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How to Copy and Paste Comments into a New File in Microsoft Word

By Erin Wright

Have you ever wanted to copy and paste Microsoft Word comments into a new Word file in order to review them separately from the original document? Word doesn’t have an official method for copying and pasting comments. However, today’s tutorial shows the work-around I use to accomplish that task—without having to copy and paste each comment individually.

Important note: This method won’t copy the text connected to the comments or edits created with Track Changes. Visit “How to Copy and Paste Text with Comments and Track Changes in Microsoft Word” for directions on copying and pasting text with all comments and edits from one file to another.

Also note that this method only copies the comment text. It doesn’t include metadata such as the reviewer’s name or the date and time when the comments were written (which makes this method especially helpful if you want to review comments anonymously).

The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. The steps are the same in Word 2021, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, and Word 2010.

Copy and Paste Comments into a New File

1. Select the Review tab.

Review tab in Word 2019 / Word 365
Figure 1. Review tab

2. Select the Display for Review menu arrow.

Display for Review menu arrow in Word 2019 / Word 365
Figure 2. Display for Review menu arrow

3. Select All Markup from the drop-down menu.

All Markup display option in Word 2019 / Word 365
Figure 3. All Markup display option

4. Select the Show Markup drop-down menu and ensure that Comments is selected with a check mark.

Show Markup menu in Word 2019 / Word 365
Figure 4. Show Markup menu

5. Select Balloons from the drop-down menu.

Show Markup Balloon option in Word 2019 / Word 365
Figure 5. Balloon display option

6. Select Show Only Comments and Formatting in Balloons from the secondary drop-down menu.

Show Only Comments and Formatting in Balloons option in Word 2019 / Word 365
Figure 6. Show Only Comments and Formatting in Balloons option

Optional Step: If you want to copy and paste comments from a specific reviewer or reviewers, select Specific People and then select the name or names from the available options. The default is All Reviewers.

Show Markup for Specific People option in Word 2019 / Word 365
Figure 7. Specific People option

7. Select all the comment text in the first balloon.

(Note: The comment text must be selected in the balloons rather than the Review Pane because you can’t simultaneously copy multiple comments from the Review Pane.)

Text selected in first comment balloon in Word 2019 / Word 365
Figure 8. Text selected in the first comment balloon

8. Select Ctrl + Shift + End to select all the comments in the other balloons.

Text selected in all comment balloons in Word 2019 / Word 365
Figure 9. Text selected in all the comment balloons

9. Select Ctrl + C to copy all the comments. Alternately, you can right-click on any of the selected comments and then select Copy.

10. Open a new Word file or an existing Word file where you would like to paste the comments.

11. Insert your cursor into the newly opened file and select Ctrl + V to paste all the comments. Alternately, you can right-click in the newly opened file and then select Paste.

Related Resources

How to Use Track Changes in Microsoft Word

How to Change Your User Name for Track Changes in Microsoft Word

How to Remove User Names from Existing Track Changes in Microsoft Word

Updated October 24, 2021

Filed Under: Microsoft Word Tagged With: Track Changes, Word 2010, Word 2013, Word 2016, Word 2019, Word 2021, Word 365

Home » How to Copy and Paste Comments into a New File in Microsoft Word

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Technical Writer and Editor Erin Wright

Hello! My name is Erin. I am a technical writer and editor who shares writing-related software tutorials on this website and on YouTube.

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