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Using Word comments Word's Comment feature is a hugely useful tool. You can highlight a word or passage, and then insert an invisible note to yourself or someone else, such as an editor or agent. In writing a novel, I sometimes create a skeletal version of a scene because it isn't fully developed in my mind, but I know its general gist. I'll put the skeleton in place, and then use Comment to leave a note about other thoughts for development of the scene. Since a Comment can be edited, it's easy to go back to it and add to it or modify it. Or maybe it's just a description or action that's you know needs work. For example, in one of my novels I described a character as having a "pretty face." Now, this is pretty vague. A critiquer noted that. So it was easy to highlight "pretty" and add this little note to myself: "better adjective/description—fine-boned, delicate features…" Now, when I'm good and ready, I can take my time and do justice to the description. Use Comment to annotate possibilities that occur to you when you don't have the time to write them out. For example, in a scene the protagonist does this: In his office, Gabe slams the few
personal things he doesn't want to lose into his briefcase. Later, when skimming through the chapter, I had a thought for expanding the scene, and thus the conflict. I highlighted "In his office," clicked on my Add Comment icon,
and added this thought: "consider having Larry follow him into the hallway and finishing the confrontation." There are a few ways to add a
comment. In Word 2000 and earlier iterations, you highlight something where you want the comment to be, click Insert in the top menu, then click on Comment. A box will appear, you enter your note, then click Close. The comment
becomes invisible until you want to see it. NOTE: you can insert a comment without highlighting anything, but I wouldn't—in normal view, there's no way to see where the comment is. If you highlight a word or phrase, Word 2000 adds
yellow highlighting that stays put. In Word 2002/XP, you can either highlight the text that relates to the comment or simply click the spot where you want to insert it. You can then click Insert/Comment or, for a
keyboard shortcut, bype Alt+Ctrl+M. A comment balloon appears into which you can type your comment. Annoyingly (to me), the balloon stays there. To make it go away, go to View and click on Markup. There are two ways in
Word 2000 and earlier to later view a Comment note. My preference is to place my cursor over the yellow highlight, which causes the comment to appear in a pop-up box. Move the cursor away, it goes away. Right-click your mouse
(click the right key) and you get a menu that will let you edit or delete the comment. This is, unfortunately, different in Word 2002 and later versions. An alternative way to view a Comment is to click View on the top menu in
Word. Then click Comments, and a window will appear with all the comments in them. The window splits the screen, and you can scroll either half to get to the area you want to see.
In Word 2002/XP, click View and then Markup to see comments. Instead of using the Insert menu to add a Comment, I like to use the Insert Comment icon, which I add to my main toolbar. Here's how: click Tools in the top
menu bar. Click Customize. Click on the Commands tab. Click the Insert icon in the list that appears, then scroll down until the yellow Comment icon appears. Put your cursor over the icon graphic, press the left mouse key down and
hold it. You can then "drag" the icon up to your toolbar. A marker will appear where it will be, and you can move the cursor to find the right spot. Then release the mouse key and the icon will appear in your toolbar. It should
stay there, though in Word for the Mac, I've never figured out how to make it permanent.
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