Documentation

link - wordaddins.com/products/comments-in-word/ 

Word's comment feature is often used during the editing and review phase of Word documents. In documents with many comments, you may easily get lost.
It can be difficult to get an overview of the comments and keep track of them all. This work hasn't been made easier after Microsoft, for unknown reasons, removed the numbering from comments. Also, the introduction of modern comments in Word for Microsoft 365 has made the work with comments more cumbersome and inefficient. The DocTools CommentManager add-in can help work more efficiently with comments.
DocTools CommentManager lets you do everything you can do with comments in Word using the built-in comment functionality - but you can do it easier and faster and with more control. In addition, DocTools CommentManager includes unique and efficient comment features that let you perform tasks you can't do using Word's own functionality. For details about Word's built-in comment functionality, see my article How comments in Word work.
You have access to the functionality of the add-in via the CommentManager group in the DocTools tab in the Ribbon:
The CommentManager group in the DocTools tab
TIP: You can add any of the commands to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) if you want. To do this, right-click the desired command and click Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
The Insert Comment command inserts a standard Word comment. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+M to insert a comment. The display of comments depends on your comment display settings.

Story behind the add-in

For many years, I have provided both a macro and a Word add-in free of charge that let you extract comments from a Word document.
Since many companies use comments a lot in relation to the editing and review process of documents, I found that some special comment tools could be useful.
Read about some of the special features above and see the illustrations of the DocTools CommentManager menus and the descriptions of the individual commands below to get an idea of all the features.
Until version 3.0, DocTools CommentManager included features for adding automatic numbering to all comments to compensate for Microsoft's removal of numbering in Print Layout view in Word 2013 and newer versions.
However, Microsoft's introduction of modern comments in Word for Microsoft 365 has made it impossible to keep the automatic numbering feature due to the very limited formatting options in modern comments.
I have compensated for that, e.g. by adding a feature that shows comment number information in the Status Bar.

Review comments in Word via an easy-to-use control center

The Review Comments command in the More Comment Tools menu makes it easy to manage and review comments even in documents with a lot of comments.
If you are using Word for Microsoft 365 with modern comments and if you are one of the numerous Word users who have been frustrated about how it works, you may find the Review Comments command even more helpful.
As mentioned above, the Review Comments command works as a control center for managing comments. The command opens a dialog box that lets you review comments. Directly from the dialog box, you can:

• edit comments

• add replies to comments

• mark comments as resolved or unresolved

• rank comments by importance

• find or filter comments by rank

• filter to see only unresolved comments or only resolved comments

• find or filter comments by other criteria, such as comment text, date, or author

• delete comments

• you can even spell-check comments you edit using the Edit Comment button

• You can show/hide an overview list of all comments and select comments directly from the overview as you wish.

The illustration below shows the Review Comments dialog box, opened in a document that currently includes 41 comments added by a number of authors.

The Review Comments dialog box works as a control center for managing comments
The metadata shown in the top-right corner is automatically updated when you select another comment in the dialog box. Note that you can see the total number of comments just above the Comment text field (marked by a colored frame in the illustration).

When you assign a rank to a comment, a string is added in start of the comment text, keeping track of the rank (*R1* for rank 1, *R2* for rank 2, etc. You can rank comments 1-5 using the rank button. It is possible to manually assign rank 6-9 too, if you want. You can clear the rank from the selected comment or all comments using the Clear and Clear all button, respectively.
The Find/Filter feature in the Review Comments dialog box makes it easy to find comments that match specific criteria. Information below the Find field shows how many comments were found that match the Find/Filter string, it any.

Two options for quickly finding specific comments: Find comment, Filter comments
You have two options for quickly finding specific comments: Find comment and Filter comments.

In the Review Comments dialog box, the find feature lets quickly find comments in two ways:
Find comment keeps all comments in the list. You can then use the Preview and Next buttons to browse the comments that match the Find string.
Filter comments lists only the comments that match the Find string.

The Find/Filter feature in the Review Comments dialog box also lets you filter comments by the rank you assign. See the example below.

To list only unresolved or resolved comments in the list, select Show unresolved or Show resolved, respectively.
You can filter comments by rank.

