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Old 12-21-2013, 05:02 PM
PointyHead PointyHead is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 8 Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons
 
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Default Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons

I can't get the comments to appear in a balloon. They do appear in the right margin, but not in a balloon. That makes it difficult to distinguish them from the other things in the margin (deletions and formatting). Under Track Changes Options I tried two different things for Balloons in All Markup View Show: Comments and Formatting, and Revisions. Neither of those options would make the comments get into an actual balloon.

To distinguish the comments from other items in the margin, I tried to put the comments in red. That doesn't work either.

I also tried the document in both compatibility mode and Word 2013 mode. I saved it in both docx and doc. None of those actions had any impact on the problem.

So here's the setup I need:

Deletions to appear in the right margin


Additions to appear in red in the text (This is working.)
Comments to appear in the right margin in a colored balloon.

I made one system change: I installed Classic Shell over Windows 8.1. I assume that would not affect Word.
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Old 12-22-2013, 05:30 AM
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Stefan Blom Stefan Blom is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 7 64bit Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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Word 2013 has changed the appearance of the balloons. However, if you print or preview the document you will see the old style balloons. You can switch to Print Preview by pressing Ctrl+F2 (or clicking File | Print).
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Old 12-22-2013, 08:17 AM
PointyHead PointyHead is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 8 Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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First of all, control F2 on my computer (a new Toshiba satellite laptop) only brings up the brightness control.

I did find the preview you mention through Print. This function is not useful to me at all in my work. I need to be able to clearly see the comment balloons amidst hundreds of other changes that appear in the margin., and to edit my comments. My clients also need to be able to clearly see the balloons in order to reply to my queries.

***Are you saying that it's impossible to place comment BALLOONS in the margin in Print Layout?

That fact alone would make me uninstall Word 2013 because this would never be workable for my clients.
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Old 12-22-2013, 08:49 AM
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Stefan Blom Stefan Blom is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 7 64bit Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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It would appear that your computer has "hi-jacked" the Ctrl+F2 shortcut. <sigh> Holding the Fn (function) key may change the behavior.

Note that you can zoom the Print Preview, if that helps. Use the slider at the bottom right. You can't edit that view any more, though.

Would it help if you could hide markup from the markup area, and only see the comment and formatting balloons? On the Review tab, click the dialog launcher (the little arrow on the bottom right) of the Tracking group. In the dialog box, choose what you prefer in the "Balloons in the All Markup view show" drop down. Click OK.
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Old 12-22-2013, 08:59 AM
PointyHead PointyHead is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 8 Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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No, I don't want to hide the markup. That's essential for me and for my clients. It would help if I could get the comments in red. That function is not working either.

But based on your replies, I'm most likely going to uninstall Word 2013 (good-bye $150) and go back to 2003. So far my experience with Windows 8 and Word 2013 has been somewhat nightmarish. Both of these are unsuited for business use and a major disappointment. I've lost five days in the past week trying to adapt them for use in my work.

What's a "Microsoft MVP"?
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Old 12-22-2013, 11:02 AM
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Stefan Blom Stefan Blom is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 7 64bit Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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To clarify, by hiding the markup, I only mean hiding it in the markup area on the right; markup will still be visible in the main body of the document (assuming that you have selected the All Markup view).

You could change the appearance of comment text, if that helps. Modify the Comment Text and Balloon Text styles to make them stand out more. In the Apply Styles pane (Ctrl+Shift+S), type in a style name and click the Modify button; then make the desired changes.

For what it's worth, I don't like the changes Microsoft made to the markup feature in Word 2013, either.

The MVP award lasts for a year and is received based on activity in the Microsoft user-to-user forums (for example in the Microsoft Community). For details, see http://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx.
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Old 12-22-2013, 11:24 AM
PointyHead PointyHead is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 8 Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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Stefan, thanks very much for your detailed replies. I've pretty much decided to dump Word 2013. It's really not business friendly. 2003 was in my opinion a much better program. In business applications we need to a) do things as fast and accurately as possible and b) make things as clear as possible for the client. In Word 2013 I find myself making more keystrokes to get things done and spending more time hunting for things. 2003 was fairly easy to learn intuitively. Not the case for 2013.

Track Changes forms the basis of my work as an editor. 2013 is a big step backwards in efficiency and functionality of Track Changes. When you combine Word 2013 with Windows 8, you're sunk as business person. In the past week the amount of money that I've lost on buying, installing, fixing, learning, and adjusting these systems has surpassed what I paid the new laptop and software. It was a very expensive week and I've had it. I'm just about done with Microsoft. My OS and word processing needs are very, very simple but they are not being met by Microsoft.
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Old 12-22-2013, 11:35 AM
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Many people seem to dislike changes made in Office 2013, and the virtual installations ("click-to-run") don't appear to be popular either, based on posts in the forums. :-( I guess we can do nothing but wait and see what happens in the future.

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you good luck!
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Last edited by Stefan Blom; 11-06-2021 at 01:13 PM.
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Old 12-14-2015, 07:40 PM
julzmacha julzmacha is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 10 Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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Default Comment balloons won't open

I am having the same problem. I can't get comments to appear in pdf document when I click on comment balloons. This is also happening with documents that I used to be able to read the comment balloons in, before I upgraded to Windows 10 and Office 2013
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Old 12-16-2015, 02:08 AM
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Stefan Blom Stefan Blom is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 7 64bit Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by julzmacha View Post
I am having the same problem. I can't get comments to appear in pdf document when I click on comment balloons. This is also happening with documents that I used to be able to read the comment balloons in, before I upgraded to Windows 10 and Office 2013
How are you creating the PDF? Using File | Save As in Word would preserve comment balloons, assuming that they are showing in the Word document.
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Old 11-06-2021, 01:10 PM
sparko sparko is offline Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Windows 10 Word 2013 Track changes: can't get comments to appear in balloons Office 2013
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I finally found a solution that works with Word 2013. In Word 2013 Review ribbon, set 1) Tracking to either "simple markup" or "all markup", 2) click "Show Comments" button if not grayed out. Finally in the Home ribbon, turn on "Show/Hide" or hit CTL*. Voila, the balloons show up to the left of the text! It seems like Word 2013 chokes when there are a lot of comments in the document.
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