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Review comments disappeared

So I've spend long hours addressing student coursework, giving comments on their projects.  They said the comments wouldn't work so I re-opened their documents and they appear to be correct.  Where are all my comments gone?  The actual comment boxes are still there but they are empty.  This is incredibly annoying.  Can I get them back or have they gone forever?  Screen shot provided for reference.


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Whether comments are shown depends on the settings on your students' machines. You could always save to PDF (via File | Save As) before sending the comments; that way, you make sure that your comments display the way you want them to.

Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
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Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
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I am having the same issue.

PDF would not help when I expect a different contributor to edit and add comments.

Thanks

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I am having the same issue.

PDF would not help when I expect a different contributor to edit and add comments.

If comments don't show as expected, make sure that the Display for Review drop down (found in the Tracking group on the Review tab) is set to "All Markup."

"All Markup" resembles the display of markup in Word 2007 and 2010. Does that help? If not, you will have to explain in detail what you are trying to accomplish.

Note that "All Markup" is a sticky option; that is, it should stay selected even if you exit Word or open a different document.

Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~~
Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~~

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Also having this problem (in Word 2016).  I open the manuscript, as I do each day, and it says it won't open--Word has found an error that in the details option is described simply as "Comments"--so when I finally get it to open it has ERASED EVERY SINGLE COMMENT.  Comment bubbles are still there, sitting empty.  Need a better solution than "make sure 'All Markup'" is selected.  Not my first day--all my settings are correct and I need to know if I've just lost months of work here or if there is a way to restore the comments.  

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Also having this problem (in Word 2016).  I open the manuscript, as I do each day, and it says it won't open--Word has found an error that in the details option is described simply as "Comments"--so when I finally get it to open it has ERASED EVERY SINGLE COMMENT.  Comment bubbles are still there, sitting empty. 

See if the balloons contain text formatted as hidden or in white color.

Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~~
Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~~

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Did you ever solve this? It's just happened to me. Comments and also footnotes completely empty! I'm a super-user of Word, not a newbie. I've never had anything like it. Aggghhh. :(

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Based on this screen shot, it seems likely that the Comment Text style has been formatted as either Hidden or white.
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Screen shots captured with TechSmith's Snagit

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Nope, at least not in my case. I checked for that early on: not hidden, not white, not there! 

Thanks anyway.

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Is what you see similar to the screen shot in the first post in this thread?

Try the following: Go to the very end of your file (Ctrl+End), press Enter to add a new paragraph, copy everything except for the last paragraph you just added and paste into a new, blank document. Does that change anything? Do your comments re-appear?

Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~~
Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~~

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Thanks, but sadly, no change. 

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Last updated May 8, 2024 Views 25,391 Applies to: