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: Changing the User Name in Existing Comments.

Changing the User Name in Existing Comments

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 7, 2016)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


1

Denise notes that when she uses Track Changes and inserts a comment, the user's name shows in the comment. When she is ready to finalize the document, but with Track Changes still on, Denise wonders if she can go back and change the user name on one or more comments.

There are a couple of things you can do to make the changes. First, you could change the user name and initials to the name you want in the comments and then, effectively, recreate the comments. (You can copy the comment into the Clipboard and then paste it back into the document.) This has a downside, however, as the date and time stamp for the comment will be updated to reflect when you recreated the comment.

Perhaps a better approach is to use a macro to make the changes. When a comment is created, it is added to the Comments collection, which can be accessed through VBA. Each comment has Author and Initial properties that, respectively, represent the comment author's name and initials. The following macro is an example of how these can be changed:

Sub ChangeCommentAuthor()
    Dim J As Integer
    Dim sAuthorname As String
    Dim sInitial As String

    If Selection.Comments.Count = 0 Then
        MsgBox "No comments in your selection!", _
          vbCritical + vbOKOnly, "Cannot perform action"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    sAuthorname = InputBox("New author name?", _
      "Comments Author Name")
    If sAuthorname = "" Then End

    sInitial = InputBox("New author initials?", _
      "Comments Initials")
    If sInitial = "" Then End

    With Selection
        For J = 1 To .Comments.Count
            .Comments(J).Author = sAuthorname
            .Comments(J).Initial = sInitial
        Next J
    End With
End Sub

All you need to do is make a selection that contains the comment you want to modify (select the text in the main document that includes the comment indicator) and then run the macro. Enter a new name and initials when prompted. When the macro is done running, it may not appear like anything has changed. If you save your document and reload it, you'll note that the comment author names have been changed as you indicated.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8612) 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: Changing the User Name in Existing Comments.

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

Removing Comment Brackets for Printing

How to remove the brackets indicating commented text before printing your Word document.

Discover More

Inserting Footnotes Using Custom Footnote Marks

Automatic footnotes are easy to insert in Word documents. The default settings are usually fine for most projects. ...

Discover More

Converting Individual Endnotes and Footnotes

Word makes it easy to convert all your footnotes to endnotes and vice versa. You may want to only convert a couple of ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Pop-up Comments

Want to see what a comment says just by moving the mouse? Here's how.

Discover More

Viewing Comments

Adding comments to a document is a normal activity when writing and editing. Once comments have been added, you may ...

Discover More

Comments Use Tiny Font when Printed

When you print out your documents, do any comments in the document appear very tiny on the printout? It could be because ...

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.

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}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) 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 9 - 6?

2019-06-27 14:02:50

Dee

Thank you for the macro. Do you have a macro that will globally change all the comments into one user name and initials? It will be very helpful for a 300-page document that has lots of comments. Thank you.


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.

Videos
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.