Adding comments in Word is straightforward — you highlight text, click the Review tab, and select New Comment

Comments in Word let you leave notes on a document without changing the actual text. The person reading the document can see your comment in a sidebar, respond to it, and delete it once it's addressed. This is useful when you're editing someone else's work, reviewing a draft, or asking questions about specific sentences.

The process takes about 10 seconds once you know where to look. You don't need any special settings or permissions — comments work the same way whether you're working alone or sharing the document with others.

Key Takeaways

  • Highlight the text you want to comment on, then click the Review tab and select New Comment to add your note.
  • Comments appear in a sidebar on the right side of the screen and don't change the document's actual content.
  • You can reply to someone else's comment, mark comments as resolved, and delete comments you no longer need.
  • Other people can see your comments if you share the document, so they work well for collaborative editing and feedback.

How to add a comment to specific text

Step 1: Open your Word document and find the text you want to comment on. Click and drag to highlight that text — it can be a single word or several sentences.

Step 2: Click the Review tab at the top of the screen. You'll see a toolbar appear with several options.

Step 3: Click New Comment (it's usually on the left side of the Review toolbar). A comment box will appear on the right side of the screen, and your cursor will be ready for you to type.

Step 4: Type your comment. You can write as much or as little as you need. When you're done, click outside the comment box or press Escape to finish.

The highlighted text will now have a colored box around it, and your comment stays visible in the sidebar. If you hover over the highlighted text later, you'll see a small popup showing who left the comment and when.

Adding a comment without highlighting text

Sometimes you want to leave a comment about a general idea or the whole document rather than a specific phrase. You can do this by clicking anywhere in the document without selecting text, then clicking Review and New Comment. The comment will appear in the sidebar without any highlighted text attached to it.

This approach works well for big-picture feedback like "This section needs more detail" or "Consider reorganizing the introduction." The comment still appears in the sidebar and can be seen by anyone you share the document with.

Responding to and resolving comments

When someone else leaves a comment on your document, you can reply directly to it. Click the comment in the sidebar, and you'll see a Reply button appear below the original comment. Click it and type your response — this keeps the conversation organized in one place rather than creating separate comments.

Once a comment has been addressed, you can mark it as resolved. Right-click the comment in the sidebar and select Resolve (or look for a checkmark icon). Resolved comments fade slightly but stay visible, so you can still see what was discussed without it cluttering your active feedback.

Deleting comments you no longer need

To delete a single comment, right-click it in the sidebar and select Delete Comment. The comment disappears immediately and the highlighting on the text goes away.

If you want to delete all comments at once, click the Review tab, then click the small arrow next to Delete (not the Delete button itself). Select Delete All Comments in Document. This removes every comment at once, so use it only when you're sure you don't need any of them.

Viewing and managing comments in the sidebar

All comments appear in a panel on the right side of your screen. If you don't see this panel, click the Review tab and look for a button called Show Comments or Comments Pane — clicking it will bring the sidebar back.

The sidebar shows who wrote each comment, when it was written, and what it says. You can scroll through the comments here, and clicking any comment will jump your view to the highlighted text it refers to. This is helpful when you're working through feedback on a long document.

Comments when sharing documents with others

When you share a Word document with someone else, they can see all the comments you've left and add their own. Each person's comments appear in a different color, so it's easy to tell who said what. This makes Word comments useful for group editing, peer review, and getting feedback from colleagues.

If you don't want someone to see the comments, you can remove them all before sharing (using the Delete All Comments option above). You can also print a document without comments by going to File, Print, and looking for a setting that says "Print Markup" or "Comments" — turning this off will print only the document text.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I format text inside a comment?

Word comments don't support bold, italics, or other text formatting. You can type plain text only. If you need to include special formatting, consider using the Track Changes feature instead, which shows edits to the actual document text.

What happens to comments when I save the document?

Comments are saved as part of the document file. When you save, the comments stay attached to the text they refer to. If you send the document to someone else, they'll see all the comments unless you delete them first.

Can I search for a specific comment?

Word doesn't have a built-in search function for comments, but you can scroll through the comments pane on the right side to find what you're looking for. Clicking any comment in the sidebar will jump your view to that location in the document.

Why can't I add comments to my document?

The document might be in read-only mode, which prevents editing and commenting. Check the title bar — if it says "Read-Only", click Edit Anyway at the top of the screen. You may also need to enable editing if the document came from an email or untrusted source.

Do comments work the same way in Word Online?

Yes. Word Online (the browser version) has the same commenting feature. Click Review, then New Comment, and the process works identically. Comments sync across devices, so if you add a comment on your computer, you'll see it when you open the document on your phone or tablet.