Troubleshoot discussions and subscriptions

I can't subscribe to a Web page or discussion.

The Subscription feature is not available   A server administrator must set up this feature before you can use it.

You might not have permission to subscribe   Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to participate in subscriptions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the Subscribe To Document right.

I don't see discussions on a Web page or document.

The Web Discussions feature is not available   A server administrator must set up this feature before you can use it.

You might be using the wrong discussion server   Discussions are stored separately, not with the Web page or document. If you're using a server different from the one on which the discussions are stored, you won't see the discussions. Make sure you are connected to the correct discussion server. Try selecting Current document's server if you have multiple discussion servers available. See your server administrator for details.

There might be a problem with the discussion server or the network   If the discussion server is not running properly or there is a problem with your connection to the server, you won't be able to see the discussions. Try refreshing the page later, or contact your server administrator.

You might not have permission to read discussions   Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to read discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the View Web Document Discussions right.

The discussions might need to be refreshed   Recently added discussions might not automatically appear on a page. On the Web Discussions toolbar, click Discussions, and then click Refresh Discussions.

The discussions might be hidden or closed   On the Web Discussions toolbar, try one of the following:

The Web page or document might have been moved or renamed   Discussions are stored separately from the page. Moving or renaming a page breaks the links between the page and the discussion comments. Saving a file in a different format (such as using the Save as Web Page command in Microsoft Office applications) also breaks the links to discussion comments, because a new file with a new name is created.

You might be working offline with an older browser   To view your discussions while working offline, you need to use Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later.

I see a mismatched discussion comment in the Discussion pane.

The Web page or document might have been edited   Inline discussions are associated with a particular paragraph, table, or graphic. Sometimes the paragraph, table, or graphic might be edited in such a way that the link between it and the discussion is broken. When this happens, the discussion is displayed in the Discussion pane rather than in the body of the document. Deleting a paragraph, table, or graphic deletes any discussion that is attached to it.

The Web page or document might have been moved or renamed   Discussions are stored separately from the page. Moving or renaming a page breaks the links between the page and the discussion comments. Saving a file in a different format (such as using the Save as Web Page command in Microsoft Office applications) also breaks the links to discussion comments, because a new file with a new name is created.

I can't add a discussion to a Web page or document.

The Web Discussions feature is not available   A server administrator must set up this feature before you can use it.

The discussions might need to be refreshed   Recently added discussions might not automatically appear on a page. On the Discussions toolbar, click Discussions, and then click Refresh Discussions.

You might not have permission to add a discussion   Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to create discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the Author Web Document Discussions right. 

You might not have a connection to the network   If don't have a connection to a network, you can still view and filter discussions on a page, but you can't add any new discussions. Microsoft Office maintains a list of recently opened files and any discussions associated with those files by replicating those files on your hard disk. The replication feature is available only if you are running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later. 

The discussion icons don't appear at the end of every paragraph, table, or graphic.

When you add an inline discussion to a Web page or document, Insert Discussion in the Document icons appear only at the end of every paragraph consisting of more than 30 characters, in every table cell that contains more than 5 characters, and at the end of every graphic that has a height or width of at least 30 pixels.

I can't reply to a discussion.

You might not have permission to participate in discussions   Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to participate in discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the Author Web Document Discussions right.

I can't close a discussion.

You might not have permission to close discussions   Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to close discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the Close Web Document Discussions right.

You may be using an older version of Microsoft Office Server Extensions   To close discussions, your discussion server must be running SharePoint Team Services from Microsoft or Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server. A server administrator must set up this feature before you can use it.

I can't edit or delete a discussion.

You might not have permission to edit or delete discussions   Make sure you are connected to a discussion server where you have permission to edit and delete discussions. See your server administrator for the name of the server where you have the Author Web Document Discussions right. You can edit and delete only those discussion comments that you create.

Some of the buttons on the Web Discussions toolbar are unavailable.

If there are no inline discussions on a Web page, then Expand all Discussions , Collapse all Discussions , Previous , and Next aren't available. If the Subscription feature has not been enabled on the discussion server, then Subscribe is not available.

My name is not appearing in the discussion comment header.

The option to display names might be turned off   Do the following:

  1. On the Web Discussions toolbar, click Discussions, and then click Discussion Options.
  2. Under Discussion fields to display, select the Display name check box to display your name, or select the User name check box to display your logon name.

Your user information might not be correct   If you've logged on to someone else's computer and are adding discussion text to a document, that person's display name might be appearing in the discussion header instead of your name. Do one of the following to make your name appear correctly:

In Microsoft Word

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the User Information tab.

  2. In the Name box, type your name.

  3. In the Initials box, type your initials.

In Microsoft Excel

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.

  2. In the User name box, type your name.

In Microsoft PowerPoint

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.

  2. In the Name box, type your name.

  3. In the Initials box, type your initials.