How to Add or Remove Comments in Microsoft Word

Ever tried to give feedback on a shared document and ended up with a chain of emails, conflicting edits, and two versions of the file that nobody can quite reconcile? Fingers crossed you’ve been looking for a better way, because Word’s comment feature is built exactly for this. Instead of firing off “see page 3, third paragraph” messages back and forth, you can leave notes right inside the document for your collaborators to read, reply to, and check off when they’ve dealt with them.

There’s one thing worth knowing upfront before we dive in: if you’re on Microsoft 365, Word now uses Modern comments, and it works a bit differently than older versions. The biggest change? You have to post your comment before anyone else can see it. Just typing isn’t enough. Don’t worry, we’ll cover that clearly so you don’t spend ten minutes wondering why nobody responded to your feedback. Here’s everything you need to know about adding, replying to, resolving, and deleting comments in Microsoft Word.

What Are Modern Comments in Word?

If you’ve opened Word recently and things look a little different in the comments department, that’s because Microsoft rolled out Modern comments to Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, Mac, and the web. This is now the default experience, think of it less like sticky notes on a page and more like a Slack thread living inside your document.

Key features of Modern comments:

• Post to publish: Your comment stays invisible to everyone else until you click Post. No more accidental half-finished feedback showing up for your whole team.

• Thread-based replies: Replies stack neatly under the original comment, so the whole conversation stays in one place.

• Comments pane: See all comments in a dedicated side panel, either floating next to the relevant text (Contextual view) or as a scrollable list (List view).

• Resolve without deleting: Mark a comment as done without permanently erasing it, perfect for keeping a record of what feedback was addressed.

• @mentions and task assignments: Tag a collaborator in a comment and turn it into an assigned task (requires an eligible work or school account and a document in OneDrive for work or school or SharePoint).

Note: Steps and options may vary slightly depending on whether you’re using Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2021 (perpetual license), or Word for the web, and whether your document is saved locally or in OneDrive/SharePoint.

How to Add a Comment in Word

There are three ways to add a comment in Word, pick whichever feels most natural. They all end up in the same place.

Method 1: Use the Review Tab

This works the same on Windows and macOS:

1. Select the text you want to comment on, or just click to place your cursor anywhere in the document.

2. Click the Review tab in the ribbon at the top of the screen.

3. Click New Comment in the Comments section of the ribbon.

4. A comment box appears in the margin to the right of your document, with the selected text highlighted when the comment is selected. Type your comment in the box.

5. Click the Post comment button (the paper airplane icon), or press Ctrl + Enter on Windows or ⌘ + Enter on Mac to post it.

Method 2: Right-Click the Text

1. Highlight the text you want to comment on.

2. Right-click the selection and choose New Comment from the context menu that appears.

3. Type your comment, then press Ctrl + Enter (Windows) or ⌘ + Enter (Mac) to post it.

Method 3: Keyboard Shortcuts

If you live by keyboard shortcuts, this is the fastest route on Windows. With your cursor in place or text selected, press Ctrl + Alt + M to open a new comment instantly. Type your comment, then press Ctrl + Enter to post it. On Mac, Microsoft lists ⌘ + Option + A to insert a comment; use ⌘ + Enter to post it. If a keyboard shortcut conflicts with your setup, use Review > New Comment.

Don’t Forget to Post Your Comment

This is the part that trips up almost everyone when they first encounter Modern comments, and it’s easy to understand why. Typing your comment is not enough. Until you click the Post comment button (the paper airplane icon) or press Ctrl + Enter on Windows / ⌘ + Enter on Mac, your comment is just a draft that only you can see. Nobody else on the team has any idea it’s there.

Think of it like sending an email: you can type out a whole message, but nothing happens until you hit Send. If you’ve ever left what you thought was a comment and gotten crickets from your collaborators, this was almost certainly why (it confuses everyone at first, so you’re in good company!).

How to Reply to a Comment in Word

When multiple people are working in the same document, replies keep the conversation organized in a thread, no more “which email chain had that note in it?” Here’s how to reply to an existing comment:

1. Click on the comment in the document margin, or find it in the Comments pane on the right side of the screen.

2. Click into the Reply box at the bottom of the comment thread.

3. Type your reply.

4. Click Post comment or press Ctrl + Enter (Windows) / ⌘ + Enter (Mac) to post your reply.

All replies stack under the original comment in the order they were posted. Each one shows a timestamp so you always know what came first, even when multiple people are piling in on the same thread.

How to Resolve a Comment Thread in Word

Acted on some feedback but don’t want to lose the paper trail? That’s what Resolve is for. When you resolve a comment, it disappears from the document margin, but it’s not deleted. It stays accessible in the Comments pane, marked as complete. Think of it as archiving instead of trashing. This is very different from deleting (which we’ll cover next), so it’s worth knowing the distinction.

