How to Annotate Documents in Microsoft Word

Annotating documents is a great way to collaborate on files in Microsoft Word. You can add comments highlights and tracked changes to share feedback and edits with co-workers or students.

Annotations make it easy to review a document without directly modifying the original text. You can provide context, point out issues, ask questions, or suggest changes.

In this guide I’ll explain the various methods of annotating in Word on both Windows and Mac.

Why Annotate in Word?

Here are some of the benefits of annotating Word docs rather than printing or editing them directly

Share feedback and questions without altering the original document
See all edits and comments in one place with revision tracking
Resolve issues faster through threaded comment conversations
Highlight important passages or concerns for quick reference
Understand context and decision-making from co-authors
Keep a clean file history and accept/reject changes later
Facilitate remote collaboration between reviewers
Provide edits or grades for student papers without confusion
Improve team communication and transparency on documents

Whether you’re collaborating on internal documents at work or grading papers, annotations help streamline the process.

How to Add Comments in Word

Adding comments is a great way to provide feedback without cluttering up the document. Here’s how:

Open the Word document and select Review > New Comment.
Click where you want the comment to appear. Type your feedback in the commenting box.
When done, click Close. The comment anchor will remain so others can see your remark.
To reply to a comment, hover over it and click Reply. Add your response in the threaded conversation.
Once resolved, you can click Resolve to close the comment thread.

Comments are a simple way to query details, ask questions, provide context, or flag issues for a colleague or student.

Highlighting Text

Another way to annotate is by highlighting important passages:

Select the word(s) or paragraph(s) you want to highlight.
Go to Home and pick a highlight color, like yellow.
To unhighlight, select the marked text and click the highlight color again.

Highlights are perfect for pointing out key areas to focus on or passages that support your main feedback or edits.

Using Track Changes

Track Changes is ideal for suggesting specific edits to text:

Go to Review > Track Changes to turn it on.
Edit the text as needed by inserting, deleting, or replacing words.
Your changes will show in color with formatting like strikethroughs or underlines.
On the right, Word shows the editing history, so you can accept/reject changes later.

Track Changes signals precise edits while maintaining the original document. It’s great for team editing and peer review.

Inserting Sticky Notes

For annotations unrelated to a specific spot, use sticky notes:

Click Insert > Note and pick a sticky note icon.
Type your comment in the note box. Drag it anywhere on the page.
When done reviewing, right-click the note and click Delete Note.

Sticky notes are perfect for general comments, action items, or questions that pertain to the whole document.

Enabling Word’s Reviewing Tools

Word’s Review tab offers more advanced options:

New Comment – Add threaded comment conversations
Track Changes – Track edits from multiple authors
Compare – Compare versions of a document side by side
Protect – Lock a document before sharing for review
Restrict Editing – Limit which reviewers can edit certain sections

Take advantage of these tools to control and organize the document review. Clarify who is providing input, resolve commenting threads, and monitor changes from multiple reviewers.

Sharing Reviews in Word

Rather than emailing documents back and forth, you can facilitate annotations right within Word:

Share – Invite others to co-author and review a document online.
@mention – Bring a reviewer’s attention to a specific comment.
Reply – Have threaded conversations within a comment.
Show Markup – Choose what markup to show/hide for each reviewer.
Accept/Reject Changes – Accept or reject edits after review.

This allows real-time collaboration rather than a messy back-and-forth. All comments, revisions, and conversations stay organized in one place.

Annotating in Word Online

The Word web app also lets you annotate documents:

Open the file in Word Online.
Click Edit Document > Edit in Browser.
Turn on Track Changes under the Review tab.
Make edits and add comments just like the desktop app.
Share the link so others can co-edit and review.
Use @mentions in comments for visibility.

The web version has the basic annotation tools. But for advanced features like comparing versions, use the desktop app.

Annotating on Mobile Devices

On iOS and Android Word apps, you can also annotate on the go:

Add comments by highlighting text and typing a remark.
Highlight passages just like on desktop.
Suggest edits with your fingertip or stylus.
See changes and comments from other reviewers.
Work together with others by sharing the document link.

The mobile app makes it easy to quickly provide notes during a commute or review on a tablet.

Tips for Effective Annotations

Here are some tips for providing helpful annotations:

Clearly indicate what feedback relates to which content.
Be specific in your comments and change suggestions.
Ask clarifying questions to understand the author’s intent.
Provide constructive criticism respectfully.
Use highlights judiciously to call attention to key points.
Reply promptly to comment threads to resolve issues.
Maintain version control by accepting/rejecting changes after review.
Set guidelines for the scope of feedback expected.

Clear communication and organized tracking will help streamline the process.

Summarizing Key Points

To recap, here are the main ways to annotate documents in Word:

Comments – Add threaded feedback conversations
Highlights – Mark important passages
Track Changes – Suggest edits to text
Sticky Notes – Comment on the file as a whole
Reviewing tools – Compare versions, restrict editing, etc.
Co-authoring – Collaborate on annotations in real-time
Mobile apps – Review and comment on tablets and phones

So next time you need to provide notes on a Word document, take advantage of these annotation features! They help organize feedback and streamline collaboration, whether working on team projects for work or grading papers for school.

how to annotate on word

Things You’ll Need

Computer
Microsoft Word

Community Q&ASearch

Question How do I print a Word document with the annotations? Octopus 101 Community Answer Go to the “Review” tab and hit “Show Comments” under the “Comments” section. Then when you print, the annotations should show up.
Question How do I draw things on an in Microsoft Word? Community Answer If you want to add arrows or other shapes to the , then select the and go to the Format – Drawing Tools tab. On the left side of the ribbon, you can select and add shapes to your in the Insert Shapes section. If you want to draw something other than a shape, I would recommend doing it in another program, saving the edited , and then inserting that into Word.

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Advise any future recipients of the document to turn on the “Markup” feature in order to see your comments and track changes. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
The “Track Changes” feature in Word will allow you to edit a document while noting your changes and the original text. Changes can then be accepted or rejected by either yourself or another user. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Word also allows you to insert footnotes and endnotes in your text by using the Cross-reference or Reference tool located on the Insert tab and menu. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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Keep your comments as professional as you would any other form of communication that could be viewed by students, peers, coworkers or supervisors. You never know who will have access to track changes in the document and your attached comments. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 1

Annotate in Microsoft Word

How do I add annotations to a Word document?

Whatever the situation may be, annotations can be easily added in a Word document. Launch the Microsoft Word application. Open the document with which you will be working. Save the document as a new file with a different file name before you add annotations. This is to preserve the original file. Enable the Markup feature to annotate in Word.

How to annotate a text in word?

Highlight the text you want to annotate, and right-click. Choose New Comment and your comment is created in the same way as before. There’s also a dedicated comments button in the top-right corner of the Word window. Clicking on this button brings up the option to create a new comment, or to navigate to the previous or next comment in the document.

How do I annotate a Word document using comments?

Here are some steps for how to annotate a Word document using comments: 1. Open the document you want to annotate To begin annotating, open the Word document you want to review. You can use the same actions for this step as when using “Track Changes” to annotate a document.

How do I annotate a document in Word 2003?

Launch the Microsoft Word application. Open the document with which you will be working. Save the document as a new file with a different file name before you add annotations. This is to preserve the original file. Enable the Markup feature to annotate in Word. In Word 2003, you will find this under the “View” menu.