Remove Comment pane and go back to comment balloons

Anonymous
2020-05-19T21:16:23+00:00

Recently updated Word, using Mac laptop (Mojave)

I opened up a document today in Word, but all my comments were moved off to the side into a navigation pane.  I want to view comments in the margins of my document in balloons like I have done in the past.  

I have not changed any of my settings.  In the Review tab, I have it set to view All Markups, and the Markup Options I have selected all options (I do not have an option to choose Comments here in the newest version of Word I am using)

Can someone please tell me how to change my settings so that I can fix this?

Microsoft 365 Insider | Word | MacOS

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  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points
    2020-05-19T22:07:48+00:00

    In the Tracking group on the Review tab, click the Markup Options tool, point to Balloons then select either Show Revisions in Balloons or Show Only Comments & Formatting in Balloons.

    However, if a document contains a large volume of revisions & comments the program automatically forces use of the Reviewing Pane due to display height limitations in the document window. In that case try using the 2nd of the choices mentioned above in order to reduce the number of balloons.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-05-20T15:05:55+00:00

    Hi Bob,

    I have selected Show Revisions in Balloons (I don't have the option to select Show Only Comments & Formatting in Balloons).  Even with that selected, all comments are still showing up in the Reviewing Pane. I've even restarted Word and Mac for changes to take place.

    All other coworkers are not having the issue with the exact same documents, so I'm not sure if it is an issue with the amount of comments.

    Do you think uninstalling and reinstalling Word would help to fix this issue?

    All the best,

    Hannah

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  3. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points
    2020-05-20T15:51:45+00:00

    Reinstalling is a last resort on a Mac. This is especially true if the issue is evident only in particular documents. Test in a new document to see whether the same issue is evident.

    Before anything else go to Word> About Microsoft Word in the main menu to determine the present Version & type of License for your Office software. Include that info in your reply. Indicate your specific update level of Mojave as well.

    Also, go to Word> Preferences> Track Changes to confirm what the settings are for Balloons at the bottom of the Preferences pane.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-05-20T17:31:19+00:00

    Thank you, Bob!

    I have tested it across multiple documents of different sizes and with a small number of comments and it does not revert back to the Comment balloons.

    Here is the info you requested:

    Current Word Version:  16.38 (20051706); License: Microsoft 365 Subscription

    Mojave version: 10.14.6

    Track changes preferences: I have Balloons with Preferred width 1.5"(I changed this and don't remember what the initial setting was), Margin: Right, Measure in: Inches

    All the best,

    Hannah

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  5. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points
    2020-05-23T13:53:54+00:00

    Version 16.38 indicates that you are an Insider participant so one possibility is that it is a bug in that build. I have no way of knowing because I'm still on 16.37, but I haven't seen any similar reports. The fact that a menu item is missing suggest that this might be the case. I'd suggest checking in with & reporting it in the Insider Community.

    To explore it further on your own, create a new Standard User Account on your Mac. Log in as that user, then launch Word to see whether your experience the is same.

    You also have the option of rolling back to an earlier build of the software.

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