1. Click on the comment thread you want to resolve.

2. Click the More thread actions button, that’s the three-dot (…) icon next to the comment.

3. Select Resolve from the menu.

The comment disappears from the margin. To find it again, click the Comments button at the top right of the Word window to open the Comments pane, then switch to List view, resolved threads show up there, greyed out. And if you accidentally resolved something, just find it in the pane, click the … menu again, and re-open the thread.

How to Delete Comments in Word

Sometimes you just want a comment completely gone, especially before sending a final version of a document to a client or submitting it somewhere official. Unlike resolving, deleting removes the comment thread from the document. Keep a copy first if you need to preserve the discussion.

Delete a Single Comment

Via the thread action menu:

1. Click on the comment you want to delete.

2. Click the More thread actions button (…) next to the comment.

3. Select Delete.

Or, use the Review tab ribbon:

1. Click the comment to select it.

2. Go to the Review tab.

3. Click the Delete button in the Comments group.

Delete All Comments at Once

This is the move to make before submitting any polished final document, it wipes every single comment from the file in one click (and yes, it’s incredibly satisfying).

1. Go to the Review tab.

2. Click the dropdown arrow next to the Delete button.

3. Select Delete All Comments in Document.

This removes all comments. Check that you have preserved any feedback you still need before using it.

How to Use @Mentions and Assign Tasks in Comments

If your document is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint and your whole team is on Microsoft 365, Word’s comments become a surprisingly capable task management tool. You can tag someone directly in a comment so they get an email notification, and even convert that comment into an assigned task they can mark complete.

@Mention a Collaborator

1. While composing a comment (before clicking Post), type @ followed by the person’s name.

2. Select the correct person from the suggestions that appear.

3. Finish your comment and click Post. The tagged person gets an email notification with a direct link to the comment.

Assign a Comment as a Task

1. @mention someone in a comment (as above).

2. Check the Assign to checkbox that appears when you tag someone.

3. Post the comment. The assignee sees it as a task, and they can mark it complete when they’re done.

@mentions not working? The document must be saved in SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Business for @mentions to trigger email notifications. If you’re working from a locally saved file, you can still type @names, but the person won’t automatically get notified.

Tips and Troubleshooting

Navigating and Showing Comments

• Jump between comments: Use the Previous and Next buttons on the Review tab to cycle through comments one at a time, much faster than scrolling through a long document.

• Show or hide all comments: Go to Review > Show Comments to toggle comment display on or off. Handy when you want a clean view while editing.

• Switch between views: Click the Comments button at the top right of the Word window and choose Contextual (comments float next to relevant text) or List (all comments in a scrollable sidebar).

What You Can (and Can’t) Format Inside a Comment

Modern comments support richer formatting than the old version did, but there are still a few limitations worth knowing about before you spend time trying to make something work:

Formatting Option	Supported?
Bold, italic, underline	Yes
Strikethrough, highlight, font color	Yes
Images (paste or insert)	Windows only
Font size changes	No
Tables, equations, shapes, or fields	No

Common Issues

Problem: I left a comment but nobody can see it

You almost certainly typed the comment but didn’t click Post comment. In Modern comments, an unposted draft is only visible to you. If the Post button (paper airplane icon) is still showing next to your comment, it hasn’t been sent yet.

Problem: My resolved comments have disappeared

Resolved comments are hidden from the document margin but not deleted. Open the Comments pane (click the Comments button at the top right of the window) and switch to List view, they’ll show up there, greyed out, and you can re-open them if needed.

Problem: There’s no Post button in my Word

You may be using the classic comments experience in an older or perpetual version. Microsoft 365 and Word for the web use Modern comments, while controls can differ across versions. Follow the controls shown in your version rather than looking for a missing Post button.

Problem: @mentions aren’t sending email notifications

For @mentions to trigger notifications, the document must be stored in SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Business, and the person needs permission to open the file; Word may prompt you to grant access when you mention someone. Locally saved documents and personal OneDrive accounts won’t trigger notifications in the same way.

Wrapping Up

Once you get past that first “wait, why didn’t anyone see my comment?” moment with the Post button, Word’s comment system genuinely makes document collaboration a whole lot smoother. You can now leave targeted feedback, keep replies threaded by topic, resolve what’s been dealt with, and strip everything out before sending a polished final draft, all without leaving the document. If you’re on Microsoft 365 with a team working in OneDrive or SharePoint, the @mention and task assignment features are absolutely worth trying, as they can seriously cut down on the “did you see what I wrote on page 4?” follow-up messages. Finally, a way to keep everyone on the same page (literally).

Worth knowing: if your team works across both Word and Google Docs, the comment experience is very similar over there, select text, add a comment, reply in threads, resolve when done. Once you’ve got the muscle memory from Word, you’ll feel right at home. For more information on review and resolve comments in Google Docs, check out our guide. Additionally, you can learn more about using Modern comments in Word directly from Microsoft’s support page.