Why Won't My Mac Search For Words In Microsoft Word

Posted : admin | On 11-05-2021

Saving to the PC's drive is not a default option, and if the program can't access Microsoft's OneDrive, sometimes it won't save at all. I have lost serious time and effort because I thought my file was saved when it actually wasn't.

Use Microsoft Word for the best word processing and document creation. Find out how document collaboration and editing tools can help polish your Word docs. I can’t get text to read in Microsoft Word Last Modified on Wednesday, 21-Feb-2018 16:30:02 GMT If you try to read text in Word and it won't work or if Read&Write closes, this can happen after updates to.

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Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Summary

A comment is a note or annotation that an author or reviewer can add to a document. Microsoft Word displays the comment in the Reviewing pane or in a balloon in the margin of the document.

This article answers some frequently asked questions about the Comment feature in Word.

More Information

What is a balloon?

A balloon shows markup elements (for example, comments) in the margins of your document so that it doesn't cover text or affect the layout of the document. You can use balloons in Print Layout view or in Web Layout view to easily see and respond to reviewers' changes and comments.

How do I view the comments in a Word document?

To view the comments in a document, follow these steps:

Word 2010 and Word 2007

  • On the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, and then select the Comments check box. If you do not see the comment balloon, click Print Layout or Web Layout on the View tab.

Word 2003 and Word 2002

  • On the View menu, click Markup. Word displays balloons in your document for each comment. If you do not see the comment balloon, click Print Layout or Web Layout on the View menu.

How do I hide the comments in my Word document?

To hide the comments, follow these steps:

Word 2010 and Word 2007

  • On the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, and then clear the Comments check box.

Word 2003 and Word 2002

  • On the View menu, click Markup.

How do I insert a comment?

Word Finder

To insert a comment, follow these steps:

Mac

Word 2010 and Word 2007

  1. On the Review tab, in the Comments group, click New Comment.
  2. Type your comment in the comment balloon that appears when you are in Print Layout view or Web Layout view, or in the Reviewing pane when you are in Normal view or Outline view.

Word 2003 and Word 2002

  1. Select the text or item that you want to comment about, or click the place where you want to insert your comment.
  2. On the Insert menu, click Comment.
  3. Type your comment in the comment balloon that appears when you are in Print Layout view or Web layout view, or in the Reviewing pane when you are in Normal view or Outline view.

Note

You cannot insert a comment in the header or footer area of a document. How do I change a comment?

To change an existing comment, do one of the following:

  • Click the comment balloon, and then type the text that you want.
  • In the Reviewing pane, find the comment that you want to change, and then type the text that you want.

How do I delete a comment?

To delete a comment, do one of the following:

  • Right-click the comment balloon, and then click Delete Comment.
  • In the Reviewing pane, right-click the comment, and then click Delete Comment.

What is the Reviewing pane?

Word doesn't always display the complete text of a comment in a balloon. This can happen when the page contains many comments or very long comments. To see the complete text for all comments in a document, view the comments in the Reviewing pane.

Word 2010 and Word 2007

  • On the Review tab, click Reviewing Panein the Tracking group, and then click Reviewing Pane Vertical or Reviewing Pane Horizontal.

Word 2003 and Word 2002

  • On the Reviewing toolbar, click Reviewing Pane. If the Reviewing toolbar is not displayed, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Reviewing.

How do I print the comments in my Word document?

To print a document with comments showing, follow these steps:

Word 2010

  1. On the View tab, click Print Layout in the Document Viewsgroup.

  2. On the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, and then select the Comments check box.

  3. To display the comments the way that you want them to appear in the printed document, do one of the following:

    • View all comments: To view all comments in your document, on the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, point to Reviewers, and then click to select All Reviewers.
    • View comments that were made by a reviewer: To view the comments that were made by a specific reviewer, on the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, point to Reviewers, and then click to select the reviewer whose comments that you want to display.

  4. On the File menu, click Print.

  5. Under Settings, click the arrow next to Print All Pages.

  6. Click Print Markup.

Word 2007

  1. On the View tab, click Print Layout in the Document Viewsgroup.

  2. On the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, and then select the Comments check box.

  3. To display the comments the way that you want them to appear in the printed document, do one of the following:

    • View all comments: To view all comments in your document, on the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, point to Reviewers, and then click to select All Reviewers.
    • View comments that were made by a reviewer: To view the comments that were made by a specific reviewer, on the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, point to Reviewers, and then click to select the reviewer whose comments that you want to display.

  4. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Print.

  5. In the Print dialog box, change the Print what box to Document showing markup, and then click OK.

Word 2003 and Word 2002

  1. Click Print Layout on the View menu.

  2. On the View menu, click Markup to display the comments in your document.

  3. Display the comments the way that you want them to appear in the printed document. To do this, do one of the following:

    • View all comments: To view all comments in your document, click Show on the Reviewing toolbar, point to Reviewers, and then click to select All Reviewers.
    • View comments that were made by a reviewer: To view the comments that were made by a specific reviewer, click Show on the Reviewing toolbar, point to Reviewers, and then click to select the reviewer whose comments that you want to display.

  4. On the File menu, click Print.

  5. In the Print dialog box, change the Print what box toDocument showing markup, and then click OK.

How do I print my document without printing the comments?

