Word for Mac - View comments but not revisions?

[Eric]

I'm working with a colleague who's using Word for Mac.

I know how the reviewing features work on Word for Windows, but I've
discovered there are differences on the Mac, and it's confusing.

A couple of questions:
1. How do I view comments but not insertions/deletions? (When there are
lots of revisions, the insertions/deletions balloons crowd out the comments
balloons.and make it hard to trace the dotted line back to the associated
text in the document.)
2. On Windows, if I click on a Comment balloon, the associated text is
highlighted. Is there a way to get that to happen on the Mac?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Depends on the MacWord version--sounds like this is Word 2004.

1. View | Toolbars | Reviewing (should already be active, actually).
There's a "Show" icon on it, which is a menu. The dropdown will let you
deselect insertions and deletions.

2. Sorry, no highlight. Faint brackets show up at either end of the
text. You must have Word 2007? I think Word 2002/03 also just used the
brackets. Changing the color *might* produce better results.

You can send your colleague here in the future--or ask Mac questions there:
See here for Google/Entourage gateway to newsgroups for MacWord,
MacExcel, and other MS programs for the Mac:
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=newsgroups>

 

[Eric]

Thanks for your suggestions.

But I don't see a Show icon, or at least I don't recognize it. I see a
"Final Showing Markup" (etc.) box, a "Comments" button, and a "Show Markup"
button.

It's Word 2004.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

It should be right to the right of Final Showing Markup. I've got the
default toolbar. It's the same thing that lets you decide which
reviewers you want to see. Should have an arrow, since it's really a menu.

If it really isn't there, a couple of options:

1. If your colleague has not customized the Reviewing toolbar, then you
can use Tools | Customize | Toolbars/Menus | Toolbars. Make sure you
have highlighted Reviewing, and click Reset. This should bring it back
to the default and offer up the Show icon. (Or use the arrow on the
right end of the toolbar to Reset the toolbar)

2. If that doesn't work, you can rebuild the Show minimenu by dragging
the commands on it out of Tools | Customize | Toolbars/Menus |
Commands--first select New menu, then add commands to it. There are a
bunch that start with Show, not all related to reviewing--the main ones
you want are ShowFormatting and ShowInsertionsandDeletions. They should
act as toggles. Or it's also possible that someone already moved those
commands to the toolbar individually.

 

[Eric]

Daiya - I really appreciate your help.

I may have a different problem than I thought at first. The toolbar that
I'm looking at is one called "Word for Macintosh 5.1". I can view/suppress
it on the Customize menua, but it doesn't appear at all on the View /
Toolbars menu. That's the one that I thought was the Reviewing toolbar,
because it has some of the Reviewing commands/buttons/icons.

The odd thing is that I can't make the Reviewing toolbar visible. I select
View / Toolbars / Reviewing, and no toolbar appears. I've selected and
deselected it multiple times, but I see no Reviewing toolbar. I tried
Customize/Reset toolbar, as you suggested, and still I can't make the toolbar
visible. All the other toolbars appear an disappear as I select them, but no
Reviewing toolbar.

Presumably I could make a New toolbar, as you've suggested - I haven't yet
tried that. But why would I be unable to see the Reviewing toolbar in the
first place?

Any ideas or suggestions??

Thanks.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Oh! Sorry--I should have guessed that one. That's the first step when
menus go wonky, but I don't think anyone came across this manifestation
of it before, so I forgot.

Under View, uncheck the entry for 5.1 Menus. The entry will vanish.

Okay, now you should have the normal toolbars and menus. You should be
able to show the Reviewing Toolbar, and it should have the Show icon. Or
the previous two options should work.

PS. This is also the explanation for a missing View>Formatting Palette,
and various other menu oddities. Word 2004 has had a rash of complaints
about 5.1 Menus being enabled because the simple keyboard shortcuts
control-5 and control-8 turn them on. You can unassign this shortcut key
through the Tools>Customize dialog, if you want to prevent this
happening. The command you need is "Word5Menus" and it is listed under
the category "Window and Help". Just delete the shortcut for it.

 

[Eric]

Thanks for your help.

(I thought the Mac was supposed to be easy! I expected to find everything
natural and straightforward, or at least easy to figure out with an
occasional glance at the Help screens. But even the Help screens seem
limited. For example, I can't find anything of substance when I type in
"Comments", "Reviewing", "Markup".)

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

So are you all sorted now?

I don't think the Word 5.1 thing is documented in the Help, because the
Word 5.1 thing is a mistake and a hangover from Word 98 or so. That's
bad design.

But--I'm not sure you are in the right Help? MS does not use the OS
Help system--the Word Help has plenty of information on Reviewing,
Comments, and Markup, as well as Track Changes. Nothing that clarifies
the 5.1 problem, true, but there is certainly a topic that answers your
original question: "Display changes or comments by type or reviewer"

MS programs have an awful reputation among Mac users. The rest of the
Mac is supposed to be easy and intuitive. But even that myth is
overblown, especially because it doesn't take into account that Windows
forms habits people have to change. The Mac is easier if you've never
used a computer--but just the sense of unfamiliarity is going to mess
with anyone who's used to Windows, regardless of whether they can find
things or not.