[Solved] The option for inserting comments is grayed out

[Sarariman]

I'd like to insert comments, which I think should be Edit - Changes - Comment. Alas, the last of these is grayed out. Does anyone know what's going on?

[Bill]

Try Insert > Comment.

[Sarariman]

There is no option for Insert - Comment. The nearest is Insert - Caption, which is grayed out. The built-in help facility said it was Edit - Changes - Comment.

[RoryOF]

Help file, index tab, item "comments;inserting/editing/deleting/printing" gives the information about comments.

On the /Insert menu , below Caption should be Bookmark, Cross reference, then Comments.

/Insert /Caption will be grayed out until a captionable item is selected.

Edit: You have perhaps missed the earlier section of the entry you cite in the Help file (my emphasis) You can enter a comment on each recorded change by placing the cursor in the area of the change and then choosing Edit - Changes - Comment. In addition to Extended Tips, the comment is also displayed in the list in the Accept or Reject Changes dialogue box.

[floris v]

Insert menu - Comment, keyboard: Ctrl+Alt+C (which inserts a special character for me). it's there, but well hidden. I suppose that the Comment in the Edit - Changes menu is meant for commenting on changes made by other editors of a document, the option will only be available when there's something to comment on.

[Sarariman]

These sound like they deserve to work, but they don't. Insert – Caption is grayed out even when text is selected. Is that not captionable? There is no option for Insert – Comment and CTRL + ALT + C does nothing.

I welcome these contributions and believe I will crack this soon with a little more help.

[floris v]

See below:

Insert - Comment command

It appears that you can't insert comments in text boxes, callouts and probably other draw elements as well.
This is a showcase of why it's important to tell what exactly you are doing and where you are doing that so we can get directly to the point.

[Bill]

There is no option for Insert - Comment. The nearest is Insert - Caption, which is grayed out. The built-in help facility said it was Edit - Changes - Comment.

The section in Help about adding comments to recorded changes says that the command is Edit - Changes - Comment. The section in Help about adding comments to text says that the command is Insert - Comment. Open Help, then select OpenOffice Writer at the top. Select the Index tab, then type "comment" in the Search term box. You should see "inserting...", "on changes" and "printing..." under "comments". Double-click the "inserting..." entry to find the command for inserting comments in text. Double-click the "on changes" entry to find the command for inserting comments in recorded changes.

If you're actually trying to insert comments in recorded changes, you have to click somewhere in the change before you can select the Edit - Changes - Comment option.

Regarding you comment about Insert - Caption, you have to select an object that can receive a caption before you can select that option. Text isn't an object that can be captioned.

[Sarariman]

That screenshot cracked it. I don't see Insert - Comment, I see Insert - Note. The two are not a million miles apart and I'm ashamed for not working that out myself.

[Bill]

Insert - Note was in old versions of OpenOffice.org. In Apache OpenOffice 4.1.1, you should have Insert - Comment. If you're not using AOO 4.1.1, then you should change your signature to prevent this type of confusion in the future.