Some comments not appearing in contextual view, but appear in list view.

Anonymous
2024-09-21T00:50:47+00:00

Greetings,

Since the last update (currently running MS Word Version 2408 (Build 17928.20156), some of the comments that I make in Word documents do not appear in contextual view, even though they appear in list view. I am not able to click on them in the text and have the comment appear in contextual view. After I make some comments, they disappear and are only available in list view. I am working on an important paper for the top medical journal in the world, and it is debilitating as an editor to not be able to make comments. This document is shared with 20 people. It has also happened in another document that I am working on for another client (in this document, it happened before the document was shared).

I called support. They cannot help and claim that it is not a Microsoft issue. I have copied and pasted the text with the broken comments into a new document and the problem still occurs. Saved the document to my PC (instead of OneDrive) and the problem still occurs. I have accessed the document on another computer and the problem still occurs.

I am beyond frustrated. My colleagues, global leaders in their fields, are mainly older and are technologically challenged. They will not understand if I tell them to look at the comments in list view instead of contextual view. Essential comments will be missed. I just need it to work properly. I am beyond frustrated.

Any advice is most appreciated!

Thanks

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-12-04T00:03:01+00:00

    Yes, there appears to be a connection between unaccepted formatting changes and disappearing comments. Unfortunately, when collaborating with multiple authors, sometimes the formatting changes/track changes need to remain for other authors and editors to see what was altered. This issue is becoming exhausting for me. I am a technical writer and editor and eat, sleep, and breathe collaborative Word documents.

    A volunteer moderator suggested that Microsoft is slow to fix issues that only impact some people, but with five pages of discussions about this issue that is clearly affecting many people, I wonder what the tipping point is?

    I don't have any more time to waste on the phone with customer support.

    Best,

    Jenn

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-10-08T16:15:45+00:00

    Hi Cliff,

    Thanks for moving this forward. I exchanged emails with my client last night and found that the client had also experienced the same issue in another contract.

    For lawyers, this is an absolutely critical issue.

    It is not at all like a formatting bug To miss a client comment means that the lawyer might miss extremely important instructions with consequential losses and possibly legal claims.

    All the best,

    Bruce

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-10-08T00:39:21+00:00

    I am experiencing the same issue in a large contract which has multiple comments from many individuals. It is impossible to paste it all into a new document, or event to copy and past comments from other persons whose comments do not show up. This is a major problem that is causing me a lot of extra work.

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  4. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-10-23T01:22:37+00:00

    I have reported your diagnosis to the Word team that is investigating this issue.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-10-03T20:00:27+00:00

    I am also having this exact issue. I noticed it on a document last week, and now I'm noticing it on a different document this week. I have subject matter experts and course coordinators at a university who need to see my editorial notes on their course documents. Has a solution been found?

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