Printing a Word document often requires a clean, comment-free output. Whether you're sharing a final draft with a client, submitting work for review, or simply want a distraction-free printed copy, knowing how to hide comments is crucial. This guide explores trusted methods to effectively hide comments in Microsoft Word before printing, ensuring a polished final product.
Understanding Word Comments and Their Printing Behavior
Before diving into the hiding techniques, let's understand how comments behave during the printing process. By default, comments are not printed alongside the main document text. However, this default behavior can sometimes be overridden, leading to unwanted comment appearances on your printed pages. This guide ensures you avoid such scenarios.
Method 1: The Simple "Print" Command (Default Behavior)
The easiest and most reliable way to avoid printing comments is to simply use the standard print command. Word's default settings usually prevent comments from appearing on printed output. To do this:
- Open your Word document.
- Go to File > Print.
- Select your printer and desired settings.
- Click Print.
This method relies on Word's default settings, which are generally sufficient to prevent comment printing. However, for complete certainty, we recommend exploring the following advanced techniques.
Method 2: Checking Print Options for Comment Visibility
While the default settings often suffice, it's always best to double-check your print options to confirm comments are excluded.
- Open your Word document.
- Go to File > Print.
- Look for options related to "comments," "markup," or "revisions." These options might be under a section labeled "Print what" or similar.
- Ensure that any options related to comments are unchecked or set to "hide" or "do not print."
- Click Print.
This provides an extra layer of assurance that your printed document will be comment-free.
Method 3: Temporarily Hiding Comments Before Printing
For ultimate control, you can temporarily hide comments before printing. This doesn't delete them; it simply makes them invisible for the printing process.
- Open your Word document.
- Go to the Review tab.
- In the "Comments" group, click the "Show Markup" dropdown.
- Select "No Markup". This hides all comments and tracked changes.
- Print your document as usual.
- Once printing is complete, you can restore the visibility of comments via the "Show Markup" option.
Method 4: Printing Specific Sections (Advanced Users)
For documents with numerous sections or only requiring some sections printed, you can selectively print the necessary pages. This technique also ensures that comments in unwanted sections won't appear in your output.
This guide provides reliable methods for ensuring your Word documents are printed without unwanted comments. By utilizing these trusted techniques, you can guarantee a clean and professional final product, every time. Remember to always double-check your print settings to prevent any unexpected comment appearances.
