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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

97 answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2025-04-23T09:35:51+00:00

    I had this same problem, in a document with Tracked Changes. In my case, the comments which had been deleted, show up in "List" View but not "Contextual" View.

    Which version of Word are you running?

    Microsoft fixed some aspects of "invisible" comments a while back, but they have also stated that they will not fix all cases.

    If I remember correctly, any comment which is associated with a text range that is marked for deletion will still not display in the Contextual view. I haven't experimented with this in detail recently.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2025-04-23T15:14:51+00:00

    This issue (which is entirely distinct from comments disappearing because of a “a text range that is marked for deletion”) has been fixed for me since the most recent update. Do you have a Windows Update pending?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2025-04-23T16:10:06+00:00

    It looks like there is an update waiting but our office administrator controls when the updates happen.

    Version: 2503 Build 16.0.18623.20116

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2025-04-23T16:10:39+00:00

    Yes, but updating is controlled by our administrator so I guess I will just have to wait.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2025-04-23T16:11:40+00:00

    Yes, but updates are done by our administrator so I will have to wait.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments