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(Solved) Annotate PRO Doesn’t Play Well with Track Changes in Word

Depending on how you set up Track Changes in Microsoft Word, you may be annoyed to see extra comment bubbles after using Annotate PRO to comment. For instance, in the example below I have a “Deleted: want a lot of track” bubble. This is because, in order to do its magic and insert a comment with a single click, Annotate PRO actually cuts the selected text out of the document, then pastes it back with the new comment attached.
Microsoft Commenting

Depending on what version of Word you have, you might need to turn off “Modern Commenting” to take advantage of the following. Microsoft released a new commenting experience in 2021 and it leaves many gaps, especially for developers. We’re sure things will get better by about 2024, but until then we’re in a bit of purgatory. Basically, visit File/Options/General in Word and uncheck Enable modern comments. On more recent macOS versions of Word it’s Word/Preferences/General then uncheck Enable modern comments. Then restart Word. See example images in this slider for help.

Read Microsoft's Explanation
"Modern" Commenting

Released in 2021, Modern Commenting allows "@" references, assigning of tasks, and unites the commenting experience across Word apps. And plays catch-up with Google.

Old School Commenting

You can still revert to the 'old' way of commenting in Word. At some point Microsoft will take this ability away - hopefully after they provide developers with more tools to support the new style.

You have a number of options to make Word and AP play nice together:

  1.  Instead of highlighting a selection of words, just insert a comment at a particular cursor location.
  2. Or, if you really want to highlight text, flip Annotate PRO’s Auto Comment feature OFF (click into the AP lightning bolt quick settings menu OR just click the comment icon in the AP toolbar). You’ll want to make sure Word’s Markup Options (see screenshot below) is set to “Show Revisions in Balloons” or “Show Only Comments and Formatting in Balloons,” and then add a Word comment bubble the old way (‘New Comment’). With the cursor blinking in the new comment bubble use AP to insert a comment at the cursor location in the comment bubble.You can add comment bubbles to Word using the following keyboard shortcuts:
    1. Windows: Ctrl+Alt+M
    2. MacOS: ⌘+Option+A
  3. Adjust your Track Changes settings to either NOT show “Insertions and Deletions” or to “Show Only Comments and Formatting in Balloons.”