Word 2007 comments keep changing colors

[Jo]

I recently upgraded to Word 2007 from 2003. What I'm finding is that in the
exact same document, with no changes that I can think of that would/should
affect it, the color of the comment balloons change back and forth between
pink and blue/purple. One day I'll open the document and they're pink.
Another day they're blue/purple. I haven't changed author's name or the
Tracking options. Does any one know why it's doing this? It's quite bizarre
and baffling. Thanks.

Jo.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Unless you specify the colors you want associated with particular authors,
Word assigns colors automatically, and there's no guarantee they'll always
be the same.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

And you can't specify the colors you want associated with particular
authors. You can either select a color to be used for all markup or choose
By Author, in which case Word assigns colors capriciously; they're different
for each author but not consistent for a given author.

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

 

[Jo]

Thanks for your replies, Herb and Suzanne. I guess maybe I wasn't clear in my
description of the problem. Same author, same computer, same user account,
same document, same template. Only one author has ever edited the document
and the document was created on the same computer.

But open it one day and the comments are pink, open it a few days later and
they're blue. As far as I can tell, the comments should always be whatever
the default is for a single author. At the very least, I would think the
colour would be consistent, yet it's not.

Any ideas why the colour would change?

Jo.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In this circumstance, have you checked to see what color is currently
selected for comments? Perhaps there is some add-in that is changing the
setting.

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

 

[Jo]

The color was just being assigned by Word according to author, not a
specific colour. I don't think I have any add-ins installed. I had one for
label formatting installed at one point but I uninstalled it; but that was
several weeks ago. It has done it a few times since then. In fact, I never
even went into the Track Changes options until just a couple of days ago, but
it's been doing it for a while.

Hmmm... Actually, there's another factor in this that I hadn't thought of. I
bought a new computer just about 8 weeks ago, and that was when I upgraded to
2007 from 2003. The document was originally in Word 2003 and I resaved it in
2007 once I started working on it on the new computer. To be honest, I'm not
sure if it was doing this before I upgraded or whether it has been doing it
only since 2007. I know it's done it a few times since upgrading to 2007
though; I'm just not sure if it was doing it while it was in 2003.

I definitely hadn't been into Track Changes options in 2007 until a couple
of days ago. I had gone into Track Changes in 2003, and even had Track
Changes ON for a short time while it was in 2003, but not since upgrading to
2007. And I didn't change the colour of the comments in any case.

Weird!

Jo.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If this is a new computer, then I think you'll find that, even though you
don't think you've changed your user name, Word is probably seeing a
difference, which might account for its using a different color for this
different "author."

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

 

[Jo]

Hi Suzanne,

Thanks for continuing to try to solve the mystery. If the colour had changed
just once and then stayed the same, what you've suggested could certainly
explain it. However, it has changed back and forth several times, certainly
since I changed computers and possibly before that; so I don't think your
theory would explain that part.

Thanks for trying though. Maybe this will have to remain one of those little
mysteries that drive you a bit crazy after a while. ;-)

Jo.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I think you'll likely continue to see this as long as you have it set to "By
Author" instead of a specific color; Word can be very capricious about the
"By Author" setting.

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

 

[Jo]

Capricious: yes, apparently. :-S So it was doing this in previous versions
too? I wonder what mysterious algorithm it uses to flip the proverbial coin
and decide which colour to use today? ;-)

Thanks Suzanne.

Jo.

 

[grammatim]

The only time it's really annoying is when it decides to do it on the
day you finish working on the file and want to make the pdf to send to
the author for answering queries/approval -- and the standard cover
letter says the editing is shown in red.

 

[Jo]

LOL!

The only time it's really annoying is when it decides to do it on the
day you finish working on the file and want to make the pdf to send to
the author for answering queries/approval -- and the standard cover
letter says the editing is shown in red.