class CommentView implements IRenderedElement {
     this.onTextChange();
   }
 
+  /** Sets the placeholder text displayed for an empty comment. */
+  setPlaceholderText(text: string) {
+    this.textArea.placeholder = text;
+  }
+
   /** Registers a callback that listens for text changes. */
   addTextChangeListener(listener: (oldText: string, newText: string) => void) {
     this.textChangeListeners.push(listener);
diff --git a/core/comments/rendered_workspace_comment.ts b/core/comments/rendered_workspace_comment.ts
index 79caf6a1d..3144702ae 100644
--- a/core/comments/rendered_workspace_comment.ts
+++ b/core/comments/rendered_workspace_comment.ts
@@ -104,6 +104,11 @@ export class RenderedWorkspaceComment
     this.view.setText(text);
   }
 
+  /** Sets the placeholder text displayed if the comment is empty. */
+  setPlaceholderText(text: string): void {
+    this.view.setPlaceholderText(text);
+  }
+
   /** Sets the size of the comment. */
   override setSize(size: Size) {
     // setSize will trigger the change listener that updates
diff --git a/core/contextmenu_items.ts b/core/contextmenu_items.ts
index 254906ce7..f1d3293a4 100644
--- a/core/contextmenu_items.ts
+++ b/core/contextmenu_items.ts
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ export function registerCommentCreate() {
       if (!workspace) return;
       eventUtils.setGroup(true);
       const comment = new RenderedWorkspaceComment(workspace);
-      comment.setText(Msg['WORKSPACE_COMMENT_DEFAULT_TEXT']);
+      comment.setPlaceholderText(Msg['WORKSPACE_COMMENT_DEFAULT_TEXT']);
       comment.moveTo(
         pixelsToWorkspaceCoords(
           new Coordinate(e.clientX, e.clientY),