Commenting on just a "spot" in Word

[Guest]

I'm using Word 2007 on a Windows XP Home operating system. In Word 2003, I
used to be able to select just a spot -- not a letter, not a word, not a
space -- to insert a comment. According to information on the MS site, I
should still be able to do this in Word 2007. But, it keeps defaulting to
selecting the word, instead, as soon as I click on New Comment. The
select-word choice is turned off in the options. Am I missing a setting
somewhere else?

 

[CyberTaz]

I can understand how Help gives that impression - "...or click at the end of
the text" - but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. The text preceding the
insertion point will be selected & marked as you've found.

The only workaround I've found [and haven't *fully* tested] is to go ahead &
select a space (or an extra added character), insert the Comment, then
delete what you had selected (retype it if need be). The Comment will be
retained & the spot marked by an I-beam.

 

[Guest]

That's not the text that seems to be inaccurate, then. This text is far, far
more specific. On page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/286169/en-us

it reads: 13. In earlier versions of Word, when I insert a comment, Word
selects the nearest word and highlights it to indicate where the comment is.
Why has this functionality changed?

The new comment feature does not force you to associate a word with the
comment. Instead of highlighting the area of the comment, Word now inserts a
set of large colored braces around the location of the comment. If you select
text when you insert a comment, Word places the braces around the text.
Otherwise, the braces are inserted at the insertion point and may resemble a
vertical line.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Office Word 2007
• Microsoft Office Word 2003
• Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition

It's on that information that I was relying when I asked the original
question. Is this item wrong, or is there a way to create the "spot" comment?

I can understand how Help gives that impression - "...or click at the end of
the text" - but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. The text preceding the
insertion point will be selected & marked as you've found.

The only workaround I've found [and haven't *fully* tested] is to go ahead &
select a space (or an extra added character), insert the Comment, then
delete what you had selected (retype it if need be). The Comment will be
retained & the spot marked by an I-beam.

--
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

I'm using Word 2007 on a Windows XP Home operating system. In Word 2003, I
used to be able to select just a spot -- not a letter, not a word, not a
space -- to insert a comment. According to information on the MS site, I
should still be able to do this in Word 2007. But, it keeps defaulting to
selecting the word, instead, as soon as I click on New Comment. The
select-word choice is turned off in the options. Am I missing a setting
somewhere else?

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, I don't know whether it's "wrong" or whether both you & I are
suffering from the same hallucinogenic hysteria If I insert a comment
here while the insertion point is placed anywhere in the text [actually]
brackets are placed around the preceding or following word. The difference
is whether the insertion point precedes or follows a space.

I never really gave it a thought before because 2003 works the same way and
I didn't know it was _supposed_ to have been changed. It also doesn't appear
to make any difference whether you're in a new .docx file or in
compatibility mode with a .doc in an earlier format. The really odd thing -
if I'm reading correctly - is that you *should not* have been able to
pinpoint a comment _prior_ to 2007... which is what I'm accustomed to.

I'll beat the bushes a bit & see if I can come up with an explanation - but
I think you may have discovered a bug.

--
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

That's not the text that seems to be inaccurate, then. This text is far,
far
more specific. On page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/286169/en-us

it reads: 13. In earlier versions of Word, when I insert a comment, Word
selects the nearest word and highlights it to indicate where the comment
is.
Why has this functionality changed?

The new comment feature does not force you to associate a word with the
comment. Instead of highlighting the area of the comment, Word now inserts
a
set of large colored braces around the location of the comment. If you
select
text when you insert a comment, Word places the braces around the text.
Otherwise, the braces are inserted at the insertion point and may resemble
a
vertical line.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

APPLIES TO
. Microsoft Office Word 2007
. Microsoft Office Word 2003
. Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition

It's on that information that I was relying when I asked the original
question. Is this item wrong, or is there a way to create the "spot"
comment?

I can understand how Help gives that impression - "...or click at the end
of
the text" - but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. The text preceding
the
insertion point will be selected & marked as you've found.

The only workaround I've found [and haven't *fully* tested] is to go
ahead &
select a space (or an extra added character), insert the Comment, then
delete what you had selected (retype it if need be). The Comment will be
retained & the spot marked by an I-beam.

--
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

in
message news:[email protected]...

I'm using Word 2007 on a Windows XP Home operating system. In Word
2003, I
used to be able to select just a spot -- not a letter, not a word, not
a
space -- to insert a comment. According to information on the MS site,
I
should still be able to do this in Word 2007. But, it keeps defaulting
to
selecting the word, instead, as soon as I click on New Comment. The
select-word choice is turned off in the options. Am I missing a setting
somewhere else?

 

[Guest]

Well, yay! I hope that the fix is to make the spot comment possible, 'cause
it's a valuable tool.

I confess to being mystified by the text that seemed to suggest that the
feature's availability was entirely switched 180 degrees from my experience,
too. But, if there's any way to make it available now or soon, that would be
a time saver in my work.

Well, I don't know whether it's "wrong" or whether both you & I are
suffering from the same hallucinogenic hysteria If I insert a comment
here while the insertion point is placed anywhere in the text [actually]
brackets are placed around the preceding or following word. The difference
is whether the insertion point precedes or follows a space.

