EDIT: I'm referring to Word 2003, not 2013.

I have two questions.

1) How do I make a style change permanent, to be applied to the current document and all future documents? I keep telling Word to put the balloon comments in 12-point Times New Roman, but the change isn't sticking.


2) What is the difference between comment style and balloon style? Word seems to be applying those two styles interchangeably yet inconsistently. I want to change the font of the comments in the balloons, so which style is that---comment or balloon style?

1. In the Modify Style dialog box, check the "Add to template" check box. Later, if/when you are prompted to save the Normal template, choose to do so.

2. You have to modify both the Comment Text and the Balloon Text style to control the formatting of comment text; this is probably a bug.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Stefan, I've been doing exactly as you describe but the modification is never permanent. I have to redo it each time I open each document. There are no prompts to save the Normal template.

Is there any difference between balloon text and comment text? I figure there must be, otherwise there wouldn't be two different styles.

You do see the change in the current document, after you modified the styles?

Note that any time when you modify a style via "Add to template," the modification only applies to the current document and to future documents based on the template. If it doesn't work at all, something is probably preventing you from saving changes to the Normal template correctly (you have to troubleshoot this separately).

In theory, Comment Text determines the formatting of balloons, while Comment Text determines the formatting of comments. But comments are in balloons, so you see the problem...

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Yes, I'm able to format the comment style in the current document, but it doesn't "stick" in future documents.

I don't understand this: "Comment Text determines the formatting of balloons, while Comment Text determines the formatting of comments."

To work around the save issue (which, as I wrote, should be troubleshot further), do the following: From within Word, press Alt+F11 to display the Visual Basic Editor. Press Ctrl+G to activate the Immediate window. Type

NormalTemplate.OpenAsDocument

and press Enter. The Normal template opens in a separate window (and you should now close the Visual Basic Editor). Modify the styles. Save and close the template. From now on, if you create a new, blank document, you should see comments in the format you specified.

In Word, not only comments but other things display (or can be displayed) in balloons, such as tracked changes. So the question is which should take precedence—the Balloon Text or the Comment Text style? There is the conflict, which might explain the bug that forces you to change two styles in order for comments to display in the format of your choice.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional