Removing Comment Brackets for Printing

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated October 29, 2016)

Subscriber Jim Carroll, a Word 2002 user, recently described a process he uses for adding comments to a document and then removing them for printing. He uses the "balloon" feature, which displays comments as balloon text at the right side of a document. Prior to printing, he turns the balloons off (Tools | Options | Track Changes tab), but small red brackets appear around the commented text within the document. He wondered how to get rid of the red brackets.

To understand the answer to this question, you must understand the purpose of comment balloons in Word and how they are controlled. Balloons are simply an alternative way to display comments. Some people like balloons, and others don't. You can turn the balloons on and off at will, as described earlier in this tip. Whether the balloons are displayed or not, the comment markers--the small red brackets--are always displayed.

To turn off the comment markers so you can print a "clean" copy of your document, you should follow these steps:

  1. Make sure the Reviewing toolbar is displayed.
  2. Using the Display for Review drop-down list at the left side of the toolbar, choose Final. The comments no longer appear in the displayed document.
  3. Choose Print from the File menu. Word displays the Print dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Print dialog box.

  4. Using the Print What drop-down list, make sure Document (not Document Showing Markup) is selected.
  5. Click on OK. Your document is printed.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1903) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Picking Up Where You Left Off

Need a quick way to get back to a where you previously edited? Here's a shortcut that will serve you well.

Discover More

Updating Multiple PivotTables at Once

PivotTables are a great way to process huge amounts of data and make sense of that data. If you have a number of ...

Discover More

Forcing a Workbook to Close after Inactivity

Tired of your workbooks being left open on the screen where they can be seen by anyone passing by? Here's a way to have ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Printing XML Tags

Word 2003 allows you to use and save your information in XML format. If you want to, you can have Word print a document's ...

Discover More

Limiting Document Page Count

Do you need to have your document fit within a certain number of pages? This can be close to impossible to do within ...

Discover More

Printing Field Codes

Field codes allow dynamic information to be included in documents and can be a great boon. At some point you may want to ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 + 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.