Unable to delete comments

[Steve]

I've got a pretty lengthy document that has been
created/edited by several people. I've been pulling them
all into one and now I am trying to get it ready for
distribution.

I am unable to delete the (or so far at least some of
them) the comments. Most of these are not things we want
distributed with the document. THEY MUST GO!

I've had this happen before, but it effected small parts
of the doc and I just re-typed them.

I click in the comment and select delete and nothing
happens. I selecte the whole comment and delete and
nothing happens. I try to delete it from the comment
section and it says I can't.

The only "hint" I've had of a problem with this document
was that it would crash if I tried to print the doc AND
comments. Either one worked fine.

Office/Word 2000. Win 2000

Thanks
sb

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Is the document protected for comments? Tools | Unprotect Document.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[TinMan]

Nope, it's not. I do have an "update" and I am always hesitant to say "bug"
but I think this is one.

If I turn off "Tracking Changes" it lets me delete the comments. I've tried
this on 5 different computers and all are doing it the same.

Normally, while I'm working on it, I turn on "Tracking Changes". Frankly,
most my collaborators don't even know it's there, but I leave it on until it
is all done. Anyway, if I try to delete a comment while this it is tracking
changes, it won't delete the comment. So, I put the "Track Changes" button
on the toolbar right next to the "Delete Comment" and I get the job done.
It's weird, but it does.

Now, on customizing the toolbar. Has anyone noticed that if you try to put
the "Show Comments" icon on the toolbar, it actually puts the "Edit
Comments" icon and function on. This one I've only done on 3 computers.
Still two bugs in one day - Not bad.

Thanks for the help.

sb

 

[TinMan]

Ooops. Caught me. From the office I had to use the web version and work
address. Now I'm home with a real news reader.

Same schmuck.

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi TinMan

I think it's possible that there's some confusion here.

So you and I are both seeing the same thing, do Tools > Options > Track
Changes. In the Inserted Text box, choose Underline. In the Deleted text
box, choose Strikethrough.

When track changes is on (ie when TRK in the status bar is dark), then
Word tracks all changes you make. If you add text, Word shows it as
added (and displays it as underlined). If you delete text, Word leaves
it in the document, but displays it as struckthrough.

However, Word is smart enough to remember *your* changes, and lets *you*
change them without marking them. So if Track Changes is on, you add
text and then delete that same text, Word leaves no trace.

In any case, you can later decide to accept or reject the tracked
changes.

The same applies to adding or deleting comments, or adding or deleting
text within a comment. So if there's a comment in your text, and if
Track Changes is on, and you add a comment, Word will show the comment
as an insertion. If there's a comment in your text, and if Track Changes
is on, and you delete a comment, then Word will show the comment as
deleted (by striking through the mark in the text that indicates a
comment).

That is, while Track Changes is on, Word won't completely delete a
comment in the same way it won't completely delete text. Word tracks the
change and displays the comment or text as deleted (with strikethrough).
As always, you can later decide to accept or reject the tracked changes.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
Melbourne, Australia

 

[TinMan]

You're almost right. You are telling me the way it is supposed to work, with
which I am familiar. My comment/question is that it does not on a number of
computers I use.

First, my track changes options is set to "hide" deleted text. When I make
changes, they actually appear on the screen as they would without tracking
changes, except that they are in different colors and there is a vertical
bar on the side of the changed line. Personally, all the strikethoughs get
confusing.

So, my boss may make a comment for me or vice/versa resulting in a change in
the text (sometimes within the commented area).

Once the comment is acted upon or discarded, I want to delete it. Most of my
docs are submitted electronically, so you don't want the final recipient to
see them (actually MS should stick a "warning" or something is when a doc is
e-mailed warning that it contains multiple versions, comments, or tracked
changes that will be visible to the recipient or just a button to "clean"
the document and automatically remove all of these things and save a new
"clean" copy for submissions, but that's a different topic.

Anyway, with some regularity, I am unable to delete these comments. It seems
that the problem occurrs when comments were entered on one computer and
trying to be deleted on another, but I've not nailed that down. Anyway, I
discovered that if I turn off "Tracking Changes" (changing the show changes
makes no difference I can tell) I can then remove the comments.

This happens to me all the time, it was just never a big enough issue to
worry about until now. At least now I know how to deal with it. It's a pain,
but it'll work.

As for my other issue. Do me a favor. Go to "View, Toolbars, Customize and
try to add the "Veiw Comments" to your toolbar? What do you get? (Maybe the
down under version actually works.) In the "Up over" version, you get an
"edit comments" button and function. I've done this on at least 10 different
machines.

Would have thought after all this time, they'd have fixed that.

Thanks. I think I see what you were getting at (that it is getting deleted,
but track changes keeps it on screen, but that's not what's happening). I
appreciate it.

Tin

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi TinMan

actually MS should stick a "warning" or something ...

Word 2002 and 2003 do warn you about saving or emailing a document with
Tracked Changes.

am unable to delete these comments. It seems
that the problem occurrs when comments were entered on one computer and
trying to be deleted on another,

That's right. Or, to be precise, while Word is tracking changes, it will
let you delete a Comment that (a) you made on this computer and (b)
which has been tracked as a change. If you're tracking changes, and you
try to delete someone else's Comment, or a Comment that is not a tracked
change, then Word will mark the deletion as a change.

So, if your boss made a Comment in the document, and you're now editing
the document with Tracked Changes on, and you delete the Comment, then
Word will mark that deletion as a change.

. Go to "View, Toolbars, Customize and
try to add the "Veiw Comments" to your toolbar?

I don't have a View Comments command in Word 2003. I do have a View
Annotations command. If I put that on a toolbar, the tooltip says
"Show/Hide Comments" and when I click it, it toggles the display of
comments. So it appears to work correctly for me in the latest version.

I tried this in Word 2000, and I could replicate your problem. That is,
the tooltip says "Edit Comment". But you'll see that View > Comments
does exactly the same thing as the button with the "Edit Comment"
tooltip. Furthermore, I get the same "Edit Comment" tooltip if I drag
the View > Comments command to a different toolbar. I think the button
is mis-named; but it's doing what it should. When I click that button,
it opens the Comments Pane and takes me to the comment closest to the
text I was editing. And that's what I'd expect in Word 2000.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
Melbourne, Australia

 

[TinMan]

I'm before my time then, just slow getting there.

Thanks,