track changes: comments disappear while typing

Question

Hello,

I'm currently using Word 2008 for Mac. I use the track changes feature a lot for copyediting purposes. I often need to type relatively lengthy comments, i.e. a full sentence or two. I find that while I'm typing into the comment box (at the bottom, in the "main document changes and comments" rather than a bubble), I only have a short time before the comment I'm creating disappears in the middle of typing it! This is extremely frustrating for me because it happens with almost every comment I'm making, sometimes multiple times. I have to click on the comment within the text, then choose "edit comment" from the menu before I can complete what I was trying to type. How can I prevent this from happening?

Thank you,

Rebecca

Answer 1

In an admittedly brief test I can't reproduce this here. The comment I typed is...

This is a singular comment which will go on for more than one, fairly long sentence. I'm not sure how long to make it because - as you know - a sentence can run on for line after line after line after line after line. I'll try to get this one to wrap to a second line in the Comment window just to see what happens. The next step will be to make the window narrower to see if that causes any content to disappear.

... which I entered without losing sight of anything. Combined with the fact that I've not seen any similar reports recently I'm inclined to believe it may well be a local issue. Try the normal procedures first:

• Make sure Office is fully updated [12.3.3 is current]
• Make sure OS X is fully updated
• Run Disk Utility to repair disk permissions
• Restart your Mac

If there's no improvement I'd suggest that you next follow the procedure described here for addressing any potential font issues: **Font Weeding.**

Check back for additional ideas if necessary if the problem persists. When you do, be sure to indicate whether this occurs in all documents or just specific ones. It would also be helpful to know what happens if you create a new User Account & run Word there to see if you see the same behavior.

Regards,

Bob J.