Why Word’s Accept All Changes Skips Comments But Not Other Markup

When you click Accept All Changes in Word, you expect every tracked change and comment to be resolved at once. But many users find that comments remain in the document while insertions, deletions, and formatting changes are accepted. This behavior is not a bug — it is by design. In this article, you will learn why Accept All Changes leaves comments untouched, how to remove comments separately, and which settings control this difference.

Why Accept All Changes Treats Comments Differently Than Tracked Edits

Word treats comments and tracked changes as two separate types of markup. Tracked changes represent proposed edits to the document content — insertions, deletions, and formatting modifications. When you accept a tracked change, Word commits that edit into the document text or formatting and removes the markup balloon. Comments, however, are annotations attached to a location in the document. They are not edits. Accepting a change means applying a proposed modification to the content. A comment has no content to accept — it is a note that stays attached to the document until you explicitly delete it. This design prevents accidental loss of reviewer feedback. If Accept All Changes also deleted every comment, you would lose all annotations without a way to review them first.

The Technical Distinction Between Edits and Annotations

In the Word object model, tracked changes are Revision objects that have an action type (insert, delete, format) and a range in the document. Comments are Comment objects that contain text, author, and date but are not revisions. The Accept method applies only to Revision objects. The Comment object does not have an Accept method — it only has Delete. This architectural separation is why the Accept All Changes dropdown menu lists accept options but never mentions comments. The same separation exists in the Reviewing Pane, where tracked changes appear under a different heading than comments.

What the Accept Dropdown Actually Does

The Accept button in the Review tab offers these options:

• Accept and Move to Next: Accepts the current tracked change and selects the next one.
• Accept This Change: Accepts only the currently selected tracked change.
• Accept All Changes: Accepts every tracked insertion, deletion, and formatting change in the document.
• Accept All Changes and Stop Tracking: Accepts all tracked changes and turns off Track Changes.

None of these options delete comments. The comment deletion commands are located in the Comments group on the far right side of the Review tab, under the Delete button.

Steps to Remove All Comments After Accepting Changes

To finalize a document that has both tracked changes and comments, you must perform two separate actions. Use the following steps in order.

1. Accept all tracked changes
   Go to the Review tab. In the Changes group, click the Accept button. From the dropdown menu, select Accept All Changes. Word commits every insertion, deletion, and formatting change into the document text and removes the revision markup.
2. Delete all comments
   Stay on the Review tab. In the Comments group, click the arrow below the Delete button. Select Delete All Comments in Document. Word removes every comment without deleting any document content.
3. Verify no markup remains
   Open the Reviewing Pane by clicking Reviewing Pane in the Tracking group. The pane should show zero revisions and zero comments. If any items remain, repeat step 2 or check for hidden comments in text boxes, headers, or footers.

Alternative Method: Accept Changes and Delete Comments in One Pass

If you prefer to use keyboard shortcuts and the mouse minimally, combine the two actions:

1. Use the keyboard to accept all changes
   Press Alt, then R, then A, then A. This sequence opens the Review tab, activates the Accept dropdown, and selects Accept All Changes.
2. Use the keyboard to delete all comments
   Press Alt, then R, then D, then C. This sequence opens the Review tab, activates the Delete dropdown, and selects Delete All Comments in Document.

If Comments or Changes Remain After Running Both Commands

Sometimes one or two comments or tracked changes survive the bulk actions. The following scenarios explain why and how to fix them.

Comments Inside Text Boxes or Shapes Are Not Deleted by Delete All Comments in Document

The Delete All Comments in Document command targets only comments attached to the main document body. Comments inside text boxes, callouts, shapes, SmartArt, or chart elements are not affected. To remove those comments, click inside the text box or shape, locate the comment balloon or the comment indicator in the margin, right-click it, and select Delete Comment. Repeat for each comment in non-body elements.

Tracked Changes in Headers, Footers, or Footnotes Are Not Accepted by Accept All Changes

Accept All Changes processes revisions only in the main document body by default. Tracked changes in headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, or comments themselves are not accepted. To accept those changes, double-click into the header or footer area. On the Review tab, click Accept All Changes again. Repeat for each section. For footnotes and endnotes, switch to Draft view and open the footnotes pane before accepting changes.

Comments That Appear After Accepting Changes Are Not New

If comments still appear after you ran Delete All Comments in Document, check whether the document contains reply comments. A reply is a sub-comment attached to an original comment. Delete All Comments in Document removes the parent comment and all its replies at once. If a reply appears orphaned, save the document, close it, and reopen it. Word then refreshes the comment list. If the comment persists, right-click it and select Delete Comment manually.

Accept All Changes vs Delete All Comments: Behavior Comparison

Item	Accept All Changes	Delete All Comments in Document
Target markup type	Tracked insertions, deletions, formatting changes	Comments only
Effect on document content	Commits edits into the text and formatting	No change to document content
Removes markup balloons	Yes — all revision balloons disappear	Yes — all comment balloons disappear
Works on main body	Yes	Yes
Works on headers and footers	No — must run separately	No — must delete manually
Works on text boxes	Yes	No — must delete manually
Keyboard shortcut	Alt, R, A, A	Alt, R, D, C

You now know that Accept All Changes and Delete All Comments are two independent commands designed for two different types of markup. To clean a document completely, run Accept All Changes first, then Delete All Comments in Document. For documents with tracked changes in headers, footers, or text boxes, run the commands in each area separately. As an advanced tip, create a Quick Access Toolbar button for Delete All Comments in Document if you frequently finalize reviewed documents — right-click the Delete button in the Review tab and select Add to Quick Access Toolbar.