How to Remove Comments From a Word Document

Whether you're finalizing a report, preparing a clean copy for a client, or just tidying up after a round of edits, knowing how to remove comments from a Word document is one of those skills that saves real frustration. The process sounds simple — and mostly it is — but there are a few important distinctions that trip people up, especially when they need every trace of feedback gone before sharing.

What Comments Actually Are in Word

In Microsoft Word, comments are annotations attached to specific text or locations in a document. They appear in the margin (or in a reviewing pane) and are linked to the document's revision tracking system. They're separate from the actual document text, which means deleting the highlighted text doesn't delete the comment — and that's where the confusion often starts.

Comments can be added by a single author or multiple reviewers, each identified by name and timestamp. When you're working with a document that's passed through several hands, you might be dealing with comments from five different people, some resolved and some still open.

The Difference Between Deleting and Resolving Comments 🗂️

This is worth understanding before you start clicking.

• Resolving a comment marks it as addressed but keeps it visible in the document (greyed out). The comment is still technically there and can still be seen by anyone who opens the file.
• Deleting a comment removes it entirely from the document.

If your goal is to share a genuinely clean document — one where no reviewer feedback is visible — you need to delete, not just resolve.

How to Delete Comments in Word

Deleting a Single Comment

Right-click on the comment bubble or the highlighted text it's attached to. From the context menu, select "Delete Comment." The comment disappears immediately.

Alternatively, click on the comment to select it, then go to the Review tab in the ribbon and click Delete in the Comments group.

Deleting All Comments at Once

This is the faster route when you're dealing with a heavily annotated document.

1. Go to the Review tab
2. Click the dropdown arrow under the Delete button (in the Comments group)
3. Select "Delete All Comments in Document"

Every comment is removed in one action. This works regardless of who made the comments or how many authors were involved.

Deleting Comments from a Specific Reviewer

Word doesn't have a one-click option to delete comments from just one person while keeping others. The workaround is to filter by reviewer first:

1. On the Review tab, click Show Markup
2. Go to Specific People and uncheck all reviewers except the one you want to remove
3. Now use Delete All Comments in Document — this will only delete the visible (filtered) comments
4. Turn all reviewers back on afterward

This is particularly useful in collaborative workflows where one person's feedback has been addressed but others haven't been reviewed yet.

Removing Comments in Word for Mac

The steps are nearly identical on Word for Mac. The Review tab is in the same position, and the Delete dropdown offers the same "Delete All Comments in Document" option. The keyboard shortcuts differ slightly, but the ribbon-based workflow matches Windows.

Removing Comments in Word on Mobile (iOS and Android)

The Word mobile app has more limited comment management. You can tap a comment and delete it individually, but bulk deletion options may not be present depending on your app version and subscription tier. For extensive comment removal, the desktop version gives you more control.

What Happens If You Accept All Changes Without Deleting Comments?

This is a common misunderstanding. Track Changes and Comments are related features but managed separately.

• Accepting all changes (via Review → Accept → Accept All Changes) resolves all tracked edits but does not remove comments.
• You need to handle comments independently, even after accepting every revision.

If you send a document after accepting all changes but skipping comment deletion, recipients can still see every comment thread.

Using the Document Inspector for a Final Check 🔍

Even after manually deleting all comments, it's worth running Document Inspector before sharing sensitive files. This tool scans for hidden data including comments, tracked changes, personal information, and more.

To access it:

1. Go to File → Info
2. Click Check for Issues → Inspect Document
3. Run the inspection and review results
4. Click Remove All next to Comments, Revisions, and Versions if anything shows up

This is especially important in professional or legal contexts where metadata exposure could be a problem.

Saving as a New File After Cleaning

One practical habit: after removing all comments (and accepting or rejecting tracked changes), save the cleaned version under a new filename. This preserves your original annotated draft while giving you a clean copy for distribution. Word's default save behavior won't automatically strip anything, so the new filename acts as your own signal that the document is ready to share.

The Variables That Shape Your Experience

How smoothly this process goes depends on a few factors that vary by user:

• Word version — older versions of Word (2010, 2013) have slightly different ribbon layouts, and some features like Specific People filtering may behave differently
• Subscription type — Word 365 gets regular feature updates; perpetual license versions (Word 2019, 2021) may lag behind
• Document complexity — files with heavy revision histories, many authors, or embedded objects can occasionally behave unexpectedly when processing comments
• Platform — Windows, Mac, and mobile each have slightly different interfaces and feature availability
• Document origin — files that originated in Google Docs or other editors and were exported to .docx sometimes carry formatting artifacts that affect how comments display and delete

The right approach for a solo user doing a quick cleanup looks quite different from a team managing multi-author review cycles on sensitive documents. Your own workflow, the tools you're running, and what "clean" actually means for your use case are what determine which of these steps matter most.