OS X Word - how do I get comments to appear in balloons, not sidebar?

Hochheiser, Harry Stewart 1 Reputation point
2020-09-06T19:20:31.667+00:00

Using Word 16.42, on OS X , 10.15.5. When I create a comment, or I view a document with comments, comments show up in the sidebar, not in the document (see image). The documents are in "Print Layout".

How do I get the comments to be displayed as baloons directly on the document?

I have tried multiple settings, have deleted all of the ~/Library files, and have even tried resinstalling Office. Nothing helps. Any suggestions?

thanks.

Office Mac
Office Mac
Office: A suite of Microsoft productivity software that supports common business tasks, including word processing, email, presentations, and data management and analysis.Mac: A family of Apple personal computers that run the macOS operating system.
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  1. Hochheiser, Harry Stewart 1 Reputation point
    2020-09-06T19:22:28.23+00:00

    here's the image of how the comments appear.22921-2020-09-06-15-17-38-1.png

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  2. Emi Zhang-MSFT 23,351 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2020-09-07T07:53:03.923+00:00

    Hi @Hochheiser, Harry Stewart ,

    I tested Comments in Office for Mac 10.15 but I didn't you problem. Did this problem appear in all Word documents?

    Where did you store the document?

    Try to remove Office completely and re-install, please refer to this support article:

    troubleshoot-office-for-mac-issues-by-completely-uninstalling-before-you-reinstall-ec3aa66e-6a76-451f-9d35-cba2e14e94c0

    Any updates please let me know and I'm glad to help you.

    If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
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  3. Hochheiser, Harry Stewart 1 Reputation point
    2020-09-07T21:09:28.79+00:00

    Thanks for your reply.

    I removed Office completely and re-installed. At first, the comments worked as desired, including opening a document that was on my local drive, and another from DropBox. The first two worked fine. However, I then opened a docx file found on my Box drive, and this file came up with the comments in the sidebar. I returned to the first two files, and they now open with the comments in the sidebar as well. Is it possible that the location of the file might make a difference?

  4. Hochheiser, Harry Stewart 1 Reputation point
    2020-09-08T22:36:46.13+00:00

    After working as expected on a few files, it then reverted back to the undesirable behavior on files, including those stored locally on my hard drive. Any idea what might be up?

  5. Hochheiser, Harry Stewart 1 Reputation point
    2020-09-10T12:19:20.847+00:00

    I installed the lastest Office from office.com, both times.

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