How to stop comments being deleted when anchored text is deleted?

[KmaTK675]

My team is collaborating on Word documents that are then reviewed by a client - many people are touching the doc in this process. The client leaves comments on sections to change. When the text associated with the comment is updated or deleted, the comment is also deleted. However, we need to preserve the original comments to ensure the changes are adequate and meet the client's requirements. So, our current process to avoid losing these comments involves copying the current document with a new version number and then making the changes outlined in the comments in this new document. This has to happen each time it is reviewed by another stakeholder. It is such a tedious task and open to all sorts of mistakes!

Is there a way to preserve all comments, regardless if the anchored text is deleted/changed?

I've only recently started working in the MS Office environment - Google Docs keeps a record of all comments (unless specifically deleted), and I'm very surprised that Office doesn't appear to offer this feature.

[#2]

Hello @KmaTK675 ,

There is a workaround for this, albeit a clumsy one. You need something to anchor the comment to. That can be a space. You need to put that space within the | | of the comment.

Example:

A "word" has a comment attached to it. You delete "word" (anchor), the comment goes too.

Put a space anywhere within the text: "wo rd". Delete the "wo" and delete the "rd", leave the space. That's your new anchor for your comment. With or without trackchanges, or after accepting changes, the comments stays anchored to that space. Once you delete the space, of course, the comment gets deleted, too.

Hope this helps.

[#3]

@KmaTK675 

You will have to keep a copy of the original version for reference or you can use a macro to collect the text in the comments and add them to a separate document. 

Since two months have passed since you asked your question, you may have found another solution that works for you. 🙂