How to Remove Comments in Word: Work Without Distractions
Knowing how to remove comments in Word is a useful skill for anyone collaborating on documents. Comments are one of the best collaborative add-ons in Microsoft Word — they can be used to pass messages such as a recommendation on changing the default font or making a checklist. In essence, using comments in Word aids seamless workflow between teams and can even serve as pointers or reminders when working on a lengthy document.
However, as handy as they are, they can be a little distracting or even redundant sometimes. And you know what’s best to do when that’s the case? Tuck them away!
Word gives you the options to either hide comments or discard them entirely. This guide covers both approaches so you can decide which method works best for your situation.
How to Hide Comments in Microsoft Word
If your goal is to focus on your document and not be distracted by a comment whose content you’ve already imbibed, hiding the said comment is the way to go. There are two ways to go about it, which are as follows:
Disabling Show Comments
This option in Word hides the comment and replaces it with an indicator that you can click to access the comment again anytime. Go to the Review tab at the top of the screen and select Show Comments in the Comments section.
Doing this tucks the comments away and replaces them with a small indicator icon. This is ideal when you want to keep the comments available for reference without having them clutter your view while you write or edit.
Turning Off Markup
This is a better option if you want to hide the comments along with all markups while still keeping them intact. Navigate to the Review tab again and go to the Tracking section of the ribbon. Click the Display for Review drop-down and select No Markup from the options.
Doing this hides all comment indicators, but you can re-enable them by reversing the changes made thus far. According to Microsoft’s official documentation on tracking changes, the No Markup view is particularly helpful when you need to review the final appearance of a document before sharing it.
How to Remove Comments in Word
You can delete comments in a Word document if you want to eliminate them entirely — especially those you’ve addressed and that no longer apply to the content. Understanding how to remove comments in Word properly ensures your final document is clean and ready to share. You have two options here, both of which are relatively easy to use.
Deleting a Single Word Comment
To delete a specific comment in Word, click the horizontal three-dots next to the pen icon on the comment and select Delete Comment or Delete Thread.
The first option deletes only the single comment you clicked on, while the latter deletes a comment and all of its ensuing replies. Better still, you can go to the Review tab at the top of the screen, then select Delete in the Comments section to remove all comments in a thread at once.
How to Remove All Comments in Word at Once
With this method, you can delete all comment threads in a document in one click, saving you the stress of deleting one thread at a time. It’s just as easy to pull off and is the most efficient approach when you need to remove comments in Word across an entire document.
All you need to do is go to the Review tab, click on the down-facing arrow beneath the Delete button, and then select Delete All Comments in Document from the options. Every comment and thread will be permanently removed in one action.
Final Notes
There you have it! That covers everything you need to know about how to remove comments in Word. Now you can focus on your document without distractions from comments in the side pane of your screen. After completing your task in Word, you may want to have a hard copy of your work in full color. Here’s how to print in color on Word.
