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: Comments in Headers and Footers.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 27, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Chip noticed that when he is working in either the header or footer of a document, the Comment tool on the Reviewing toolbar is not available. He wonders if there is a way to insert a comment in either the header or footer.
As far as we've been able to determine, Word doesn't allow you to insert comments in headers or footers. We haven't seen a good explanation for why this is; perhaps it is because headers and footers are designed to be repeated over and over on each printed page, and Microsoft felt there would be no need to repeat a comment over and over.
A simple workaround is to use a text box to simulate a comment. A text box can be created within the header or footer, and it can contain the same sort of text that you might have placed within a comment. Unlike the comment, Word has no problem repeating the text box every time it prints the header or footer.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9252) 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: Comments in Headers and Footers.
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Need to change the appearance of the text in your comments? It's easy to do using techniques you are already familiar with.
Discover MoreAdding comments to a document is a normal activity when writing and editing. Once comments have been added, you may ...
Discover MoreIf you use text boxes in your documents, you may sometime want to place a comment in the text box, the same as you can do ...
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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:
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