Change comments display

[jmt356]

Is it possible to change the background color of my comments to white rather than pink and to increase the font size of the text that appears in my comments?

[HansV]

By default, Word assigns a different background color to comment balloons for each author, and you have no control over which color.
If it's OK with you that all balloons will have the same background color, regardless of author, you can specify the color:
- Activate the Review tab of the ribbon.
- Click the arrow in the lower right corner of the Tracking section.
- Click Advanced Options...

S0776.png

- Select White from the Comments dropdown instead of the default 'By Author'.

S0777.png

Click OK, then OK again.

For the font, see Microsoft Word: Change the Font Face and Size in Comments

[jmt356]

I actually do not have an arrow on the bottom right corner of the Tracking section of the Review ribbon.

[Rudi]

Click on the drop down of the Track Changes button and select Change Tracking Options...
This will access a dialog as below where you can use the Comments drop down to change the colour.

changeTracking1.gif

b-track-changes-options-2.png

[jmt356]

Thank you. However, now, when I choose White, the comment bubbles come out light gray. Is there no true white for comment bubbles?

[HansV]

I'm using Word 2016. If I select White, the background of comment balloons is white. I can't test in older versions of Word at the moment.

[jmt356]

I went to Review tab | Tracking group | Track Change dropdown button, select Change Tracking Options... and under the Markup section, I chose white colors under Comments (the fourth option down). This caused the background of the comment to appear gray and the line connecting to the document to appear while. However, what I really want is for the background to appear white. Is this not possible in Word 2010?

[HansV]

I'll see if I can test it in Word 2010 tomorrow.

[Jay Freedman]

The comment and tracked changes bubbles in Word 2013 and 2016 are completely different in format from the ones in 2010.

In 2010, whatever color you choose in the options dialog is applied only to the outline of the bubble, the connector line, and the brackets around the commented text. The background inside the bubble is a different shade of the chosen color -- for example, a red outline gets a pink background, a yellow outline gets a lighter yellow background, and any of the white, black, or gray outlines get a gray background. There isn't any control to change that.

In the later versions, the background of all bubbles is always white, and the option changes only the outline/connector color.

[Rudi]

Thanks Jay. That clears up the entire thread!

[HansV]

As Jay has pointed out, it is not possible to change the background color of comments to white in Word 2010. Sorry about the confusion I caused.