DE Oracle @ UMUC

Markup Assignments Using MS Word

CSI Staff

Staff Writer

Center for Support of Instruction

Category: » Tech-skills-software » Microsoft-word

MS Word Font Color and Comment Tools

Word has several tools that allow instructors to mark up and comment in student files: font color formatting, Comment, Highlight, and Track Changes.

Generally, the most useful tools for marking student papers are

• Colored fonts to add general remarks such as at the top/bottom of a paper
• Comments to highlight and comment on specific text within a paper

This tip sheet does not cover Highlighting, since Comments applies highlighting that includes an annotation capability.

It also does not cover Track Changes, since this is a fairly complex tool that is most appropriate to group work on a document and/or serious document editing, where inserts and deletions are made directly in the document with a view to incorporating or rejecting them for a final version. However, you can add comments with distinguishable formatting with Track Changes enabled via Word's Tools menu. (Your MS Word Office Assistant or Help search window can help you find instructions on using Track Changes.)

Put Font Color & Insert Comment icons on your Word toolbar for efficiency
if they aren't there already (Note: this affects your MS Word Normal template):

• Click on View-->Toolbars-->Customize-->Commands tab.
• Select the Format category; scroll through the Format icons to find Font Color and drag the icon to your Word tool bar. 
• Select the Insert category; scroll through the Insert icons to find Insert Comment and drag the icon to your Word toolbar.
• Click Close

Add remarks in a colored font

• Position your cursor in the document where you wish to insert text.
• Click the font color icon's left side and begin typing. The defaultfont color is red.
• If you wish to insert text in a color other than red, select the font color icon's down-arrow, and then select a color from within the icon mini menu, then start typing. (Keep in mind that light colors may not print well.) Once a new color is selected, it becomes the default.
• For later inserts in the same color, click the left side of the font color icon once before typing each text insert.

Insert and review comments

Word's Comments are typed and stored in a page/view separate from the main document view. The document indicates that a comment is present by highlighting that shows on-screen and by a initialed and numbered "comment mark" that generally shows on-screen but not in print.

To insert a comment,

• Select (click and drag mouse to highlight) the text that you want to comment on, then click the Comment icon (or select Insert/Comment).
• The Comments page will open at the bottom portion of the window ready for you to type your comment.
• When done, click Close on the dividing bar of the Comments page. The Comments page will close, and the text you originally selected will be highlighted in yellow and a small [hidden text] "comment mark" in brackets will indicate your initials and the comment number, e.g., [pj12].

If you cannot see the comment mark on-screen, select Tools/Options/View tab and make sure "Hidden Text" is checked (OK).

To view comment text after insertion, in document view, position your cursor over the highlighted text to get a floating textbox view of the comment. Or double-click the comment mark or select View/Comments to open the Comments page.

To edit or delete comment text, right-click over the comment mark in document view and select Edit or Delete from the right-click minimenu.

To review comments in order, select the Select Browse Object circle button at the bottom of the vertical scrollbar (right side of the Word window) and then select Browse by Comment.

Then use the down-double-arrow (and/or the up-double-arrow) buttons in the vertical scroll bar to move from one comment to the next, consecutively.

To open the Comments window to view all comments, Select View-->Comments.

To print comment marks and/or comment text (neither the comment marks nor the actual comments will print unless you specify that you wish these to print),

• To print the comment marks so they show in the main document, select Tools-->Options-->Print tab-->Hidden text (OK).
• To print the actual Comment text page(s), select Comments in the Print What portion of your Print command interface.