You cannot use right-click or toolbar to turn balloons on and off in Print Layout view in Word

To work around this issue, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Use a Macro

Create a macro, and then assign it to a toolbar. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start Word.
2. In Word 2003 or in Word 2002, point to Macro on the Tools menu, and then click Macros.
   
   In Word 2007, click the Developer tab, and then click
   Macros in the Code group.
3. In the Macros in list, click the template or document in which you want to store the macro.
4. In the Macro name box, type
   ToggleBalloons.
5. Click Create to open the Visual Basic Editor.
6. Type the following code in the Code window:

      With ActiveWindow.View
   
         If .RevisionsMode = wdBalloonRevisions Then
            .RevisionsMode = wdInLineRevisions
         Else
            .RevisionsMode = wdBalloonRevisions
         End If
   
      End With
   

7. On the File menu, click Close and return to Microsoft Word.
8. On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Customize.
9. On the Commands tab, in the Categories box, click Macros.
   
   The Toggle Balloons macro appears in the Commands box.
10. In the Commands box, drag the macro to the the toolbar that you want.

Click the Toggle Balloons toolbar button to display and hide balloons.

Method 2: Change Document Views

Change document views. Use normal view when you do not want to display balloons, and print layout view (or Web Layout view) when you want to display balloons.

In Word 2003 or in Word 2002, click Normal, Print Layout, or Web Layout on the View menu.

In Word 2007, click the View tab, click Web Layout or
Print Layout in the Document Views group.

Method 3: Show/Hide Markup

You can turn the display of all markup elements in the document on or off.

In Word 2003 or in Word 2002, click Markup on the View menu to display or hide all markup elements.

In Word 2007, click the Review tab, click Show Markup in the Tracking group, and then click to select or clear all check boxes.