5

Comments in Google Docs are great. They are really helpful to work together with multiple people in the same document.

But if I want to finally hand out the document we made, I don't want every one to be able to see the comments. Neither do I want to remove them all because they can turn out handy when we need to make changes sometime.

How can I just download a .doc or .docx version without the comments?

Improve this question
4
  • office.microsoft.com/en-ca/word-help/…
    – phwd
    Mar 11, 2013 at 20:43
  • That's helpful, but I'd like to have Google Drive leave them out for me. Doing the manual delete is a waste of time, also, being on a Linux machine, I don't often use Word myself.
    – Steven Roose
    Mar 11, 2013 at 20:50
  • 1
    @phwd Did you now downvote my question because I did not accept your answer?? The fact that we do not agree on the role of comments in a document and so interpret the matter differently doesn't make my question bad-formed or irrelevant.
    – Steven Roose
    Mar 12, 2013 at 20:58
  • You are right on both accounts I have removed the downvote, but honestly I'm failing to see your point on the docs matter. This isn't about acceptance of the answer, you have not addressed why it is not possible for you to just create a copy of the google doc (which removes the comments) and thus keep the original (which is also explained in full in the first link). Take a read again on the answer and the link, because it seem you want a feature that isn't there but there are alternatives readily available it's just your workflow (not creating a new copy) holding you back. That's all I can say
    – phwd
    Mar 12, 2013 at 23:49

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
2

Google Docs follows the same standards as Microsoft Docs when it comes to comments in documentation; they are ephemeral only to ask/provide clarification on a paragraph/sentence.

After which the highlighted portion should be corrected and the comment removed when all collaborators have agreed on the change. In Microsoft, this will be done with deleting the comment.

Google Docs provide a semi-state where you can mark the comment as resolved

Click to Resolve

So that when you export to .doc, the comment markup will not appear there.

First Comment does not appear

As shown above the first comment is not there because it was marked as resolved in Google Docs, so it makes no sense to deal with the comment again (this based on the assumption that by resolving the comment, one has resolved the issue in that comment).

Comment Resolved

Another way to do it, would be to create a copy which will not carry across the comments.

Choose Make a Copy from the menu

Make a copy

Improve this answer
5
  • I'm looking for a way to just download a doc ignoring the comments. There should be a way for that, since the comments do not contribute to the content of the document but is just a feature of Google Docs (in my eyes). So I don't want to resolve all comment discussions.
    – Steven Roose
    Mar 11, 2013 at 23:25
  • @StevenRoose I think... I've explained in detail... two ways you can do it... You are going against the feature they are providing I don't know how else to explain it to you @_@
    – phwd
    Mar 12, 2013 at 0:42
  • There should be a way for that, since the comments do not contribute to the content of the document you are contradicting yourself by saying the comments do not add yet you want to keep them @_@, if you cannot see that fallacy then...
    – phwd
    Mar 12, 2013 at 0:44
  • I want to keep them because they are part of the creation of the document, but not part of the content itself. If I'm working on it with some people we might still be discussing some parts of it, but if we want to hand people an intermediate result, they should not be included. I'm a computer scientist, so I understood what you said, I only see the comments differently. I see them as meta-information on top of the content destined for contributors and I see a file download as a publication of the content, not the workflow. It's like erasing pencil lines from an ink drawing.
    – Steven Roose
    Mar 12, 2013 at 20:55
  • Your use case is sound, and I do agree it would be useful, but Google disagrees, and has mapped the Google Drive comments function directly to the Microsoft Office comments function. Your desire is that "download as docx" function more as an export than a download. This desire is unfortunately not what Google wanted to do. Consider using one of the other download formats, like RTF or PDF.
    – Ross Presser
    Jun 27, 2013 at 4:05
2

This is the easiest way to do it in a hurry.
Just make a copy of you Google Doc, make sure the "Copy comments and suggestions" box is unticked.
This new copy doesn't have comments and you can download it.

Improve this answer
1

After you download it to doc or docx there is a Option to Show Comments that you can disable.

Review > Show Comments.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    True, but that just hides the comments, it doesn't delete them.
    – Chenmunka
    Mar 29, 2016 at 18:32
-2

In office just goto review and tracking and change "Final with comments" to "Final". This closes, but preserves, the comments so you can print it, etc.

Improve this answer
1
  • The question is about Google Documents, not Microsoft Office.
    – ale
    Jan 24, 2014 at 20:32

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.