I never really gave it a thought before because 2003 works the same way and
I didn't know it was _supposed_ to have been changed. It also doesn't appear
to make any difference whether you're in a new .docx file or in
compatibility mode with a .doc in an earlier format. The really odd thing -
if I'm reading correctly - is that you *should not* have been able to
pinpoint a comment _prior_ to 2007... which is what I'm accustomed to.

I'll beat the bushes a bit & see if I can come up with an explanation - but
I think you may have discovered a bug.

--
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

That's not the text that seems to be inaccurate, then. This text is far,
far
more specific. On page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/286169/en-us

it reads: 13. In earlier versions of Word, when I insert a comment, Word
selects the nearest word and highlights it to indicate where the comment
is.
Why has this functionality changed?

The new comment feature does not force you to associate a word with the
comment. Instead of highlighting the area of the comment, Word now inserts
a
set of large colored braces around the location of the comment. If you
select
text when you insert a comment, Word places the braces around the text.
Otherwise, the braces are inserted at the insertion point and may resemble
a
vertical line.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

APPLIES TO
. Microsoft Office Word 2007
. Microsoft Office Word 2003
. Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition

It's on that information that I was relying when I asked the original
question. Is this item wrong, or is there a way to create the "spot"
comment?

I can understand how Help gives that impression - "...or click at the end
of
the text" - but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. The text preceding
the
insertion point will be selected & marked as you've found.

The only workaround I've found [and haven't *fully* tested] is to go
ahead &
select a space (or an extra added character), insert the Comment, then
delete what you had selected (retype it if need be). The Comment will be
retained & the spot marked by an I-beam.

--
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

in
message I'm using Word 2007 on a Windows XP Home operating system. In Word
2003, I
used to be able to select just a spot -- not a letter, not a word, not
a
space -- to insert a comment. According to information on the MS site,
I
should still be able to do this in Word 2007. But, it keeps defaulting
to
selecting the word, instead, as soon as I click on New Comment. The
select-word choice is turned off in the options. Am I missing a setting
somewhere else?

 

[CyberTaz]

Went fishin' for some expert advice & landed a "big one" Here is his
response:

======================================================
Well... it is indeed possible to get the I bracket comment in both Word 2003
and Word 2007, in at least four ways:

1. Insert a comment into an otherwise-empty document.

2. Insert a comment into an otherwise-empty paragraph that contains at least
three empty paragraph marks immediately preceding.

3. Select just a single paragraph mark, then insert your comment. The I
bracket will appear just before that paragraph mark.

4. Insert a comment into an otherwise-empty line (newline character) that is
preceded by at least one empty line (newline character).

There might be other ways, as well.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com
=============================================================
As I replied to him this pretty much confirms that the feature doesn't work
as it should, but perhaps some of his findings will be of use to you until
the real thing comes along

 

[Guest]

Thank you, Taz. But those all sound like just an exercise in getting a
comment bar onto the page. I want the comment to act as it did in 2003.

I'm an editor. The covenant with my writers is that I don't change their
text. Rather than using track changes -- because, remember, I DON'T change
anything -- I use comments. So, by way of poor example, let's say that one of
my authors has given me a manuscript with this line in it:

He hd nothing.

I want to place the comment "bar" between h and d, and in the comment ask
the author a? i?. Or, perhaps I know that it should be an "a". Then, again
because I don't change an author's text, I would place the bar between h and
d, and in the comment I'd key /a, meaning insert a.

The fine insertions were possible in 2003. They are apparently supposed to
be possible in 2007. Are they or aren't they? And, is their absence a bug
that might be fixed? Or, was their presence in 2003 a beneficial bug that no
one realized was there?

 

[Guest]

Ah, apologies. I saw only Herb's reply and not yours Bob. So, yes, waiting
with bated breath for the real thing to come along.

Thank you.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

It works so pointedly wrong in Word 2007. One almost wonders if they did it
deliberately, thinking they were doing users a favor. Clearly, whoever made
this decision -- assuming it *was* a decision rather than a bug -- didn't
take the time to understand how people use this feature. As long as your
breath is bated and not being held... I'm never optimistic about getting
this sort of thing fixed. :-(

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I have no solution for you, but I have to comment on your practice. You are
an editor and have a covenant with writers that you don't change their text?
Isn't that rather a perversion of the concept of editing? I'm also an
editor, and I *do* change text (with Track Changes turned on if required). I
correct obvious errors without comment. In an ambiguous situation such as
this, like you, I would query rather than correct, but I'd select "hd" and
comment "had? hid?"

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

I used a simplistic example, Suzanne, to keep the question clear. Sometimes
it really is that simple and sometimes ... well, not so much.

Yeah, my authors' text belongs to them; they trust me not to change their
words without their knowledge. Asking them to make the changes also asks them
to buy more actively into those changes. Comment works far better for the
purpose of establishing and maintaining a collaborative relationship. Trust
in the editor is an important component in retaining authors.

Track changes plainly has advantages, but it's a tough read when the passage
has been written for rhythm or when the content is complex, for instance.
Track changes works better for line edits than for content edits, at least
for my purposes.

Thanks for your comment, though.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Fair enough. I am a copy editor, so most of my editing is line editing; any
more is restricted to suggestions, and I actually usually put these in a
separate file keyed to the MS when I'm not editing on hard copy (in which
case I use Post-its or flags).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.