How to hide comments/corrections in a Word document

When reviewing a document, people can leave comments or suggest changes to a document. Those features are configured from the same Tab but require slightly different actions to resolve or hide them.

The solution for removing comments and corrections involves menu options on the menu bar located at the top of the page.

Comments

Comments have a dotted line connecting a location in the document to a comment, usually located on the right edge (see image above). If you hover your mouse over the comment, the options to Reply or Resolve appear.

Option 1: Delete Comments

1. Place your cursor in a comment’s call-out box on the right side. This will cause the Delete option in the Menu Ribbon to become enabled.

2. Select Delete All Comments in Document

Option 2: Hide Comments

There are two ways to hide comments that differ in how Tracked Changes are handled. If your document contains Tracked Changes, then after hiding comments, make sure to review your document before submitting. On the Menu Ribbon there is a Tracking section. At the top is a dropdown with the current markup selection. If comments are displayed, then that selection is either All Markup or Simple Markup.

To hide comments:

1. Click the dropdown labelled either All Markup or Simple Markup
2. Select either No Markup or Original
   1. Selecting No Markup will cause the document to display with all Tracked Changes accepted.
   2. Selecting Original will cause the document to display with all Tracked Changes rejected

Tracked Changes

When changes are tracked, deletions will mark the deleted text in red with a strike through, and additions are in red with an underline. Disabling Tracking will not remove existing Tracked Changes markings – it only prevents new ones from being added. To hide Tracked Changes you need to either accept / reject the changes or hide them.

     Accept Changes                                                                 Reject Changes

Option 1: Accept / Reject Changes

1. On the Menu Ribbon, click on the bottom half (near the down arrow) of either Accept or Reject.
2. Select the option you wish (XXXX is either Accept or Reject)
   1. XXXX and Move to Next requires that you evaluate each change one at a time.
   2. XXXX All Changes will accept/reject all changes, but leave Tracking enabled.
   3. XXXX All Changes and Stop Tracking will accept/reject all changes and disable Tracking.

Option 2: Hide Tracked Changes

See the option 2 instructions for hiding comments.