Changes to Comment Boxes Functionality

Question

In a recent update to Word 365, the way comments boxes work has been changed to focus on collaboration. I am a college professor and I use comments extensively to provide feedback on papers, but I never need to collaborate. The new "features" of comments boxes require added clicks (including having to click that I want to "Post" the comment in the first place after I have typed it), the comments are harder to read for my students, and the keystroke tools that I use for creating comments with canned text no longer work.

Is there some way that I can turn off all the collaboration stuff that I do not need and go back to the former way comments worked, without having to revert to a previous version of Word?

Thank you,

Andy

Answer 1

When I add comments to students' papers, it is very important for me to be able to specify the font of my choice. I do that by modifying the underlying styles (Comment Text and Balloon Text).

Also, I find it important to see all the comments. The article at https://insider.office.com/en-us/blog/modern-commenting-in-word says that "resolved" comments will be moved to the comments pane, which would mean that I have to look in two different places, I assume. I do not need to "resolve" comments at all. They should just be there. 

The current design of comments is very flexible. I don't see the point in making comments look like they currently do in Word Online.

Answer 2

Agreed!

Answer 3

Hi all,

I’m Kallie, the Program Manager in charge of rolling out the new comments experience to Desktop Word.

First off, thank you for this thread. I and the rest of the comments team are sorry to hear you’ve been having a challenging time with the new experience, but we deeply appreciate your feedback. As you’ve seen, we’re still in the process of rolling out the new comments experience to Desktop, so this discussion comes at an ideal time; we’re still in a stage of rich iteration for this feature, and we’re keen to learn more about how we can make it better.

We’ve taken note of the specific issues you shared in this thread *(added clicks, no longer being able to undo insertion of a comment, missing autocorrect and more)*and will be considering those as we prioritize a next set of improvements for the feature.

Additionally, please do continue sending feedback in Word (File > Feedback > Send a Frown/Suggestion). Our team is committed to reviewing all feedback on the comments experience that’s sent through Word; it’s how we get a “birds eye view” of all issues, and an understanding of how to prioritize improvements so that we’re delivering the highest possible value to you and all Word comments users.

Thanks again – we’re looking forward to hearing more of your perspective on this feature, so that we can continue refining the experience.

Best,

Kallie Bracken

Program Manager

Microsoft Word

Answer 4

Doug,

It looks like the Word online functionality was ported over to the desktop version (see Jay's comments below). As Jay notes, this is a "disimprovement." And I imagine this holds true for a large swath of Word users.

I appreciate your time.

I did submit a "send a frown" note to Microsoft, but I have no idea whether they pay attention to these.

Andy

Answer 5

Doug,

Thank you for your reply. I am using Word on my desktop.

The appearance of comments is now different, and after typing a comment, I am now required to click "Post." In addition, the "undo" function no longer "undoes" the inseration of a comment box, as it used to. I have to click on the X of the comment box to get rid of it. These are not the end of the world, although extra needless clicks are never welcome to any workflow that does the same tasks thousands of times.

What I mean by a keystroke tool is an app like Typeitin which automatically enters keystrokes that allow a comment box to be created and predefined text to then be inserted into the comment box. The key sequence to create a comment is Ctrl-Alt-m. Previously, I could program Typeitin to enter the "ctrl-alt-m" followed by my text and Word would create the comment box and add the text. Now the text is added in line and the comment box is empty. I have tried a lot finnagliing, and I cannot get it to work. Again, I can work around this, but when doing the same tasks repeatedly, extra clicks add up.

I realize that technically, outside apps are not the province of Microsoft  The other "features" are still requiring more work. And there are many people like me who are not interested in collaboration. If Microsoft wants to provide enhanced collaboration options, let them be exactly that -- options -- that people can select if they want them. Those of us who are only incovenienced by them can simply not turn them on.

I appreciate your time.

Andy