Adding comments in Microsoft Word allows you to provide feedback and collaborate with others on a document. Comments are useful for making notes, asking questions, or suggesting changes without directly editing the text.
In this blog post, we will cover the three main ways to add comments in Word:
1. Add Comments Using the “New Comment” Button
The easiest way to add a comment is by using the dedicated “New Comment” button. Here is a step-by-step guide:
- Open the Word document and select the text you want to comment on. You can highlight a word, sentence, paragraph or multiple paragraphs.
- Go to the Review tab.
- In the Comments group, click New Comment. Alternatively, you can right-click the selected text and choose New Comment from the context menu.
- A comment box will appear in the right margin. Type your comment in the box.
- When done, click outside the comment box to save the comment.
This method inserts your comment at the end of the selected text. The comment will be visible to anyone viewing the document.
2. Use Track Changes to Add Comments
You can also leverage Word’s Track Changes feature to add comments:
- Go to the Review tab and click Track Changes to turn it on. This will start tracking all changes made to the document.
- Select the relevant text and make any changes if needed. Added text will be underlined and deleted text will be crossed out.
- Instead of editing the text, you can add a comment by clicking New Comment in the Comments group.
- Type your feedback in the comment box. Choose “Comment” as the type of markup.
The main benefit of using Track Changes is that you can edit text while adding comments. Your changes will be visible to others but not directly applied to the document until approved.
3. Insert Comment Using Keyboard Shortcuts
For quicker commenting, Word provides handy keyboard shortcuts:
- Ctrl+Alt+M – Insert a new comment at the cursor location
- Ctrl+Alt+R – Reply to an existing comment
- Ctrl+Alt+N – Go to the next comment
- Ctrl+Alt+P – Go to the previous comment
Here are the steps to add a comment with a keyboard shortcut:
- Place the insertion cursor at the location where you want to add the comment.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+M to insert a new comment.
- A comment box will open up. Type your feedback.
- When done, press Ctrl+Enter or click outside the box to save the changes.
Keyboard shortcuts help speed up the commenting process without having to switch tabs back and forth.
Viewing, Editing and Deleting Comments
Now that you know how to add comments in Word, let’s go over how to manage existing comments:
Display Comments in the Document
To quickly view all comments in the document, go to the Review tab and click Show Comments. This will show comment boxes in the right margin. Click Show Ink and Highlighter Comments to view those as well.
To hide comments, click Show Comments again to toggle it off.
Edit a Comment
To edit an existing comment, double-click the comment box to open it. Make your changes and click outside the box to save edits.
You can only edit comments created by you. For multi-user documents, other users can reply with additional feedback.
Delete a Comment
To remove a comment, right-click the comment box and choose Delete Comment. Or go to the Review tab, click the comment to select it, and choose Delete in the Comments group.
Click the ⋮ arrow next to Delete and choose Delete All Comments in Document to remove all comments at once. Deleted comments cannot be recovered.
Navigate Between Comments
Use the Previous and Next buttons in the Comments group to jump between comments. This allows you to review and respond to each comment easily.
Or use the keyboard shortcuts – Ctrl+Alt+P and Ctrl+Alt+N to navigate comments.
Collaborating Using Comments
Comments make it simple for multiple people to collaborate on a document. Here are some best practices to use comments effectively:
- Mention users – Use @mentions in the comment text to tag specific people for feedback.
- Resolve comment threads – Mark a comment thread as resolved once the discussion is complete. This helps focus on open issues.
- Use document versioning – Leverage options like AutoSave and version history to track changes as comments accumulate.
- Assign follow ups – Convert comments into task assignments to track open issues and next steps.
Proper use of Word comments facilitates transparency, accountability and alignment while collaborating on documents.
We have covered the core functionality around adding, viewing and managing comments in Microsoft Word. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions!
