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.