To print a document without printing the comments, follow these steps:

Word 2010

Do one of the following:

Method 1

  1. On the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group.
  2. Clear the Comments check box.

Method 2

  1. On the File tab, click Print.
  2. Under Settings, click the arrow next to Print All Pages.
  3. Click Print Markup.

Word 2007

Do one of the following:

  • On the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, and then clear the Comments check box.
  • Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Print. In the Print dialog box, change the Print what box to Document, and then click OK.

Word 2003 and Word 2002

Do one of the following:

  • Click Markup on the View menu to hide the balloons in your document, and then print your document.
  • Click Print on the File menu. In the Print dialog box, change the Print what box to Document, and then click OK.

I can see the comments, but how do I determine the author of a comment and when it was made?

Why Won't My Mac Search For Words In Microsoft Word Free

To see the author's name and the date and time that the comment was made, do one of the following:

  • Rest the mouse pointer on the comment balloon. A tooltip that contains this information appears.
  • Open the Reviewing pane and locate the comment.
    How do I respond to a comment?

Word 2010 and Word 2007

  1. Click the comment that you want to respond to.
  2. On the Review tab, click New Comment in the Comments group.
  3. Type your comment in the comment balloon that appears.

Word 2003 and Word 2002

  1. Click the comment that you want to respond to.
  2. On the Insert menu, click Comment.
  3. Type your comment in the comment balloon that appears.

Additional Resources

For more information about how to use comments, see Remove tracked changes and comments from a document.

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Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Symptoms

When you start Microsoft Word for Mac, or when you try to open a new document, you experience one of the following conditions:

  • The program closes unexpectedly.

  • Error message:

Note

This error message may also occur during usage of application such as saving a document.

Resolution

To resolve this problem, follow steps below.

Microsoft Word for Mac 2008 or Later

Step 1: Quit all applications

  1. On the Apple menu, click Force Quit.

  2. Select an application in the 'Force Quit Applications' window.

  3. Click Force Quit.

  4. Repeat the previous steps until all active applications.

Warning

When an application is force quit, any unsaved changes to open documents are not saved.

Step 2: Remove Preferences

  1. Quit all Microsoft Office for Mac programs.

  2. On the Go menu, click Home.

  3. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  4. Open the Preferences folder.

  5. Look for a file that is named com.microsoft.Word.plist.

  6. If you locate the file, move it to the desktop. If you do not locate the file, the program is using the default preferences.

  7. If you locate the file and move it to the desktop, start Word, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Microsoft Word, and restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.Word.plist file to the trash.

  8. Quit all Microsoft Office for Mac programs.

  9. On the Go menu, click Home.

  10. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  11. Open the Preferences folder.

  12. Open the Microsoft folder.

  13. Locate the file that is named com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist.

  14. Move the file to the desktop.

  15. Start Word, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Word, and restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist file to the trash.

  16. On the Go menu, click Home.

  17. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  18. Open the Application Support folder.

  19. Open the Microsoft folder.

  20. Open the Office folder.

  21. Open the User Templates folder.

  22. Locate the file that is named Normal, and move the file to the desktop.

  23. Start Word and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the Normal file to the Trash. If the issue continues to occur, proceed to the next step.

If the issue continues to occur, go to the next step.

Step 3: Peform clean boot

For information how to clean start your Operating system (OS), see Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

2398596 How to use a 'clean startup' to determine whether background programs are interfering with Office for Mac

If the issue continues to occur in Safe mode, go to the next step.

Step 4: Remove and then reinstall Office

For information how to remove and then reinstall Office, see the following article:

If after removing and then reinstalling Office, the problem continues to occur, go to the next step.

Step 5: Use the 'Repair Disk Permissions' option

You can use the Repair Disk Permissions option to troubleshoot permissions problems in Mac OS X 10.2 or later versions. To use the Repair Disk Permissions option, follow these steps:

  1. On the Go menu, click Utilities.
  2. Start the Disk Utility program.
  3. Click the primary hard disk drive for your computer.
  4. Click the First Aid tab.
  5. Click Repair Disk Permissions.

Note

The Disk Utility program only repairs software that is installed by Apple. This utility also repairs folders, such as the Applications folder. However, this utility does not repair software that is in your home folder.

Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac

  1. Quit all Microsoft Office for Mac programs.

  2. On the Go menu, click Home.

  3. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  4. Open the Preferences folder.

  5. Look for a file that is named com.microsoft.Word.plist.

  6. If you locate the file, move it to the desktop. If you do not locate the file, the program is using the default preferences.

  7. If you locate the file and move it to the desktop, start Word, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Word, and restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.Word.plist file to the trash.

  8. Qit all Microsoft Office for Mac programs.

  9. On the Go menu, click Home.

  10. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  11. Open the Preferences folder.

  12. Open the Microsoft folder.

  13. Look for a file that is named com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist.

  14. Move the file to the desktop.

  15. Start Word, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Word, and restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist file to the trash.

  16. On the Go menu, click Home.

  17. Open the Documents folder.

  18. Open the Microsoft User Data folder.

  19. Locate the file that is named Normal, and move the file to the desktop.

  20. Start Word, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the Normal file to the trash.

Third-party disclaimer information

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.

The information and the solution in this document represent the current view of Microsoft Corporation on these issues as of the date of publication. This solution is available through Microsoft or through a third-party provider. Microsoft does not specifically recommend any third-party provider or third-party solution that this article might describe. There might also be other third-party providers or third-party solutions that this article does not describe. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, this information should not be interpreted to be a commitment by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot guarantee or endorse the accuracy of any information or of any solution that is presented by Microsoft or by any mentioned third-party provider.