Having trouble with comments

[suroora]

I'm using Word 2002 and am having trouble viewing comments. If the comment
has been inserted at a single point (as opposed to highlighting a word or
phrase and then typing the comment in), it doesn't show when I roll my mouse
over it. The only way I can get to see it is to pretend to insert a new
comment, which I then undo. And the comments in the pane do not have page
numbers, so I have no idea where they go. Never mind trying to print them
out! (The printing is not a question for this post, just a grumble) It used
to work so well in earlier versions!

Am I doing something wrong? Is there an easier way of viewing comments?

Thanks.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Unless Word2002 is vastly different from Word2003, the default view
for Comments is in Balloons, so at some point someone switched it to
that annoying pane thingy. (Or are you working exclusively in Normal
view? --which these days is wisely called "Draft" view.) You'll find
all sorts of controls for your Track Changes options under Edit >
Preferences, including how to display which kinds of things.

 

[suroora]

Thanks, Peter.

I turned off the balloon option which I find distracting, so have to deal
with the pane thingy! Word 2002 does not have Edit, preferences but I imagine
it's the same as Tools, Options. I looked there but it doesn't have the
options. I also tried, through the tracked changes toolbar, to show only
comments. I can see the marks this way but the comments don't always appear
when I roll my mouse over them (almost always when it's just an insertion
point rather than a chunk of text).

I find it frustrating because it worked so well in Word 2000!

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Wherever you turn on/off the display of Balloons is what I was
referring to. Why not, then, switch that display on and off when you
need your Comments clearly visible next to what they pertain to?

There's really no line "Preferences" near the bottom of the "Edit"
menu? Do you have Full Menus displayed?

Have you investigated all the buttons in the Reviewing toolbar? Maybe
the controls are duplicated there.

And, whatever keyboard shortcuts you could use in 2000 should still
work in 2002.

Oh, wait -- you mention "rolling over" the comment. Have you turned
off Tool Tips (or whatever it was called in the olden days -- Screen
Tips?), again somewhere in Tools > Options?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Edit | Preferences is Mac; Tools | Options is Windows. Balloons were
introduced in Word 2002 and not very well implemented. Some of the
deficiencies were corrected in Word 2003. One of those deficiencies, IIRC,
was that single-point comments weren't handled very well, and that, without
highlighting, the position of comments was hard to see.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Wherever you turn on/off the display of Balloons is what I was
referring to. Why not, then, switch that display on and off when you
need your Comments clearly visible next to what they pertain to?

There's really no line "Preferences" near the bottom of the "Edit"
menu? Do you have Full Menus displayed?

Have you investigated all the buttons in the Reviewing toolbar? Maybe
the controls are duplicated there.

And, whatever keyboard shortcuts you could use in 2000 should still
work in 2002.

Oh, wait -- you mention "rolling over" the comment. Have you turned
off Tool Tips (or whatever it was called in the olden days -- Screen
Tips?), again somewhere in Tools > Options?

 

[suroora]

Hi Peter,

No, there's no preferences in the edit menu. Can't find Tool Tips or Screen
Tips either. But your idea of turning on the balloons just to look at
comments would work. I can print them out that way too, when I need to.

I think Micrsoft has probably worked out some of the bugs of Word 2002 in
Word 2003!

Thanks,
Suroor

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

I remember having an Edit > Preferences line in 2003 that dealt only
with Track Changes (next to the bottom line, maybe? or was it View >
Preferences?), and the Track Changes options were also available
somewhere within View > Options.

Sounds like turning the balloons on and off is suroora's best choice.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Tools | Options has numerous tabs, including one for View options and
another for Track Changes options.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I remember having an Edit > Preferences line in 2003 that dealt only
with Track Changes (next to the bottom line, maybe? or was it View >
Preferences?), and the Track Changes options were also available
somewhere within View > Options.

Sounds like turning the balloons on and off is suroora's best choice.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

But there was _another way_ to get at the Track Changes options! on
one of the other menus!

I've just looked in *Using MS Word 2003* and discovered that the menus
could be "personalized" -- which means that the employer who put the
computer in my house might have customized Word. Though I don't see
any point to doing it that way, since the options are more easily
available from the toolbar.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can get to the Track Changes Options by right-clicking TRK on the status
bar and choosing Options.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

But there was _another way_ to get at the Track Changes options! on
one of the other menus!

I've just looked in *Using MS Word 2003* and discovered that the menus
could be "personalized" -- which means that the employer who put the
computer in my house might have customized Word. Though I don't see
any point to doing it that way, since the options are more easily
available from the toolbar.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

No, that wasn't it ...

(too easy to land on the wrong little segment of the bar, plus the
cursor was usually near the top of the screen)