Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Converting Paragraphs to Comments.

Converting Paragraphs to Comments

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 4, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021


1

When developing a document, it is not unusual to use a particular paragraph style for editorial notes. For instance, the notes may be stored in paragraphs using a style called "Notes". At some point, you may want to take all the paragraphs that use the Notes style and convert them to actual comments in the document. You can go through the document and make the conversion manually, but this can quickly get tedious. Instead, use a macro that does the conversion for you:

Sub ConvertNotesToComments()
    Dim CommentText As String
    Dim MyRange As Range
    Dim iPCount As Integer
    Dim J As Integer

    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    iPCount = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count

    For J = iPCount To 1 Step -1
        If ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(J).Style = _
          ActiveDocument.Styles("Notes") Then
            Set MyRange = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(J).Range
            CommentText = MyRange.Text

            'Get rid of trailing end-of-paragraph mark
            CommentText = Left(CommentText, Len(CommentText) - 1)

            'Move selection to end of previous paragraph
            MyRange.Collapse (wdCollapseStart)
            MyRange.Move Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=-1

            'The original paragraph is no longer necessary
            ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(J).Range.Delete

            'Create the comment at the range location
            ActiveDocument.Comments.Add Range:=MyRange, _
              Text:=CommentText
        End If
    Next J
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

The macro steps backwards through the document, looking at the style of each paragraph. If it finds one that uses the Notes style, then it moves the text of the paragraph into the CommentText variable, and then gets rid of the paragraph. The comment is then added to the end of the paragraph prior to where the deletion was made.

Before ending this tip, I need to make sure I provide just a bit of clarification. As of this writing, Microsoft has changed the wording it uses. "Comments" are now threaded discussions, and traditional comments are now called "Notes." Not only did this muddy the water (and make explanations more difficult), it also caused an uproar in the Word community.

The point of bringing this up is that any reference to comments within this tip refers to the traditional comments, which you may now know as notes. So, the macro above will convert the paragraphs to what Microsoft now calls Notes.

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 (13382) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Converting Paragraphs to 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

Changing Headers and Footers

Editing what is in your page header or footer is fairly easy, and you can use the same editing techniques you already ...

Discover More

Referencing External Cell Colors

If you want to reference cell colors external to your current workbook, there is no way to do it using Excel functions. ...

Discover More

Field in Footer Won't Update

Word provides a handy shortcut that allows you to update the fields in any text you've selected. When you select your ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Checking for a Text Selection Length

Need to know if the user selected some text before running your macro? Here’s how to make that check.

Discover More

Accessing Paragraphs in a Macro

Need to process a document, paragraph by paragraph, in a macro? It's easy to do once you understand that Word's object ...

Discover More

Changing the Format of Existing Dates

There are a myriad of ways in which a date can be formatted: day first, month first, number of digits in the year, etc. ...

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 7 - 6?

2023-02-04 15:42:26

Tomek

Allen,
Good and useful tip. It lets the author to type the document as fast as he thinks, then deal with formatting, Comments er. Notes later.

Why Microsoft didn't keep the comments as they were, and create Notes to do threaded discussions is beyond logic.


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu 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.