Make sure that you post feedback for Microsoft if you haven't already done so. (For example, Microsoft Word.) My typing has evolved to use those features. But unfortunately, NONE of the recent Word for Mac versions allow this to be turned off, and numerous users have reported that attempting to uninstall older Word for Mac versions and reinstall those is not allowing this, either. I have a number of problems with the useability of these comments, based on the way I have used them in the past (for context, I am an educator and primarily use them when marking student assignments). Ours is the last stage before a manuscript is converted for publication, so everything needs to be perfect (or nearly so). Why should I change to problematic upgrades? From Tuesday 5 October 2021, a new look is be available to Microsoft 365 and Office 2021. 09:26 AM. Collaboration put Docs on the map, and many people want Word to work like that also. Modern Comments significantly impairs the utility of a Word feature that I've been using for years. Lets resurrect that too! To switch between the default, focused view of comments to the right of the page and the Comments pane, simply click the Comments button in the upper right corner of your Word window. Figure 1. Can I remove Modern Comments and revert back? They have indicated an intention to remove this option in the future. Thats no doubt part of the plan. The new experience shows comments to the right of the page by default. no option to revert to classic comments, with their previous functionality, including an option to turn off collaboration features. I also can't just click INTO it to edit, I have to click on more buttons. Welcome to OnPodcast: the OnMSFT.com podcast! @JPLin Thank you for the helpful information. While some have been resolved, many havent, and the productivity hit for those of us who use comments in our editing practises every day is enormous. Obviously, this isn't the same as the old comments design, and therefore I recommend that you post feedback for Microsoft (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/how-do-i-give-feedback-on-microsoft-office-2b102d44-b43f-). Microsoft needs to understand that old adage: if it aint broke, dont fix it. Over the last year and a half (beginning in April 2021), Microsoft has been rolling out its modern comments to Word 365 users on both Windows and Mac platforms. Things move fast and i am old.. new modern commenting experience in Microsoft Word, Inspirational Ukrainian Antonov An-225 Mriya comes to Microsoft Flight Simulator, Microsoft Defender could be installed in your Windows PC automatically soon, Windows 11s next Moments Update includes AI, iOS support, screen recording, and more, Lenovo announces new ThinkPad E-Series with 40GB of memory, L-Series with new AMD chips, and a modular AIO at MWC. My typing has evolved to use those features. That cartoon is hilarious. The main areas of concern, among others, relate to: Ive divided this post up into (no order of priority or severity is implied): This is a long post, so you might want to grab a coffee, Update June 2021: For the really short version, see this brilliant cartoon from Iva Cheung: https://ivacheung.com/2021/07/modern-comments/, How comments were indicated in previous versions of Wordobvious lines and obvious colours, How comments are indicated with Modern Commentsno lines, just speech bubble icons; pale colours, Update 6 Jan 2022: Some of the FAQs on this Microsoft page address some of the issues raised in this post, and offer some workarounds: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/using-modern-comments-in-word-edc6ae71-0a2d-49fe-8faa-986f1e48136a. Rediculous. It turns comments into a reviewing-oriented Navigation pane. After you draft a new comment or reply, click the Post comment or Post reply button or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Cmd + Enter (MacOS) to share your thoughts with others. If, on the other hand, I forget to post a comment and start editing somewhere else in the documentmaybe many pages away from that commentclicking on Another comment is in progress in any comment in the document will take me back to the unposted one. Instead, commented-on text is shaded in gray until a specific comment is either in progress or hovered over or selected; then the shading turns purple (as in the screenshot above). the modern comments are not fun, too much time and confusion. Really! But if, like me, you do most of your work on longer documents that arent sharedand especially if youre not as convinced as I am that the benefits of modern comments outweigh their limitations in Wordgive it more time. Modern commenting provides a focused view of comments (next to the page or slide, or as floating comment over cell) as well as an optional all comments view via the Comments pane. Thanks! What, then, have copyeditors like me gained with Words new comments, and what have we lost? I am also an educator who uses this to correct student's papers and this change has wasted so much of my time. You can let Microsoft know what you think about modern comments. (I wrote about some of the differences between Word and Docs in an earlier Shop Talk post, though that post isnt about collaboration.). I wasn't aware that the "Enable modern comments" option had been removed from Word for Mac. Further, MS reps on various forums have indicated that the checkbox for turning off this crap feature in other versions of Word is temporary only. Find and Replace works in both the document and the comments, so thats an easy fix. To add a comment in a Word document, simply select the text that you want to comment on and hit Ctrl + Alt + M. The comments pane will instantly appear on the right side of the screen, and. Leave Word alone. Jul 19 2021 Put your cursor where it needs to bein the document or in a commentand start typing or deleting or finding and replacing or whatever. Unfortunately, we must expect that the option will disappear some day. The new commenting. Once you do that, your comment will look like this (but with a blinking cursor line at the end of the comment text): Note the message in gray text: Another comment is in progress. In this case, its my own comment thats in progress (or, specifically, an edit to my own comment). Microsoft has a new "modern commenting experience" and wanted to extend it over the various editions of Word. Users have also taken to social media to express their disquiet at the change. And you cant use an equation editor to insert equations. and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. Select the Info tab in the Backstage view. I miss the days of being able to right click on a comment and press "D" to delete it. But when it comes to writing and editing, Words classic comments still offer more features that matter, and the old comments can be added and edited more quickly and easily than modern comments. By saving it to OneDrive (Microsofts answer to iCloud and Google Drive and Dropbox and the like), I was able to share the file with myself via the Share button in the ribbon and observe simultaneous edits (and comments) on a second computer. Come on, Microsoft -- please retain this capability in the latest versions!! Thank goodness for that. Modern comments sets the stage for a richer Word collaboration experience for you and your teams by enabling modern features such as @mention notifications and more. And you can mention someone in a Google Docs comment using the @ symbol, which triggers an email to that person and lets you assign the comment as a task. Reg reader Nick H noted: "Comments now seem to float around randomly. 