This powerful tool is great for teamwork. You can leave a comment if you are unable to be present with another person while you review a document. Microsoft Word allows you to leave feedback on a piece of text by highlighting it and inserting comments. You can also reply to the feedback by creating a comment.
The comment function can be used to help you work on a group project or critique the outline of a friend for the next Great American Novel. It can also be used to edit your own work. This is how you can add or remove comments from Word.
Note These screenshots are for Microsoft Word in macOS. It is the same process for Word in Windows.
How to add a comment in Word
It is easy to add a comment in Microsoft Word. Click the Review tab at the top of your screen.
Click on a word in the document to highlight it. This will open a box in the right corner of the document with a link to the comment. You will see the highlighted text in the comment box.
It is much easier to follow if you have multiple comments in a document. This is especially true if there are many comments within one paragraph. Repeat this process as many times as necessary.
You can also add comments by clicking on the text, highlighting it, or right-clicking and selecting New Comments from the context menu.
You can add a comment by going to the last step. You can choose a word or place your cursor on Insert at top of the screen and then choose Comments. This method is slower than the others and may not be worth your time. This information is provided for your knowledge only. You can also use it to reply to existing comments.
How to reply to a comment in Word
It can be hard to track the collaboration between multiple people working on a single document. To create an easy-to-read tiered system, reply to existing comments.
Click the speech bubble in the upper-right corner of an existing comment to activate it.
This will open a text box where you can type your reply. Multiple people can respond to the same comment. The time since the last reply can be seen to the right of the screen if you’re not sure.
You can reply to comments by right-clicking on them and choosing Reply To Comment from their menu. This function is the same as clicking on the message bubble.
How to resolve and delete a comment in Word
Most comments are intended to highlight an issue or suggest improvements to the text. You may not need to comment any more after these changes have been made. You can resolve or delete the comment to help you keep track of what you have done in the document.
This can be done in several ways. First, click on the comment to select. You can delete all comments in the document by clicking the down arrow next to Delete.
You can also resolve a problem by clicking Resolve rather than Delete. Delete deletes the entire comment. Resolve greys out the comment but keeps it in place. To un-resolve a comment, or if it is not resolved correctly, you can right-click to select Resolve Comments again.
Right-clicking a comment can be used to delete it or make it clearer from the menu. These options can be found below Reply To Comment.
There are many other options available on the Review tab. Previous and Next provide an easy way for you to navigate through all comments in the document. Show comments display any comments that aren’t currently displayed.
Note – Most document editors, such as Word or Google Docs, have a similar process to review and fix comments.
Use comments for seamless collaboration
The Comments feature of Word is an extremely powerful tool that can be used by anyone who works on a collaborative project. It can help improve communication, the final document, or the team project.