Office Settings & Configuration

How to Disable Word Ribbon Buttons When a Modern Comment is Focused in VSTO

Phi Hung Vo Sep 30, 2026 869 views

Question details

A developer needs to disable custom ribbon controls in a Word VSTO add-in when the user focuses on a modern comment.

How to Disable Word Ribbon Buttons When a Modern Comment is Focused in VSTO

Product: Microsoft Word
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Developing a VSTO add-in for Microsoft Word and attempting to manage the ribbon UI state based on the focus of modern comments.
Observed behavior: The developer is unable to find a specific event or property in the Word interop API that triggers when a modern comment gains focus, preventing the add-in from disabling ribbon buttons as intended.

Before you start

Ensure you are familiar with the Word VSTO object model, ribbon XML extensibility, and have your Visual Studio debugging environment configured before testing ribbon invalidation callbacks.

Solution 1Recommended

Consult the Microsoft Q&A Office Development Community

Since the Word VSTO object model may not expose a dedicated event for modern-comment focus, reaching out to Microsoft's developer community is the best way to find official workarounds.

Modern comments in Microsoft Word utilize a different UI framework than legacy comments, meaning standard selection events in the VSTO Interop API might not fire identically when a modern comment is focused.

Microsoft moderators recommend utilizing the dedicated Q&A forums for Office extensibility to get insights from developers who have tackled this exact limitation.

Navigate to Microsoft Q&A

Open your web browser and go to the official Microsoft Q&A Community website.

Ask a new question

Click on the 'Ask a question' button to start drafting your VSTO inquiry.

Apply the correct tags

Add the 'Office Development' tag to your post so it reaches the appropriate engineers and extensibility experts.

Detail your environment

Explain that you are trying to invalidate or disable ribbon controls specifically when Modern Comments receive focus, noting that standard interop events are not capturing the action.

Consult the Microsoft Q&A Office Development Community

Existing Threads: You can often find existing threads addressing ribbon invalidation and command-state workarounds under the Office Development tag.

Solution 2

Use WindowSelectionChange and Ribbon Invalidation (Workaround)

Attempt to capture focus changes using broader selection events and force the ribbon to recalculate its enabled states.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a dedicated VSTO event for Modern Comments focus in Word?

Currently, the Word VSTO object model does not expose a specific, dedicated event that fires exclusively when a modern comment gains focus. Developers usually have to rely on global selection change events to infer focus changes.

How do I dynamically disable a custom ribbon button in a Word VSTO add-in?

You must implement the 'getEnabled' callback in your Ribbon XML. When you want the state to change, call the Invalidate() or InvalidateControl() method on your IRibbonUI instance, which forces Word to trigger the callback again and apply your logic.

Where can I get expert help with Word VSTO development issues?

The best place to seek advanced extensibility support is the Microsoft Q&A Community. By posting your question with the 'Office Development' tag, you can connect directly with Microsoft moderators and experienced Office add-in developers.

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