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Improved collaboration with modern comments in PowerPoint

Feature deep dive
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Hi, I’m Lauren Janas, a Program Manager on the PowerPoint team. I’m excited to introduce modern comments in PowerPoint: a set of improved and new features that will make collaborating and using comments an easy and enjoyable (we hope!) experience.

Modern comments

With these updates, you can quickly find and add comments to your PowerPoint presentations with the new modern comments experience.

You can:

  • You can now anchor a comment to objects on the slide so you can clearly indicate what your comment is referencing. If you move the object, your comment goes with it.
    • Select the object on the slide that you want to comment on and then right-click and select New comment. You can also add a comment from the floating toolbar that appears when you’ve selected an object.

PowerPoint

  • Quickly find active comments with the indicator in the thumbnail pane.
  • In PowerPoint for the Web, comments are visible by default, so you can feel confident your comments will be seen, and you’ll never miss one.*

Improved collaboration

Collaborating with coworkers on projects is faster and simpler.

You can:

  • Answer questions addressed to you via @mentions in email notification directly from Outlook. Now, there’s no need to open the presentation!*
  • Resolve comments to get them out of the way and show that they’ve been addressed, without deleting them. This allows you to keep track of the work that’s already happened while finalizing your presentation.
    Comments in PowerPoint
  • You can only edit your own comments, so you can feel confident about who wrote each comment.

We’ve made a lot of improvements under the hood, too. Updating to the new comments format means that you’ll be ready to take advantage of future features once they are available.

Scenarios to try

  • Anchor a comment to an object, and then move the object.
  • Resolve a comment that has been addressed, and then find it again.
  • Try editing another person’s comment.

Known issues

  • *We’re rolling out these features now. If you can see some but not all of these features, the rest will be available to you soon.
  • These comments are not backward compatible with the previous comments.
  • Customers trying to open a presentation that contains comments that use the capabilities outlined in this post in PowerPoint 2019, PowerPoint 2016, or any other build other than the Current Channel monthly build listed below or later will need to open the file in PowerPoint for the web to view and edit the comments.
  • Insiders on Consumer SKUs won’t have access to mentions feature.

Availability 

These updated and new capabilities are now rolling out to users running Insider Fast builds.

  • Windows: Version 2004 (Build 12730.20010) or later.
  • Mac: Version 16.36 (Build 20040102) or later.
  • The new experience will only be available in files that don’t yet contain any comments.
  • These capabilities must be enabled by IT Admins to be available to Enterprise users.

We typically release features over some time to ensure that things are working smoothly. This is true for Insiders as well. We highlight features that you may not have because they’re slowly releasing to larger numbers of Insiders. Sometimes we remove elements to further improve them based on your feedback. Though this is rare, we also reserve the option to pull a feature entirely out of the product, even if you, as Insiders, have had the opportunity to try them.

Feedback

If you have any feedback or suggestions, you can submit them using the Help Improve Office button in the top right corner or click Help > Feedback. You can also send your feedback via email, especially if you are experiencing issues blocking you or your tenant from adopting the new comments.

Learn what other information you should include in your feedback to ensure  it’s actionable and reaches the right people. We’re excited to hear from you! 

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