How Can I Increase the Font Size in Comments on Track Changes in Word?

Hi Annabel, this is Bryll

I understand the urgency and importance of this as it is essential for your productivity.

I have personally checked and researched extensively on the issue you have described with Issue. After looking into it, we have arrived at the same outcome on our side. It shows that direct adjusting of font size for individual comments within the Track Changes feature in Word is currently not available. However, there are a couple of workarounds you can try depending on your goal:

1. Modify the "Balloon text" style: This style controls the font size and other formatting in the comment balloons themselves.

• Open the Styles pane by clicking the small button at the right corner of the Styles group on the Home tab.
• In the search bar, type Balloon Text and press enter.
• Right-click on the Balloon Text style and select Modify.
• In the Modify Style window, go to the Font tab and adjust the Font size to your desired value. Click OK to save changes.

2. Adjust Zoom Level:

• While not specific to the comments, you can simply zoom in or out on the entire document using the Zoom options in the bottom right corner of the Office Word window. This might be helpful if you just need to read the comments more easily.

3. Use the Comments Pane:

• Word has a dedicated Comments pane (Located in Review Tab) that display all comments in a list format. You can adjust the font size within this pane by selecting the text and using the standard font size options.

4. Export comments:

• If you need to work with the comments separately, you can export them to a separate file in various format like Rich Text Format (RTF). Once exported, you can freely adjust the font size in the new file.

To learn more, please go through on this link: Track changes in Word - Microsoft Support

If problem remains, proceed to these tactics to diagnose Office Word:

Remove Normal.dotm and Building blocks.dotx file:

• Close all Office programs before you follow the rest of the steps.
• Press Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box.
• Type %appdata%\microsoft\templates, and then click OK.
• Delete the Normal.dotm and Welcome to Word.dotx files.
• Again, press Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog box.
• Type %appdata%\microsoft\document building blocks, and then click OK.
• Open the subfolder under the Document Building Blocks folder, and then delete the Building blocks.dotx file.

Disable Add-ins:

• From Start menu, search Office Word then right-click to Run as Administrator
• While Office Word is running as Administrator, go to File > Options > Add-ins > COM Add-ins > Go > Uncheck all items > OK > Restart Office Word

Run Office Word in Safe mode:

• Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
• Type winword /safe and press Enter.

Disable Antivirus program:

• Antivirus software may be interfering with the proper functioning of PowerPoint. Antivirus software can sometimes block certain features or processes that it deems as potentially harmful, even if they are legitimate.

Repair Word Office suite:

• Go to Start menu > Settings > Apps > Find your Microsoft Office suite version > Modify/Change > Advanced options > Quick Repair
• Or you can go to Start Menu > Control Panel > Programs and Features > Find your Microsoft Office suite version > Change > Repair

If further help be needed, please enlighten us on the issue further by responding to these questions:

1. Are you experiencing the issue with a particular Word document or is it happening with all documents, including new blank ones?
2. Does the problem persist in Office Word online through a browser? Word | Microsoft 365 (office.com)
3. What is the update build number and license information of your Office Word? About Office: What version of Office am I using? - Microsoft Support

We will recommend other strategies once we receive your response to our questions outlined above. If possible, please share some screenshots or video of the problem.

Best regards,

Bryll

Community Moderator

I forgot to mention that you can turn off the modern comments, if you prefer the older interface. At File > Options > General, clear the check mark next to "Enable modern comments," click OK and then restart Word.

Hi Bryll,

Thanks very much for your reply, all that information is really useful.

I tried Option 1, and unfortunately when I followed these steps nothing changed to the font size/colour when I tried modifying the balloon text:

I also tried Option 3 with the comments pane, however unfortunately the font and size options are greyed out when I click in the comments to alter these:

I'll just have to stick to Option 2 for now and zoom in, which obviously isn't ideal but it's better than nothing, and then once I've finished work today I'll follow your other suggestions and steps on diagnosing Word.

Thanks again very much for your help.

If you have the so-called modern comments, you will see a standard font and size in the comment bubbles.

The changes you made to the Comment Text and Balloon Text styles will display when you preview the document and also when you print it or convert it to a PDF, though.

The screen shot below shows a comment that I added in a sample document, with modern comments enabled:

The print preview at File > Print will show the comment in the Markup area with my preferred font for the Comment Text and Balloon Text styles:

Hi Stefan,

Thanks, that' useful to know that any modifications I make appear in the document print preview - just wish there was a way for them to show in the live document when editing! I'll try and look more into it today after work.

Thanks.