How to view comments in word

You’re working on a Microsoft Word Document and can’t figure out how to see all of the comments at the same time.

This article will show you how to view all of the comments in your Word doc at the click of a button.

How to show all comment lines in your Word Document

Follow these 4 easy steps to view all comments:

1. Open the Word document.
2. In the toolbar, click Review.
3. Find and click Tracking.
4. Tick All Markups.

Only want to see the comments not all changes?

If your Microsoft Word Document is full of tracked changes, comments and formatting updates and you want to clear the air for comments only here’s how you do it:

1. Open the Word document.
2. In the toolbar, click Review.
3. Find and click Tracking.
4. Click Mark-up Options.
5. Clear everything except Comments.

Need a better way to collaborate on Microsoft Word Documents?

You’re working on a word document with your team, each of you adding comments and tracking changes along the way. Then you realise two people have been working on the same document at once and you no longer have all of the changes in the one file.

You start googling ‘How to merge Word documents with comments?’ and think there has to be a better way!

Enter purpose-built tools, such as Simul Docs, designed to help you seamlessly collaborate on Microsoft Word documents with your team.

Simul Docs is an easy to use tool that works to keep track of a Word document as your team make edits. Automatically saving new versions each time the document is opened and edited, tracking all changes (even if you forget to turn track changes on).

Simul also recognises when two people are editing a document at the same time, saving each person’s changes in a separate ‘branch’ so no one’s work is overridden.

You can then ‘merge’ these two branches with the click of a button. Bringing both author’s changes back into the same document, allowing you to easily identify the differences. It’s that easy!

Show or Hide Comments in Microsoft Word Documents

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated January 10, 2021

Applies to: Microsoft^® Word^® 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 or 365 (Windows)

You can show and hide comments using the Review tab in the Ribbon in Microsoft Word. If you add comments in a Word document, they will appear in a markup area on the right side of pages by default. If you want to show or hide comments, you’ll need to control the display of markup. Keep in mind that comments that are hidden could be displayed by a colleague or client.

The markup area appears in Print Layout View (the default view in Word) whenever a document includes comments and its appearance can be controlled using settings on the Review tab in the Ribbon. The default markup is set to Simple Markup with comments displayed. If the markup area is not appearing on the right, click Show Comments in the Comments group. Tracked changes also appear in the markup area.

In this article, we’re assuming that the default markup options are being used (although you can change the display of markup using Track Changes Options).

Recommended article: How to Remove Comments in Word (3+ Ways to Delete Comments)

Do you want to learn more about Microsoft Word? Check out our virtual classroom or live classroom Word courses >

Hide comments using Display for Review

To hide comments in the markup area using Display for Review:

1. Click the Review tab in the Ribbon.
2. In the Tracking group, click Display for Review. A drop-down menu appears.
3. Select No Markup or Original to hide the markup area, including comments.

The following drop-down menu appears when you click Display for Review:

When you click Display for Review, you have the following options:

• Simple Markup which displays the markup area with comments and revisions. If you select Simple Markup and then click Show Comments in the Comments group, the markup area appears or disappears (if there are no tracked changes). If no markup area appears on the right, comments appear as speech bubbles that you can click to display the comment.
• All Markup which displays the markup area with all comments or revisions as well as lines to their locations in the text.
• No Markup which hides the markup area so that comments and revisions are hidden.
• Original which hides the markup area as well as any revisions made to the document. In regard to comments, this option is the same as No Markup.

In the following example, Simple Markup is selected as well as Show Comments in the Comments group (Print Layout View in Word 365):

In the next example, Simple Markup is selected and Show Comments is not selected  in the Comments group (Print Layout View in Word 365):

Comments appear in different ways depending on the selected view. Typically, you would change views using the View tab in the Ribbon. If you select Draft View, comments appear as the initials of the reviewer with square brackets and are highlighted with a background color. You can position the mouse pointer on the text to view the comment in a pop-up bubble. In Read Mode View, comments appear as speech bubbles to the right of the text. Simply click a bubble to view a comment.

Hide comments using Show Markup

To hide comments using Show Markup:

1. Click the Review tab in the Ribbon.
2. In the Tracking group, click Show Markup. A drop-down menu appears.
3. Select Comments to deselect comments.

The Show Markup drop-down menu includes the following options:

Show comments in the markup area

To show comments in the markup area:

1. Click the Review tab in the Ribbon.
2. In the Tracking group, click Display for Review. A drop-down menu appears.
3. Select Simple Markup or All Markup to show the markup area, including comments.
4. Click Show Markup. A drop-down menu appears.
5. Ensure Comments is selected.
6. If you selected Simple Markup, in the Comments group, select Show Comments in the Comments group.

View all comments using the Reviewing Pane

To view all comments regardless of view:

1. Click the Review tab in the Ribbon.
2. In the Tracking group, click Reviewing Pane. A drop-down menu appears.
3. Select either the horizontal or vertical display. The Reviewing Pane  appears and will displays comments and revisions.

