TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Word 2013 - Comments grayed out From:Debra Kahn <kahndebra -at- gmail -dot- com> To:Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Tue, 7 Oct 2014 11:48:38 -0600
Hi Chris,
Did an experiment in a document derived from one of my own templates
(MSWord 2010). You're correct; To be more specific, I cannot add a comment
to a field is or acts like a content control field. Nor can I add a comment
to the header or footer of the document. However, I can add a comment to
other types of fields derived from the Insert > Quick Parts > Field
function. (These are the types of fields that highlight or "shade" gray
when you click in them or select them.) My favorite field of this type is
the no-macro macro, which I use to insert brief instructions.
Just wanted to pass that along.
My Dilemma: I've been also muttering under my breath about Microsoft for
the past 24 hours - because of disappearing custom caption labels. Anyone
have a good fix for that - other than re-creating them every time you need
them (which is Microsoft's solution)?
Here's the situation: In a test report template, I created a custom caption
label called "Sample" (from the References > Insert Caption > New Label
option) so that the test engineers add as many numbered "Sample" captions
as they need followed by a description. This caption number and description
is then cross-referenced later in the template to simplify input and to
avoid description/typing errors. To cross reference this way, you have to
be able to select the label "Sample" in the Cross Reference dialog box.
Works great - until Microsoft "disappears" my "Sample" label. I can't
figure out how to save the custom caption label to my test report template.
It seems to get saved only to the normal.dotx template, which gets
refreshed regularly (every time IT does an security or other update that
impacts MSWord, I think). Is there something I'm missing? Is there a better
way to accomplish the same objective? (Maybe do bookmarks instead??)
Appreciate any insight folks can give me.
Singing with the choir,
Deb Kahn
On Tue, Oct 7, 2014 at 8:09 AM, Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> Hmmm... it appears that the text I'm attempting to comment is part of an
> inserted text box. Apparently one cannot comment on such text.
>
> <*Scratches head and mutters something unkind about Microsoft.*>
>
> On Tue, Oct 7, 2014 at 6:48 AM, Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > I'm editing several docs for a client using Word 2013.
> >
> > Why would the *New Comment* menu item be grayed out?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Read about how Georgia System Operation Corporation improved teamwork,
> communication, and efficiency using Doc-To-Help | http://bit.ly/1lRPd2l
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as kahndebra -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
> info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online
> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Read about how Georgia System Operation Corporation improved teamwork, communication, and efficiency using Doc-To-Help | http://bit.ly/1lRPd2l