PowerPoint 2013

Introduction

Video: Reviewing Presentations

Watch the video (3:34). Need help?

Before presenting your PowerPoint presentation, you might decide to ask someone else to look over it. The two of you might even collaborate on a presentation. If you were revising a hard copy of a report, you might add comments in the margins or compare your rough and final drafts side by side. You can also do these things in PowerPoint using the Comments and Compare features.

Optional: Download our practice presentation for this lesson.

Commenting on presentations

When you are revising or collaborating on a presentation, you might want to make notes or suggestions without actually changing anything on the slide. Using comments allows you to take note of anything on a slide without altering the slide itself. Comments can be added and read by the original author or any other reviewers.

To add a comment:

1. Select the text or click on the area of the slide where you would like the comment to appear.
2. Select the Review tab, then locate the Comments group.
3. Click the New Comment command.
   
   Clicking the New Comment command
4. The Comments pane will appear on the right side of the window. Type your comment.
   
   Typing a comment
5. Press Enter or click anywhere on the slide to return to your presentation.
   
   

Added comments show up as small thumbnails rather than full-sized notes. To read a comment, just click the thumbnail to open the Comments pane.

Clicking a comment to open the Comments pane

To edit a comment:

1. Select the comment you would like to edit by clicking the comment thumbnail.
   
   Clicking the comment thumbnail
2. The Comments pane will appear. Click the comment to edit it.
   
   Clicking the comment
3. Make the desired changes.
   
   Editing a comment
4. Press Enter or click anywhere on the slide, and the comment will update to reflect your edits.
   
   The edited comment

To respond to a comment:

1. Click the thumbnail of the comment you want to edit. The Comments pane will appear.
2. The selected comment will be highlighted. Click Reply...
   
   Responding to a comment
3. Type your comment.
   
   Typing the response
4. Press Enter or click anywhere on the slide. The new comment will appear below the original comment, and a new thumbnail will appear on the slide.
   
   The finished response

To delete a comment:

1. Select the comment you wish to delete.
2. From the Review tab, click the Delete command.
   
   The Delete Comment command

To delete multiple comments, simply click the Delete drop-down arrow and select Delete All Comments and Ink on This Slide or Delete All Comments and Ink in This Presentation.

Deleting all the comments in a presentation