How to Hide All Comments When Printing

When you print a Word document that contains comments, Word normally prints those comments in a balloon at the right side of each page or at the end of the document. This behavior can make printed pages hard to read, waste paper, and confuse readers who do not need to see editorial notes. The root cause is that Word’s default print settings include a hidden option called Print Markup, which is enabled by default. This article explains how to turn off Print Markup so your document prints cleanly without any comments visible.

Why Word Prints Comments by Default

Word treats comments as a type of markup, just like tracked changes or ink annotations. When you send a document to print, Word checks the Print Markup setting. If this setting is enabled, Word prints all visible markup items, including comments, in balloons alongside the document text. The default behavior is to print markup because Word assumes you want a hard copy that shows all editorial feedback.

The Print Markup setting is stored per document and per print session. It is not a global Word option. Each time you print, you must verify whether Print Markup is on or off. This is by design: Word gives you control over each print job rather than applying a permanent rule.

Steps to Hide Comments When Printing

1. Open the Print dialog
   Press Ctrl+P on your keyboard. This opens the Print pane in Backstage view. Alternatively, click File in the top-left corner, then click Print.
2. Locate the Settings section
   In the Print pane, look for the Settings area. It appears below the printer selection and above the page range options. The exact layout depends on your screen width, but the Settings section always contains buttons for orientation, page size, margins, and pages per sheet.
3. Find the Print Markup button
   At the bottom of the Settings section, you see a button labeled Print Markup. The button displays a checkbox icon and the words Print Markup. When the button is highlighted in blue or has a checkmark, Print Markup is enabled. When the button is not highlighted, Print Markup is disabled.
4. Click the Print Markup button to disable it
   Click the Print Markup button once. The highlight disappears, and the button no longer shows a checkmark. This change tells Word to exclude all comments, tracked changes, ink annotations, and other markup from the printed output.
5. Preview the result
   Look at the print preview on the right side of the Print pane. When Print Markup is off, the preview shows only the document body. No comment balloons, no tracked change strikethroughs, and no ink marks appear. If you still see balloons, click the Print Markup button again to toggle it off.
6. Print the document
   Click the large Print button at the top of the Print pane. Word sends the document to the selected printer without any comments or markup.

What Happens When You Turn Off Print Markup

Disabling Print Markup affects more than just comments. Word also hides the following items from the printed output:

• Tracked changes: insertions, deletions, and formatting changes
• Ink annotations: drawings and handwriting made with a stylus or touch
• Document task pane notes: any markup that appears in the Reviewing Pane
• Inserted comments: all comment balloons, regardless of whether they are resolved or unresolved

Turning off Print Markup does not delete or hide comments on screen. The comments remain in the document and are still visible when you view the document in Word. Only the printed output is affected.

Alternative Method: Using the Review Tab

Another way to prevent comments from printing is to temporarily hide them in the document before printing. This method is useful if you want to keep Print Markup enabled for other markup types but exclude comments specifically.

1. Go to the Review tab
   Click Review in the ribbon at the top of the Word window.
2. Open the Show Comments dropdown
   In the Comments group, click the Show Comments button. A dropdown menu appears.
3. Uncheck Print Comments
   In the dropdown, find the Print Comments option. Click it to remove the checkmark. This tells Word to hide comments from the print output while keeping other markup visible.
4. Print as usual
   Press Ctrl+P, verify that Print Markup is enabled if you want other markup to print, and then print the document.

Note that the Print Comments option in the Review tab is a per-document setting. It persists only for the current Word session. If you close and reopen the document, you may need to set it again.

If Comments Still Print After Following These Steps

Print Markup button appears grayed out or unavailable

This happens when the document contains no comments, tracked changes, or ink annotations. Word grays out the Print Markup button because there is no markup to print. To confirm that no comments exist, go to Review > Comments and check the Show Comments pane. If the pane is empty, the document has no comments.

Comments print on separate pages at the end

This behavior occurs when Print Markup is enabled and the document has more comments than can fit in the side balloons. Word moves overflow comments to a separate page titled Comments. To stop this, disable Print Markup as described in the main steps.

Comments print in balloons even though Print Markup is off

This is usually a display glitch where the Print Markup button shows as disabled but the setting is still active. Click the Print Markup button twice to cycle the setting off and on again, then leave it off. Refresh the print preview by pressing Ctrl+P again. If the problem persists, close Word completely and reopen the document.

Word Online vs Desktop: Print Markup Behavior Differences

Item	Word Desktop (Windows/Mac)	Word Online (Browser)
Print Markup toggle location	File > Print > Settings > Print Markup button	File > Print > Show Details > toggle Comments and Tracked Changes
Can hide comments only	Yes, via Review > Show Comments > Print Comments	No, you can only hide all markup or none
Setting persistence	Per print session	Per print session
Keyboard shortcut to toggle	Ctrl+P then click Print Markup	No keyboard shortcut
Supports ink annotations	Yes, hidden when Print Markup is off	No, ink annotations are not supported in Word Online

You can now print any Word document without comments by disabling Print Markup in the Print pane. For documents that require comments on screen but not on paper, use the Review tab’s Print Comments option to hide comments while keeping other markup visible. If you frequently print documents without comments, consider creating a quick macro that toggles Print Markup off before printing.