WD2002: Frequently Asked Questions About Comments (286169)

MORE INFORMATION

1. What is a balloon?
   
   A balloon shows markup elements (for example, comments) in print layout view or web layout view. The balloon appears in the margins of your Word document to avoid hiding text or affecting the layout of the document.
2. How do I view the comments in a Word document?
   
   To view the comments in a Word document, turn on the Markup feature. To do this, click Markup on the View menu. Word displays balloons in your Word document for each comment. If you do not see the comment balloon, change the view of your document to either print layout or web layout view (on the View menu, click Print Layout or Web Layout).
3. How do I hide the comments in my Word document?
   
   To hide the comments, turn off the Markup feature. To do this, click Markup on the View menu.
4. How do I insert a comment? To insert a comment in a Word document, follow these steps:
   
   
   1. Click to select the text or item you want to comment on, or click where you want to insert your comment.
   2. On the Insert menu, click Comment.
   3. Type your comment in the comment balloon that appears (in print layout or Web layout view) or in the Reviewing Pane (in normal or outline view).
   NOTE: You cannot insert a comment in the header or footer area of a document.
5. How do I modify a comment? To make changes to an existing comment, do one of the following:
   
   
   • Click into the comment balloon, and type the text that you want.
     
     -or-
   • In the reviewing pane, find the comment that you want to change, and then type the text that you want.
6. How do I delete a comment? To delete a comment, do one of the following:
   
   
   • Right-click the comment balloon, and then click Delete Comment on the shortcut menu that appears.
     
     -or-
   • In the reviewing pane, right-click the comment, and then click Delete Comment on the shortcut menu that appears.
7. What is the Reviewing Pane?
   
   Microsoft Word cannot always display the complete text of a comment in a balloon, or there may be too many comments to easily read the comments in balloons. To see the complete set of comments in a Word document, use the Reviewing Pane. The Reviewing Pane displays all unaccepted/unrejected changes and comments in a document.
   
   For more information about reviewing tracked changes and comments in a Word document, click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type about changes and comments in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.
   
   To open the Reviewing Pane, click Reviewing Pane on the Reviewing toolbar. If the Reviewing toolbar is not displayed, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Reviewing.
8. How do I print the comments in my Word document? To print a document with comments displayed, follow these steps:
   
   
   1. On the View menu, click Print Layout.
   2. On the View menu, click Markup to display the comments in your Word document.
   3. Display the comments the way you want them to appear in the printed document. To do this, do one of the following:
      • View all comments: To view all of the comments in your Word document, click Show on the Reviewing toolbar, point to Reviewers, and then click to select All Reviewers.
        
        -or-
      • View comments by a reviewer: To view the comments made by a specific reviewer, click Show on the Reviewing toolbar, point to Reviewers, and then click to select the reviewer that you want to display.
   4. On the File menu, click Print.
   5. In the Print dialog box, change the Print what box to Document showing markup, and then click OK.
9. How can I print my document without printing the comments?
   
   To print a Word document without comments, do one of the following:
   • On the View menu, click Markup to hide the balloons in your Word document, and then print your document.
     
     -or-
   • On the File menu, click Print. In the Print dialog box, change the Print what box to Document, and then click OK.
10. I can see the comments, but how can I determine the author of a comment and when it was made? To determine the name of the commenter, along with the date and time that the comment was made, do one of the following:
    
    
    • Rest the mouse pointer on the comment balloon. A ToolTip that contains this information will appear.
      
      -or-
    • Open the Reviewing Pane and locate the comment.
11. How can I respond to a comment?
    
    Click into the comment that you want to respond to. On the Insert menu, click Comment. Type your comment in the new comment balloon that appears.
12. Is there a way to use the comment feature as in the earlier versions of Word?
    
    No. You can turn off the balloons and use the ToolTip or the Reviewing Pane to view the comments, but there is no way to revert to the Comment feature in earlier versions of Word. The new Comment feature replaces author initials and comment numbers (as in earlier versions of Word) with author name, date, and a timestamp. This functionality is a more accurate record of the comments inserted in your Word document.
13. In earlier versions of Word, when I insert a comment, Word selects the nearest word and highlights it to indicate where the comment is. Why has this functionality changed?
    
    The new comment feature does not force you to associate a word with the comment. Instead of highlighting the area of the comment, Word now inserts a set of large colored braces around the location of the comment. If you select text when you insert a comment, Word places the braces around the text. Otherwise, the braces are inserted at the insertion point and may resemble a vertical line.