11:08 AM. Once the comment is posted you can drag the comment bubble anywhere within the object you commented on to indicate specifically what you're referring to. After to you delete the following keys again. And though my own settings in Word wont determine how my documents display for others, I prefer to underline additions, strike through deletions, and show comments in the margins: But I turn off the option to track formatting. Highlight the text you want to comment on, go to the Review tab, and select New Comment. Word. Don't worry, it's not a major change. Blog at WordPress.com. You can resize and move the Comments pane (list view); macro to resize the Comments pane: Another workaround: Avoid using Modern Comments entirely, and instead use EndNotes and macros that work in EndNotes. We like to call this the Collab corner!. Select the dialog box launcher in the Styles group. To get the old comment features back: Select File > Options > General > turn OFFthe Enable modern commentscheck box. Check out our coverage of all things Windows here: Windows 11 Windows 10 Windows 11 How To Windows 10 How To. If you want modern comments by default with SAC Ext Jul 2021 build #16..14326.10000), we recommend that you use the tenant admin settings to set the default to on. Thanks, Russell. Most people do not collaborate. How do I make the change stick? thanks for people writing this thread, helped save so much time!!!! Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. It doesn't make sense to only be allowed to edit one comment at a time, particularly if the idea is to not post them until you're ready to share with others. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Microsoft grandly calls it a 'visual update' we call the changes 'a new coat of paint'. . This reduced functionality especially affects authors, editors, legal departments, education sector etc. You cant do that using modern comments. However, I can't click out of it to finish, I have to click or ctrl+Enter to post. haven't rolled out to my Word 365 (Windows) version as yet, so today I turned off Updates to prevent them from being installed (File > Account > Update Options button).Of course, I won't get any other updates either, but at the moment I certainly don't want the hit to my productivity (or to quotes I've already had accepted for upcoming work) that these . I'm just curious what else I changed when I deleted all those keys Can I remove Modern Comments and revert back? By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. The problem for now is one of expectations. (If you use a different location, version . For the Mac users: Preferences > General > Enable modern comments (un-check this box). This also opens the comments pane. Best practices and the latest news on Microsoft FastTrack, The employee experience platform to help people thrive at work, Expand your Azure partner-to-partner network, Bringing IT Pros together through In-Person & Virtual events. Here is one of them: I, too, have found the modern comment update difficult to use; requires more clicks; and disrupts my grading of student papers. My typing has evolved to use those features. @chiara369In addition to the many, many issues others have complained about, this new function no longer allows images and photos to be added, and has wiped out every single image saved in two vast memoirs I'm editing for clients, wiping out years of work. Learn moreabout what other information you should include in your feedback to ensureits actionable and reaches the right people. Sorry, JavaScript must be enabled to use this app. You can use the in-built settings, Local Group Policy Editor . I've retweeted your Tweet and liked all your other updates. In Word for Windows, click File > Options > General and clear the check mark next to "Enable modern comments." This also completes our goal of aligning the commenting experience across Word platforms and other Office apps, especially in Word, Excel & PowerPoint. Why not allow multiple to be in draft? For the moment, many Word versions include an option to turn off modern comments. It was easy. My Word (on Microsoft 365) has updated to Modern Comments. , The Register Biting the hand that feeds IT, Copyright. As you accept or reject changes, Word will move to the next change. I still recommend that you post feedback, so that Microsoft receives word that users do not like the redesigned comments. I have a number of problems with the useability of these comments, based on the way I have used them in the past (for context, I am an educator and primarily use them when marking student assignments). Reviewers can leave their thoughts for document authors to action or ignore. and Comments (RSS). (When Words classic comments have been set to display in the margins, theres no option not to show formatting there also.) My personal guess, though, is that it is unlikely to happen, because they have made an effort to redesign the feature based on corporate feedback saying that comments should not be seen (in shared documents) until after they have been posted et cetera (if I have understood the situation correctly). That will give you this (to the right of the document): I cant stress enough how great this list view is, especially in any document longer than a few pages. The main issue is that autotext is no longer supported in a comment. If I open a comment using a keyboard shortcut (on a Windows computer) and start typing, the first one or two letters often gets inserted into the main text, They don't use the same autocorrect tools as the main text. The new modern comments experience will affect files where the first comment was added after your organization has the tenant admin setting enabled. Every time there's an upgrade I check it's still available dreading the day it's removed entirely! You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. The new design. :-(. Click on File. Simply go to File > Options > General and uncheck the box next to Enable modern comments.. how to manage them. Awful time-wasting feature! In a shared document that more than one person is editing at the same time, this feature will prevent others from seeing a comment as you type itthat is, before you think its ready.. Sharing best practices for building any app with .NET. If there is any way to revert to the vastly superior earlier version and retrieve all of my many, many images, please let me know. Re: Can I remove Modern Comments and revert back? Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. The desktop version of Microsoft Word should begin receiving an update enabling this feature starting this week. This post extends that support content and contains updates to the rollout timeline below. Things move fast and i am old.. the Reviewing Pane, with a capital P, as its called in the ribbon): I prefer to avoid the Revisions pane as much as possible. Some of these comments are up to a paragraph, or contain URLs to instructions for certain things. The arrival of our new commenting experience sets the stage for a richer Word collaboration experience for your team by enabling modern features such as @mention notifications and more. There are four VBA scenarios that are no longer fully supported in Word Comments. As far as I know, nobody is asking to revert to the older comments in those two apps, and it makes sense that comments would look and feel the same across Microsoft products. back to normal again. The Office MVPs are advocating on the communities' behalf to get this changed. If I forget to post and try to type a new comment, it pulls me back to my previous comment and starts typing, making me lose my spot where I wanted the next comment. This allows you to focus on your content without missing active comments related to the part of the document youre working on. It aligns how comments work across Office on different endpoints, so that you and your team can rely on a consistent experience regardless of whether youre using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint on any platform, the company explained. Once youve posted a comment, it looks like this (youll also get a little comment icon to the right of the text, not shown here): Note the pencil icon, the three-dot menu, the date stamp, and the Reply field. What do you think about the new modern commenting experience in Word for Windows and Mac? Who was asking for that? Restart Word to get classic comments back. Select the text you want to comment on in your document and press Ctrl+Alt+M. Use the Feedback facility available within Word. To go back and edit that comment (or any other comment in the document), I can simply click into it and start typing. It would be nice to be able to just say no to the updates! They can be turned off now in Settings. Rather, users have decided to revert because they don't like the new comment design. It has added an extra space to the side of the document, which wouldn't be an issue except that making any formatting changes under tracked change, which I often also do when marking assignments, goes into the ORIGINAL pane where comments use to be, widening the document even further (extra space for formatting, then another extra space for comments). It would be nice to be able to just say no to the updates! But where is Preferences hidden? To delete a comment, right-click it and select Delete Comment. It works just fine. Those comments are presumably the origin of the modern comments in Word 365, a full-featured desktop app. Main issues relate to: It's incredibly helpful to be able to insert these quickly and will increase my marking time substantially if I can't use them. Formatting in Modern Comments: Beyond Google Docs. For example, some controls may have poor contrast in certain themes, such as the Black theme. For those rare files I still need to use Word with, it's back to Word for Mac v.15.50. I cannot locate that either. Open the View menu and select Comments. Thank you for your patience.We're rolling out a new comments experience in Word with imp Joo Ferreira Search for: 12 Notifications This allows you to temporarily revert the comments experience to the legacy comments model as the new experience continues to improve and evolve. Im not all that optimistic, though, for reasons Iva Cheung summed up in this cartoon. Wow, 15 years to 'supports iOS'. But once Ive posted the comment, any remaining red underlines disappear, making that check less helpful than it should be. Great question! However, I can't click out of it to finish, I have to click or ctrl+Enter to post. These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Styles dialog box launcher 3. Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type. :-) ), but Ctrl+z returns you to the characters typed EXCEPT for the last character, which it deletes; if you then add that character again BECAUSE YOU WANT THE CHARACTER and NOT the emoji, it reverts to an emoji again and you cant get just the characters, Conventions such as (c) and (e) to create the copyright or Euro symbols dont work at all in MC and you only get the characters typed. Thank you so much! Click on Save. Sharing best practices for building any app with .NET. Trying out Spoutible as a Twitteralternative, When the job ad for an editor requiresediting, Excel: Convert hours and minutes to minutes, Word: Table or table row goes to next page, Testing ChatGPT against an editor's rewrite, A light-hearted look at how punctuation can change meaning, Word to PDF: Table of Contents not clickable, Trying out Spoutible as a Twitter alternative, Word: Change caption numbering from sequential to chapter numbering, If one or more of my tips have helped you, saved you time, or saved your skin, you can thank me by clicking the PayPal button (or, loss of functionality that has existed since comments were introduced many years ago (its broken), extra clicks and mouse movements that have to be done to insert, save, or edit a comment (its not ergonomically efficient), impingement on valuable screen real estate (its hard to use and is not efficient), lack of connection between comments and the text they relate to (its hard to use and is not efficient), resulting additional time and loss of productivity (and therefore extra cost to the client) it takes to review/edit documents and make comments for author action (its not efficient). 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Reader Nick H noted: `` comments now seem to float around randomly optimistic, though, reasons! Working on any remaining red underlines disappear, making that check less helpful than it should be it finish.