Extract comments including metadata - Extract to Word or Excel

You can extract comments to either a new Word document or to an Excel file using the Extract Comments to New Word Document and Extract Comments to Excel commands in the More Comment Tools menu. The extract document will include a row for each comment.
You can select whether the extract document is to include all comments or only comments in a selected part of the document.
You can select whether pictures and graphics in comments are to be included in the extract. If you turn OFF the option, a slash (/) will appear instead of the graphic elements in the extract and tables in comments will be converted to text only.

When extracting to Word, you can also select how comments are to be sorted in the extract document. You can sort by comment location, by author initials, by author name, or by rank.
In Excel, you can use Excel's own features to quickly filter or sort the extracted comments as you wish.
An extract documents is useful to get a good overview of comments. Also, you can use an extract document to print comments, if desired. In case of a Word extract document, you can quickly find the comment in the source document by using the Find Comment command.
The extract document shows the following data:

• #: Comment number

• Type: Shows Level 1 or Reply

• Resolved: YES or NO

• Line: Shows line number, relative to page, where comment is found

• Heading: Nearest preceding heading formatted with a Heading 1-9 style

• Comment scope: The text that is commented

• Comment text: The comment text

• Initials: Shows author initials

• Author name: Shows the full author name

• Date: Shows date (and time, if selected) when the comment was added

• Rank: Shows rank value set in Review Comments dialog box

As can be seen in the illustration of the dialog boxes, the Heading and Rank columns are optional.
If no paragraphs in the document have been formatted with the built-in Heading 1-9 styles, the Heading option will be disabled.
TIP about the Rank column: Even if you have not added rank via Review Comments, you can manually add rank values in the extract documents if you want. This makes it possible to use the values for sorting.
For the rank to be used in Review Comments, it must be set in the source document. Rank or other changes you add in an extract document will not influence the original source document.

Extract comments to Word document

Example of extracted comments created using Extract Comments to New Word Document - the document includes both comments and metadata

Extract comments to Excel file

The filter buttons are automatically applied, making it easy for you to filter and sort the data.
The header and footer in the Excel file include data about the extract corresponding to the Word extract document shown above.
The Excel header and footer is not visible in the illustration below.

The Excel worksheet includes both comments and metadata.

Comment number and total number of comments shown in Status Bar

Earlier versions of DocTools CommentManager had features for permanently showing the comment number in comments. Unfortunately, Microsoft's implementation of modern comments has made it impossible to keep that functionality.
However, when you use the Previous Comment and Next Comment commands in the CommentManager tools, the number of the selected comment and the total number of comments will be shown in the Status Bar in the bottom of the Word window.
Click Previous Comment or Next Comment to see comment number and total number of comments shown in Status Bar.

TIP: In case of classic comments, the add-in will also show comment number and total number of comments in the Status Bar when you right-click in a comment. This extra feature doesn't work with modern comments since they don't react to right-click.

Insert inline comments for instructions, help, tips, notes, etc.

You can insert an inline comment with the click of a button. An inline comment is a 1-column table with a heading of your choice. In addition, you can customize the shading color and border applied to inline comments.
Inline comments are useful in templates or documents where you, for example, need to tell the user what to do. Inline comments can also be used to quickly add special tips and notes that must stand out from the text. You can use inline comments both for content such as instructions that are to be deleted from the final document and for tips and notes that are to remain in the final document. A command lets you delete all inline comments with the click of a button, so it is easy to get rid of all such comments if needed.

Example of inline comments used for instructions
When you insert an inline comment, it will automatically be applied the shading (or no shading), border (or no border) you have set as the default. You can also define which paragraph style to apply to the text by default.

Another example of an inline comment
You can change the shading and borders of all inline comments in a document in one operation if needed.

About the Review Inline Comments command

The Review Inline Comments dialog box lets you review all inline comments.

The Review Inline Comments dialog box lets you browse all inline comments to review them. The dialog box shows the number of inline comments found and the index number of the currently selected inline comment. This makes it easy to keep track of the inline comments.
You can delete individual inline comments from the Review Inline Comments dialog box or by simply selecting an inline comment table in the document and delete it.
This also includes a command that lets you delete all inline comments in one operation. This is useful, for example, if inline comments are used as temporary instructions to the editor(s) of the document.

About the Set inline Comment Options command

The Set Inline Comment Options dialog box lets you set defaults for inline comments. In addition, you can restore settings from the attached template or import settings from another document.

You can change the settings whenever you want. Each document will remember your settings for that document.

Progress bar

A progress bar will be shown when you perform operations that may take more than a few seconds.

Overview of all the commands