Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Searching for Comment Marks.

Searching for Comment Marks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 25, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you don't know where a comment mark is located in your document, you can use Word's powerful searching capabilities to find them. The easiest way is by using the Object Browser. Follow these general steps if you are using Word 2002 or Word 2003:

Click the Object Browser icon. It is the small round ball just below the vertical scroll bar, in the bottom-right corner of the program window. Word displays a palette of objects by which you can browse.
Click on the Comment object. It looks like a yellow sticky note. When you click on it, the palette disappears.
Use the Previous and Next controls, above and below the Object Browser icon, to jump to the previous or next comment.

If you are still using Word 97 or Word 2000, then you can use Word's Find feature to locate comment marks. Follow these steps:

Choose Find from the Edit menu, or press Ctrl+F. Word displays the Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

In the Find What box, enter ^a.
Set other searching parameters, as desired.
Click on Find Next.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1893) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Searching for Comment Marks.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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