We're rolling out a new, more modern comments experience in the current versions of PowerPoint including our mobile and web versions. This new experience improves collaboration by adding a number of new capabilities to the commenting experience.
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For our enterprise customers, this feature is turned on by default.
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When someone who has modern comments turned on for them adds comments to a file that doesn't have existing comments, the new comments are added as modern comments. If they add comments to a file that already had existing comments, they'll continue to have the previous commenting experience in that file.
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If you're an IT Administrator looking for information on how to enable modern comments, see What IT Admins need to know about modern comments in PowerPoint.
Let's take a look at what's new.
Comment anchoring
In the new experience, comments are anchored to objects so if you move the object, the comment goes with it. This makes it easier to see specifically what part of a slide the reviewer is commenting on, and more reliable if you reorganize your content later.
Using comment anchoring is simplicity itself. Just select the object on the slide that you want to comment on and then select Comment or @Mention from the Review tab of the ribbon, or from the right-click context menu, or from the floating toolbar that appears when you've selected an object.
You can type your new comment in the comments pane at the right and select Post (or press CTRL+Enter on Windows, or CMND+Enter on Mac) to finish your comment.
Once the comment is posted you can drag the comment bubble anywhere within the object you commented on to indicate specifically what you're referring to.
: Comments in the margin: This fetaure is no longer available in PowerPoint for web. However, you can view and access all the features of modern comments in the Comments pane. To turn on the Comments pane, click the Comments button towards the top right corner of the PowerPoint window.
Anchoring comments to text
Text anchoring is a new way to anchor your comments to a specified range of text, instead of to an object. To add an anchored-text comment, select the text you want and click New Comment in the Review tab or click New in the Comments pane. The text is highlighted. The shade of the highlighting varies depending on whether the text is light or dark.
You can edit the highlighted text. Any text you add within the highlighted range will expand the highlighted area. Likewise, removing text will cause the highlighted area to contract. Adding text at the beginning or end of a range of highlighted text will not expand the highlighted area.
When you're working with text-anchored comments, you'll notice that the highlighting changes depending on whether the comment in the Comments pane is hovered over or selected. If neither, the highlighting is visible if the text box object is selected or if you've turned on Show Advanced Markup.
Improved @Mentions in comments
This feature is only available to business and enterprise customers.
Once you've started your new comment you can call the attention of one or more of your colleagues by using the @mention feature. Simply type the @ symbol followed by their name or email alias.
: The email alias is that part of their email address before the @ sign. For example: "alexw" is the email alias for alexw@contoso.com.
When you finish, and post your comment, anybody that you've @mentioned in that comment will get a notification email. The notification email lets them know you mentioned them, and gives them a preview of the slide where the comment happened, as well as the comment you left. They can reply to your comment from the email, or they can click a link in the notification email to open the slide deck and go straight to the comment you left, if they want to see more context.
Resolve comment threads
Comments in files generally represent questions, ideas, or concerns about the content. When those have been addressed, modern comments allow you to mark that thread as resolved. Resolved comment threads won't appear in the margin (though you can still find them in the comment pane) so you can focus on the comment threads that still have open issues.
Increased confidence by design
A modern comment can only be edited by the person who created it.
Show Advanced Markup
By default, modern comments shows the comment marker only for the currently selected comment. However, you can set PowerPoint to show all comment markers on the slide at the same time.
To change this setting, go to Review > Comments > Show Comments and select Show Advanced Markup.
The setting lasts only for a single session. If you close and reopen the presentation, you'll need to change the setting again to have PowerPoint show all comment markers for a slide.
Tasks
Tasks let you create, assign, and resolve tasks without leaving PowerPoint for Windows, PowerPoint for Mac, and PowerPoint for the web.
Get started by following these steps:
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Open an existing PowerPoint presentation and add a comment by selecting Insert > Comment.
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In the body of the comment, @mention the individual to whom you wish to assign a task and select the Assign to check box to create a task. An email notification will be sent to the assignee.
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To mark a task as completed, select the Resolve task button.
And more!
We're just getting started with improving our comments experience. Watch this space for more new and exciting features to help make your collaboration richer, more secure, and easier.
Turn modern comments creation on or off
: The minimum required version to get default comments in documents is SAC Jan 2022 (build #16.0.14931.x.). If you want modern comments by default with SAC Ext Jul 2021 (build #16.0.14326.100000, we recommend that you use the tenant admin settings to set the default to on.
As we roll out this feature, the ability to create modern comments is on by default for must users, but can be turned off, if desired. If you're a business or enterprise user, the setting for this is managed by your IT administrator. If you're a consumer user, do the following:
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In PowerPoint for Windows, go to File > Options > General > Comments. In PowerPoint for macOS, go to PowerPoint > Preferences > General > Comments.
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Do one of the following:
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If modern comments are on, to turn them off, select Use classic comments.
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If modern comments are off, to turn them on, select Use modern comments.
Note that turning off modern comments won't change files that already have comments in them. This setting only controls what type of comments you can add to presentations that don't already have comments in them.
Also, this setting is only available on PowerPoint for the desktop. If your installation of PowerPoint is managed by your company, these options will be disabled.
Why don't I see modern comments?
Current builds that use modern comments
Modern comments are now available for business, enterprise, and consumer users. You will only see modern comments if you are using these current versions of PowerPoint
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PowerPoint for Microsoft 365
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PowerPoint for Android
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PowerPoint for iOS
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PowerPoint for the web
If you can't see modern comments
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You're using a build of PowerPoint that hasn't received these new features yet.
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You're using a work or school account, and your IT administrator hasn't enabled the modern comments. You may want to reach out to them and ask them if they can turn it on.
If you're using older versions of PowerPoint you won't be able to read or create modern comments. If you receive a file that has modern comments in it, and you have PowerPoint 2016, or PowerPoint 2019, you'll get a notification prompting you to open it in PowerPoint for the web to review modern comments.
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When someone who has modern comments turned on for them adds comments to a file that doesn't have existing comments, the new comments are added as modern comments. If they add comments to a file that already had existing comments, they'll continue to have the previous commenting experience in that file.
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Turning on modern comments doesn't upgrade any files that already have comments in them. To initiate modern comments for files with existing classic comments, delete the classic comments to bring the file to a neutral state. Added comments to the file will then have the modern comment experience.
Comments may not display in collaboration
If you don't see comments in a PowerPoint file, it may be that you are collaborating with someone who does not have the same desktop version of PowerPoint. PowerPoint files can only show either modern comments or classic comments, not both. The first comment made in the file determines which type of comments will display in that file.
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If a collaborator using a PowerPoint desktop version that has modern comments makes the first comment, the file will use modern comments. Those with classic comments will not see the comments or be able to add comments.
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If a collaborator using a PowerPoint desktop version that does not have modern comments makes the first comment, the file will use classic comments. Those with modern comments will not see the comments or be able to add comments.
What can you do if you can't see a collaborator's comments?
If you are unable to see a collaborator's comments because you are using different desktop versions of PowerPoint,
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A banner displays on your screen that tells you to open the file in PowerPoint for the web.
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You will be able to collaborate using modern comments by seeing others' comments and adding your comments.
