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. Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-12-02T08:34:25+00:00

    Can you share a sample document for illustration? (I don't know if anyone has already suggested this in this thread which is now five pages long.)

    Suzanne S. Barnhill said in October that this is being investigated; maybe she has received an update from Microsoft.

    In general, troubleshooting is often time-consuming, though, especially with issues that are not observed by all users.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-12-02T08:59:29+00:00

    Hi.

    I have tried to find the reason fro this behavior, and posted a suggestion Oct 22nd.

    In short, comments do not show "inline" when the text that the comments are linked to certain tracked changes (e.g. formating change). I.e. MS Word cannot handle both a comment and a tracked formating change to a word/text, and prioritize the tracked change and "remove" the comment from inline view.

    This error can easily be reproduced by typing some text, make a formatting change to one word, and then add a comment to the same word. A soon as you submit the comment it "disappears" - although it can be found in the list view. Note that other changes to the text, like spelling etc, does not cause the problem.

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  3. Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-12-02T09:09:14+00:00

    Hi.

    I have tried to find the reason fro this behavior, and posted a suggestion Oct 22nd.

    In short, comments do not show "inline" when the text that the comments are linked to certain tracked changes (e.g. formating change). I.e. MS Word cannot handle both a comment and a tracked formating change to a word/text, and prioritize the tracked change and "remove" the comment from inline view.

    This error can easily be reproduced by typing some text, make a formatting change to one word, and then add a comment to the same word. A soon as you submit the comment it "disappears" - although it can be found in the list view. Note that other changes to the text, like spelling etc, does not cause the problem.

    Thanks for the reminder. I do recall that discussion earlier this fall. The problem has been reported to Microsoft. How quickly it will be fixed is impossible to tell, unfortunately.

    I am not sure that this is part of the issue described by the OP in this thread, though.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-12-02T16:46:12+00:00

    Yes, thanks. Unfortunately, the reality of document collaboration is that track changes/formatting changes and comments often coincide with one another. It just needs to work properly.

    All collaborative documents on my end are confidential and cannot be shared.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-12-03T23:53:32+00:00

    Same issue. Mine started in the middle of a document. Up to a certain point everything was fine - comments appeared in contextual view. The next one disappeared immediately. I took someone's advice (Jennifer, I think) and tried connecting my comment to a different word in the applicable paragraph and it worked - the comment remained visible in contextual view. Since then I've noticed that the comment always disapears when I try to tie the comment to the title of a section, e.g. "Sample title" in the structure below. But if I tie the comment to "test" it does not disappear.

    8.1 Sample Title. Test test test test...

    Just discovered that if I accept any formatting changes to the paragraph in which I'm making comments, any subsequent comments tied to the section title remain visible in contextual view. Maybe contextual comments won't stick if there are open formatting edits?

    UPDATE: Just tried making a comment tied to a section heading in a paragraph with no formatting changes. the comment remained visible. At least in my case this is clearly tied to the existence of unaccepted formatting changes.

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