How to Remove Comments in Word

Explore how to efficiently remove comments in Word. Learn how to use MS Word’s commenting tools to your advantage.

Document collaboration is at the heart of every successful team project. And when you work with a team, adding your comments to certain sections, paragraphs, or text is a big part of the process.

When it's time to polish off the document, however, those comments can get in the way. Trying to remove comments in Word can be tricky. But no worries! 

We'll explore the basics of removing comments in MS Word, which include:

• Deleting all comments in Word
• Deleting comments in a thread
• Deleting individual comments in a thread
• Removing the comments section from Word
• Removing comments in Word while printing

We'll cover every part of the process to eliminate, hide, or delete comments to finalize your document instantly. So, let's dive in and declutter your document together!

How to remove all comments in Word

In one single document, it’s possible to have more comments than you can handle. If you need to delete all comments in Word, there are two ways to do this efficiently and all at once.

How to remove comments using the Review tab

The first, most common way to quickly delete the comments in a document in one shot is to simply use the delete comments feature.

1. Select the Review tab from the toolbar.

2. In the Comments section, expand the Delete drop-down menu.

3. Select Delete All Comments in Document.

How to remove comments using the Inspect Document tool

Another way to delete all comments in the document at once is to use the Inspect Document tool. This will delete comments that are either visible or hidden.

1. Go to the File menu in the toolbar.

2. Select Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document

3. In the list that appears, check the Comments, Revisions, and Versions option.

4. Click on Inspect > Remove All.

The two methods above deal with all the comments in your document. Yet, you can also deal with different comment threads on specific sections in detail.

How to delete all comments in a thread

Comment threads can streamline and keep all related comments in one place, but it can also add a lot of unwanted clutter in the document.

To get rid of certain comment threads you no longer need, follow these steps:

1. Click on an existing comment.

2. In the comment, click on the three horizontal dots (ellipsis) to expand the options list.

3. Click on Delete thread to delete the comment thread.

If, however, you want to keep the comments as reference, you can simply select Resolve thread. This will hide the comment from view, but still be saved and accessible via the Show Comments feature.

Of course, a thread of comments is just that – a conversational thread that contains many comments, which you may want to deal with individually.

How to remove individual comments in a thread

Whether you’ve acted on a single comment or no longer need it, you can delete it separately without deleting any other comments. Here’s how:

1. Click on the comment you wish to delete.

2. Click on the three horizontal dots (ellipsis) to expand the options list.

3. Select Delete comment.

If you’ve deleted a comment by accident and need it back in, though, click on the Undo button to quickly restore the comment once again.

How to remove the entire comment section in Word

While working on your Word documents, you may have the comments opened in either List view (viewing all comments independent of the document), or Contextual view (viewing all comments close to the annotated text).

If you need to close either view option off to focus on the content, simply go to the Review tab and click on Show Comments to toggle the comments panel off.

How to remove comments in Word when printing 

When printing documents that have comments, you’ll notice in the Print preview that your comments will be printed up alongside your MS Word content.

The comments, however, can take up space and may not be ideal to include in final or professional drafts. Here’s how to print word document without comments:

1. In the Review tab on the toolbar, go to the Tracking section.

2. Click on the Display for Review drop-down menu and select No Markup.

The comments should no longer be visible or included in the print preview or print job, itself. While they aren’t visible for printing, the comments will remain attached to your document.

How to view and edit your DOCX online

Once you’re done removing the comments from your document, you’re free to work with it. But don’t feel that you need to be tied down to MS Word to view and edit your content. 

Another tool you can use is Xodo’s online DOCX Editor. It allows you to perform other Word document-related tasks when needed, wherever and whenever you need to.

Just upload your document to the DOCX Editor and you can edit text, modify the formatting, or insert images. It has all the features needed to polish off any MS Word content you may have.

And as part of an online suite of digital document tools, Xodo has other advanced digital document tools to edit, annotate, and convert PDFs, as well.

Work effortlessly with MS Word and Xodo

You now know everything you need to know to delete all the comments in your document, in specific threads, or individual comments. Moreover, you can now effortlessly manage comment sections and even eliminate them while printing.

If you found the above information helpful, browse our other Xodo guides to achieve more with MS Word:

• How to Merge Word Documents
• How to Delete a Page in Word
• How to Compress Word Documents
• How to Clear Formatting in Word
• How to Insert PDF into Word

Tackle the most common digital document tasks with ease and try Xodo today!