You can click the Reviewing Pane button again in the Ribbon to hide the Reviewing Pane.

Hiding markup is not the same as accepting changes or deleting comments. You should accept or reject changes and delete comments in your Word document before you send out the final version.

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To view comments in Word, irrespective of which view is picked, open the Reviewing Pane. Click on the Review tab, and then the Tracking group. Then click on the Reviewing Pane button. You can choose either the vertical or horizontal display to open the Reviewing Pane and view comments in Word 2016.

How to view all comments in Word in one place

1. Open the Word document.
2. In the toolbar, click Review.
3. Find and click Tracking.
4. Tick All Markups.

How to edit a comment in Microsoft Word documents

1. Open the Word document.
2. Make all comments visible.
3. Click in the comment.
4. Edit the text for that comment.
5. Click out of the comment to save changes.

To hide your comments and tacked changes using the No Markup view, simply:

1. Navigate to the Review tab.
2. Open the Display Review dropdown menu (click on the downward facing arrow at the end)
3. Choose No Markup.

If you prefer to display the Reviewing Pane, follow these steps:

1. Make sure the Review tab of the ribbon is displayed.
2. In the Tracking group you see the Reviewing Pane tool. Click the down-arrow at the right of the tool.
3. Choose either Reviewing Pane Vertical or Reviewing Pane Horizontal, according to your desires.

How do I suggest edits in Word?

How to use Track Changes

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Choose the Review tab at the top of the document.
3. Either click the Track Changes button (PC) or toggle the Track Changes switch (Mac).
4. Make sure that you change ‘Simple Markup’ to ‘All Markup’ from the drop down bar next to Track Changes.

2. How can we add comments to the changes made? ​

1. Select the text or item that you want to comment on, or click to insert the cursor near the text that you want to comment on.
2. On the Review tab, under Comments, click New.
3. Type the comment text in the comment balloon.

Does Word have encryption?

Specifically, you may securely encrypt files created in Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. This encryption is controlled by a single password which only you (or others authorized to read or edit the file) should know.

Insert, delete, or change a comment

1. Select the text you want to comment on, or click at the end of the text.
2. On the Review tab, click New Comment.
3. Type your comment. Word shows your comment in a balloon in the document’s margin.

How do you redline a document?

About This Article

1. Click the Review tab.
2. Click Track Changes.
3. Click Simple Markup.
4. Click All Markup.
5. Click Show Markup.
6. Highlight text and select New Comment.
7. Edit the document and click Accept.

How do you suggest in Word?

To turn on “Suggesting” mode in Google Docs, click the “Editing” button near the top-right of the document your are editing and choose “Suggesting.”

In an opened Word document, click File > Options. In the Word Options window, make sure you are locating in the General tab, change the name in the User name box as below screenshot shown, and finally click the OK button. Now you have changed the default user name for comments in Word document.

How can you record the changes made to an original document?

You can use change marks to show added material, deleted material, and and changes to formatting.
To start recording changes:

1. Open the Budget Spreadsheet.
2. Select Edit > Changes > Record from the menu bar.
3. Begin editing the document.

Comments can be added to a document that do not change the document. You can insert a comment inside balloons that will appear in the document margins. They can also be hidden until you want to edit your paper.

Find the “Review” tab, select the “Tracking” group, and click on “Show Markup”. Rest your pointer on Balloons, and then select “Show All Revisions inline” to display comments inline and deletions with strikethroughs. Rest your pointer on a comment inside the document. The comment will appear in a ScreenTip.

How do I get rid of markup area?

The markup area appears whenever a document features comments, but its appearance is controlled by settings on the Review tab. To hide the markup area, click the Review tab. In the Tracking group, click the Display for Review button, shown here.

How do I encrypt a word?

How to encrypt text in a note

1. Open a note and highlight the text you wish to encrypt.
2. Right-click or control-click the highlighted text and select “Encrypt Selected Text”
3. Enter a passphrase into the form.
4. Once you have set the passphrase and confirm, the text will be encrypted.

How do I send an encrypted Word document?

Click the File menu, select the Info tab, and then select the Protect Document button. Click Encrypt with Password. Enter your password then click OK. Enter the password again to confirm it and click OK.

How good is word encryption?

How secure is the encryption? The encryption in Microsoft Office 2016 is considered safe (AES with 256-bit key) and takes a very long time to break with today’s machine resources if the password is secure enough. See the Username and Password page for more information on how to make secure passwords.

What is redlining in Microsoft Word?

What is redlining? When you track changes in a Microsoft Word document, a redline will appear under the text that you have made the change too. This is called redlining.

How do I redline comparison in Word?

Open the documents that you want to compare. On the Review tab, in the Compare group, click Compare. Click Compare two versions of a document (legal blackline). Under Original document, browse for the document that you want to use as the original document.