Is there a way to disable Modern Comments in Word for Mac?

Anonymous
2021-12-29T08:36:43+00:00

Is there a way to disable Modern Comments in Word for Mac and never to the classic commenting format?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | MacOS

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Anonymous
2021-12-29T10:06:32+00:00

Hello, Camille

Confirm if I understand you want to disable modern comments on Word for Mac.

To disable modern comments, follow these steps.

  • Open Word and click on the Word in the menu on the top of the screen.
  • Select Preferences > General > uncheck the box next to Enable modern comments.
  • Restart Word application.

Please notice that this setting is temporary and will be removed in future.

I hope I could help you to disable modern comments. Feel free to post back to us if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

Igor

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Stefan Blom 353.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2022-03-08T13:10:13+00:00

Note that contributors in this user-to-user forum can't make decisions on behalf of Microsoft.

To let Microsoft know that you do not like the modern comments, post feedback from within Word. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-give-feedback-on-microsoft-office-2b102d44-b43f-4dd2-9ff4-23cf144cfb11#platform=macOS.

EDIT: Some versions of Word will let you revert to the classic comments. Use the "Enable modern comments" check box. (It has been reported in the TechCommunity at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/word/bd-p/Word that perpetual licenses of Word may have the modern comments but not the option to turn them off.)

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Anonymous
2022-04-29T22:43:55+00:00

I use Word on a Mac. The instructions for disabling Modern Comments are different for PC and Mac. Here they are for Mac. I found these by Googling "How to disable Modern Comments." The instructions for PCs are equally easy to follow. My understanding is that the ability is temporary and that MS is going to make modern comments the normal. We must complain and fight to keep classic comments.

To disable modern comments, follow these steps.

  • Open Word and click on the Word in the menu on the top of the screen.
  • Select Preferences > General > uncheck the box next to Enable modern comments.
  • Restart Word application.

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-07-12T23:53:15+00:00

    I agree with you. This new method of commenting is time consuming AND confusing.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-07-12T23:52:27+00:00

    Thanks!

    I absolutely hate these "Modern Comments" for 2 reasons:

    1. It's very difficult to see what the comment is referring to. Even though items become highlighted when the comment is selected, because there are so many colors throughout a revised document, it's hard to see when a section is highlighted in reference to a comment. Furthermore, a comment could be referring to a small word in which case it is not easily noticeable when a highlight is made. It is better to use lines as in the old type of comments.
    2. Sometimes when one is making a comment edit but then scroll away to another comment and want to make another edit to a different comment, the process is halted by Word because it indicates "another comment is in progress". Well, the problem is with a lot of back and forth reading, it is easy to forget what comment one was comment from. Telling me "another comment is in progress" is useless because I don't know WHERE to find the comment that is "in progress". Asinine.

    Both of these deficiencies make comment bubbles extremely difficult to use.

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