Microsoft Enhances PowerPoint Comment Retention During Editing

Enhancements to Comment Management in PowerPoint

Comments serve as a key collaborative feature within Office applications, allowing users to annotate documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with vital insights. In PowerPoint, however, maintaining clarity can become challenging when editing slides. A comment linked to a section that is modified or deleted may lose its context, potentially leading to confusion. Microsoft is taking steps to resolve these issues with the latest updates for PowerPoint.

New Features for Comments in PowerPoint

The recent enhancements allow users to seamlessly move or copy various elements of a presentation—such as text, text boxes, tables, shapes, and SmartArt—along with their associated comments. When you paste an item to a new location, any comments connected to it will follow suit, ensuring that the feedback remains relevant and accessible. Importantly, if any content is unpasted or deleted, its original comments will stay put, preserving the integrity of the commentary throughout the document.

Practical Applications of the Improved Comment System

The refined comment management system can be particularly beneficial in several scenarios:

Reorganizing Content Within a Slide: Cut a section of text that has an attached comment and paste it in a different spot on the same slide, ensuring the comment moves along with it.

Relocating Elements Across Slides: Transfer a shape or text box complete with its comments from one slide to another, allowing for constant feedback.

Duplicating Content: When you copy a commented object, the original comments stay with it, while the newly created version begins without comments, consistent with existing functionality.

Availability of the Update

This update is currently being rolled out for PowerPoint on the web, Windows (version 2503, build 18623.20178), and macOS (version 16.96, build 25041326).For more details, you can read the official announcement on the Tech Community website.

Other Notable Office Updates

In addition to the enhancements in PowerPoint, Microsoft has also unveiled upgrades to referencing in Word and an improved voice note experience, featuring the innovative Copilot tool that can transcribe voice notes into well-structured documents.

Source&Images