We've started rolling out a new comments experience for current versions of PowerPoint. There are some important things for IT administrators to know about this feature, and how to turn it on.
Note: Modern comments is currently rolling out for Microsoft 365 Family and Personal.
Last updated; May 23, 2020
Summary
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The new commenting experience answers several popular feature requests and significantly improves collaboration. More details
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A comment will now anchor to objects. If you move the object, the comment goes with it.
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You can now mark threads of comments as resolved. Resolved comments don't appear in the margin but can still be seen in the Comments Pane.
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Modern comments can only be edited by the person who created them.
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New commenting controls makes it easier to find and add new comments.
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Improved notification emails let recipients see the context of the comment and reply directly from the email if they want to.
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The improved modern comments experience is now rolling out to be on by default. If your organization prefers to use classic comments, you can disable modern comments via group policy manager or OCPS. More details
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Modern comments can't be read by older versions of PowerPoint. Someone with PowerPoint 2019 or older subscription versions will be notified that there are comments in the file their current version of PowerPoint doesn't support, and prompted to open the presentation in PowerPoint for the web where they can review the modern comments. For a list of the older subscription builds, see the table below in the section When will I see modern comments?
So how does this work?
Modern comments will be supported in PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 on Windows or macOS, PowerPoint for Android, PowerPoint for iOS, and PowerPoint for the web.
Microsoft 365, Android, iOS, and web
When someone who has modern comments turned on for them adds comments to a file that doesn't have existing comments, the new comments are added as modern comments. If they add comments to a file that already had existing comments, they'll continue to have the previous commenting experience in that file. Turning on modern comments doesn't upgrade any files that already have comments in them.
Someone who doesn't have modern comments turned on for them will continue to see the previous commenting experience in new files, or for existing files that don't already have any modern comments. They'll still be able to read and add modern comments in files that already have modern comments in them.
Other versions of PowerPoint
If someone with PowerPoint 2019 or older subscription versions opens a file that contains modern comments, a notification appears advising them to use PowerPoint for the web to view or work with the comments. If they're using one of these versions and don't see the notification, ensure that they have the latest updates installed.
Note: This will also happen for someone with PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 who doesn't have the latest updates installed.
Enabling modern comments
By default, creating new modern comments is turned on for enterprise installations. As we discussed above, that means that if someone in your organization opens a file that has no comments in it already, any new comments they add will be the modern type of comments.
If your organization prefers to use classic comments, you can turn off modern comments for the people in your organization. Please note that this controls what type of comments get added to files without comments. Files that already contain modern comments will continue to use modern comments, and files that already contain classic comments will continue to use classic comments.
To turn off modern comments for your entire organization, or for one or more specific subgroups, open the OCPS portal, and turn off Use modern comments in PowerPoint.
Important: The minimum required version to get default modern comments is SAC Jan 2022 (build #16.0.14931.x). If you want modern comments by default with SAC Ext Jul 2021 build #16.0.14326.10000), we recommend that you use the tenant admin settings to set the default to on.
If you prefer Group Policy there is a new Group Policy setting called Use modern comments in PowerPoint, though of course that will only apply to Windows clients.
Tips:
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We recommend turning on modern comments for your entire organization in order to minimize backwards compatibility issues that could arise if people with different settings are collaborating.
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If you have a large number of people still running older builds of PowerPoint, you may want to wait until they've updated to the current build to turn on modern comments.
When will I see modern comments?
The following table shows a detailed breakdown of the modern comments experience across different endpoints and versions of PowerPoint.
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Dropped on merge |
Merge, but no controls (no warning) |
Warning and prompt to open in web, no controls |
Read and write in existing files with modern comments |
Create new files with modern comments |
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Win32 Insiders Fast |
All older builds |
16.0.7911.1000 |
16.0.11416.10000 |
16.0.12624.20126 |
16.0.12730.20010 |
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Win32 Insiders Slow |
All older builds |
16.0.7911.1000 |
16.0.11513.10000 |
16.0.12624.20126 |
16.0.12730.20010 |
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Win32 Prod CC |
All older builds |
Win32 Prod CC All older builds |
16.0.11513.10000 |
16.0.12624.20126 |
16.0.12827.20298 |
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Win32 SA |
All older builds |
16.0.7911.1000 |
16.0.11328.20502 |
16.0.13127.20360 |
16.0.13127.20360 |
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Win32 SAT |
All older builds |
16.0.7911.1000 |
16.0.11929.20558 |
TBD |
TBD |
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Win32 SAExt |
All older builds |
16.0.7911.1000 |
16.0.11328.20512 |
TBD |
TBD |
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Win32 2019 |
All older builds |
February 2017 |
16.0.10354.20016 |
16.0.10365.20006 |
n/a |
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Win32 2016 |
All older builds |
PU.2017.06.13 (16.0.4549.1000) |
16.0.4266.1001 plus patches: |
n/a |
n/a |
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Win32 2013 |
All older builds |
PU.2017.07.11 (15.0.4945.1000) |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
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Mac Prod CC |
All older builds |
February 2017 |
16.24.312.0 |
16.35.308.0 |
16.38.607.0 |
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Mac 2019 |
All older builds |
February 2017 |
16.16.20021000 |
16.40.20073000 |
n/a |
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Mac 2016 |
All older builds |
June 2017 |
16.16.20021000 |
n/a |
n/a |
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Mac 2011 |
All older builds |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
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Web Prod |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
Turned on |
Turned on |
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iOS Insiders |
All older builds |
2.19 |
2.25.506 |
2.36 |
2.39 |
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iOS Prod |
All older builds |
2.19 |
2.25.506 |
2.37 |
2.40 |
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Android Insiders |
All older builds |
16.0.11029.10000 |
16.0.11629.20124 |
16.12624.20000 |
16.13029.20000 |
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Android Prod |
All older builds |
16.0.11029.10000 |
16.0.11629.20124 |
16.12730.20000 |
16.13127.20000 |
What's next?
As the feature rolls out we'll be listening to your feedback to see how well it's working for you and your organization.
Eventually, we'll remove the OCPS control, too, and the modern commenting experience will just be everyone's commenting experience.
We're listening!
We need your feedback to continue to improve this experience. If you have suggestions for how we can do better, please let us know at pptcommentsfeedback@microsoft.com.
