M ARKING W ORD DOCUMENTS AND PDF FILES ON - SCREEN
This guide highlights some of the available options for marking documents on-screen and adding feedback to
assignments using tools in Microsoft Word and PDF readers on a Windows PC or laptop. It provides a brief
overview of some of the tools available and links to more in-depth technical guides where appropriate.
If you’re using other devices, such as a tablet or eReader, the Reading On Screen website has some good
advice on digital annotation using a wide variety of tools and devices.
Marking in Word
Adding Comments
To add comments/annotations to a particular section of a document to provide more targeted feedback, you
can use Word’s comment tool:
1. Open the document you are marking.
2. When you find the section you want to add a comment to, highlight a word or sentence in that
section.
3. Click on the Review tab and select New Comment:
TIP
Keyboard shortcut:
Press Ctrl+Alt+M to
get the comment box
to appear.
4. Type your comment into the box that appears in the right-hand pane. It is also possible to add images
and hyperlinks into comments boxes, using the tools on the Insert tab:
E-Learning Development Team
March 2015
Comment time-saver tips
Quick Access Toolbar
You can add the ‘New Comment’ icon to your Quick Access Toolbar, which is located at the very top above all
of the tabs in Word. This means that you will be able to add a comment by clicking the icon, no matter which
tab you are in.
1. Click on the Review tab, right click on the New Comment icon and select Add to Quick Access Toolbar:
2. The New Comment icon will now be located at the very top of the screen in Word, which you can click
on to add a comment no matter whether you are in the Review tab or a different tab:
Reusable Comments with Quick Parts
If there are comments that you use again and again when marking, you can save these to the Quick Parts
Gallery to save having to re-type them. This enables you to insert comments with one click.
1. To save a comment into the Quick Parts Gallery, highlight the comment you have typed, click on the
Insert tab, select Quick Parts and click on Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery.
E-Learning Development Team
March 2015
To add your saved comment to a document when marking:
1. Add a comment box by clicking on the Review tab and New Comment, or hit Ctrl+Alt+M as described
on page 1 of this guide.
2. Instead of typing the comment, click on the Insert tab and select Quick Parts. You will see that the
comment you saved to the Quick Part Gallery appears in the drop down menu. Click the comment to
insert it into the comment box:
Track Changes
Track changes are useful if you want to make corrections to a piece of work, but want the student to be able to
see exactly what you’ve corrected. Using track changes will highlight any changes that are made in the text in
red. It is possible to ‘cross out’ sections of the text and type your corrections next to it. To use track changes,
follow the instructions below:
1. Click on the Review tab and click the Track Changes button so that it stays highlighted:
2. Find the part of the document you want to correct, and press the Backspace key – as if you were going
to delete the text.
3. You will notice that the text turns red and has a line through it. Type your correction next to the text
you have just crossed out. Your correction will appear as red, underlined text:
E-Learning Development Team
March 2015
Footnotes and Endnotes
Rather than make notes throughout the text using comments or track changes, it may be more suitable to use
footnotes and endnotes, so that the original text remains easy to read. It also means that all of your feedback
on a particular page is kept together (if using footnotes) or is gathered at the end of the document (if using
endnotes).
If you have not used these features in Word before, the instructions below explain how to add Footnotes or
Endnotes:
1. Find the place in the document where you want to add a footnote or endnote and click to place the
cursor next to the text.
2. Click on the References tab.
3. For footnotes, click Insert Footnote. For endnotes, click Insert Endnote. A number will appear in the
main body of the text and a space will be created at the bottom of the page (for footnotes) or the end
of the document (for endnotes). Type your feedback next to the number:
**Note: it is possible to use a combination of footnotes and endnotes. If both are used, two different
numbering formats will be used. E.g. the footnotes will use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4 etc.) and the endnotes
will use Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv etc.). It is also possible for you to use a combination of all of the tools
mentioned above. For further technical guidance on using these features in Word, visit the Microsoft Office
Support Pages.
E-Learning Development Team
March 2015
Marking a PDF document
Adobe Reader XI (installed on all University PCs) has tools for annotating and commenting on PDF documents.
If you are using another PDF reader for marking, you will need to consult the help pages for your particular
software.
For annotating a document in Adobe Reader XI, follow the instructions below:
1. Open the document.
2. Click the Comment button on the top right hand corner. The Comment pane will then appear:
3. Choose the annotation tool you want to use from the options in the Annotations box.
**Note – for more in-depth guidance on marking and reading on screen from a variety of different
electronic devices, visit the Reading On Screen website.
E-Learning Development Team
March 2015