diff --git a/crates/docx/src/read.rs b/crates/docx/src/read.rs
--- a/crates/docx/src/read.rs
+++ b/crates/docx/src/read.rs
@@ -210,18 +210,20 @@ pub(crate) fn read_opened(pkg: &Package) -> Result<Document, DocxError> {
     if let Some(p) = part(rt::SETTINGS) {
         lenient("settings", r.read_settings(&p));
     }
-    if let Some(p) = part(rt::FOOTNOTES) {
-        lenient("footnotes", r.read_notes(&p, true));
-    }
-    if let Some(p) = part(rt::ENDNOTES) {
-        lenient("endnotes", r.read_notes(&p, false));
-    }
+    // Comments before notes: a comment range inside a footnote or endnote resolves its id against
+    // the comments already read, and was dropped when the notes came first.
     if let Some(p) = part(rt::COMMENTS) {
         let ex = part(rt::COMMENTS_EX);
         let ids = part(rt::COMMENTS_IDS);
         let cex = part(rt::COMMENTS_EXTENSIBLE);
         lenient("comments", r.read_comments(&p, ex.as_deref(), ids.as_deref(), cex.as_deref()));
     }
+    if let Some(p) = part(rt::FOOTNOTES) {
+        lenient("footnotes", r.read_notes(&p, true));
+    }
+    if let Some(p) = part(rt::ENDNOTES) {
+        lenient("endnotes", r.read_notes(&p, false));
+    }
     // Bibliography sources live in a custom XML data store (`b:Sources`), related from the
     // package root or the main part; Word's own files sometimes leave the relationship out, so
     // the conventional `customXml/itemN.xml` names are tried too. Each part is read at most once.
diff --git a/crates/docx/tests/it/main.rs b/crates/docx/tests/it/main.rs
--- a/crates/docx/tests/it/main.rs
+++ b/crates/docx/tests/it/main.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ mod glossary;
 mod legacy_forms;
 mod ligatures;
 mod malformed;
+mod note_comments;
 mod passthrough;
 mod positional_tabs;
 mod privacy;
diff --git a/crates/docx/tests/it/note_comments.rs b/crates/docx/tests/it/note_comments.rs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/docx/tests/it/note_comments.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+//! Comments anchored inside footnotes and endnotes keep their ranges on read. All markup here is
+//! synthetic, written from ECMA-376 §17.13.4 and §17.11.
+
+use wordcraft_doc::para::{NoteKind, OBJ};
+use wordcraft_doc::{Document, InlineObject};
+
+use crate::fixtures::zip;
+
+const W_NS: &str = r#"xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships""#;
+const ROOT_RELS: &str = r#"<Relationships xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships"><Relationship Id="rId1" Type="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/officeDocument" Target="word/document.xml"/></Relationships>"#;
+const DOC_RELS: &str = r#"<Relationships xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships"><Relationship Id="rId1" Type="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/footnotes" Target="footnotes.xml"/><Relationship Id="rId2" Type="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/endnotes" Target="endnotes.xml"/><Relationship Id="rId3" Type="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/comments" Target="comments.xml"/></Relationships>"#;
+
+fn note(tag: &str, mark: &str, comment: u32, text: &str) -> String {
+    format!(
+        r#"<w:{tag} w:id="1"><w:p><w:r><w:{mark}/></w:r><w:commentRangeStart w:id="{comment}"/><w:r><w:t xml:space="preserve"> {text}</w:t></w:r><w:commentRangeEnd w:id="{comment}"/><w:r><w:commentReference w:id="{comment}"/></w:r></w:p></w:{tag}>"#
+    )
+}
+
+fn read_doc() -> Document {
+    let doc = format!(
+        r#"<w:document {W_NS}><w:body><w:p><w:r><w:t>Body</w:t></w:r><w:r><w:footnoteReference w:id="1"/></w:r><w:r><w:endnoteReference w:id="1"/></w:r></w:p></w:body></w:document>"#
+    );
+    let footnotes = format!(r#"<w:footnotes {W_NS}>{}</w:footnotes>"#, note("footnote", "footnoteRef", 7, "Foot."));
+    let endnotes = format!(r#"<w:endnotes {W_NS}>{}</w:endnotes>"#, note("endnote", "endnoteRef", 8, "End."));
+    let comments = format!(
+        r#"<w:comments {W_NS}><w:comment w:id="7" w:author="Ann" w:initials="A"><w:p><w:r><w:t>On the footnote</w:t></w:r></w:p></w:comment><w:comment w:id="8" w:author="Bob" w:initials="B"><w:p><w:r><w:t>On the endnote</w:t></w:r></w:p></w:comment></w:comments>"#
+    );
+    let bytes = zip(&[
+        ("_rels/.rels", ROOT_RELS.as_bytes()),
+        ("word/document.xml", doc.as_bytes()),
+        ("word/_rels/document.xml.rels", DOC_RELS.as_bytes()),
+        ("word/footnotes.xml", footnotes.as_bytes()),
+        ("word/endnotes.xml", endnotes.as_bytes()),
+        ("word/comments.xml", comments.as_bytes()),
+    ]);
+    wordcraft_docx::read(&bytes).unwrap()
+}
+
+/// comments.xml has to be read before the notes: a note's `w:commentRangeStart` resolves its id
+/// against the comments already read, and was dropped when the notes came first.
+#[test]
+fn comment_ranges_inside_notes_are_kept() {
+    let d = read_doc();
+    let body = d.body[0].as_para().unwrap();
+    let refs: Vec<(NoteKind, u32)> = body
+        .objects
+        .iter()
+        .filter_map(|o| match o {
+            InlineObject::NoteRef { kind, id, .. } => Some((*kind, *id)),
+            _ => None,
+        })
+        .collect();
+    assert_eq!(refs.len(), 2, "{:?}", body.objects);
+    for ((kind, id), (author, text)) in refs.into_iter().zip([("Ann", " Foot."), ("Bob", " End.")]) {
+        let p = d.parts.get(&id).unwrap().blocks[0].as_para().unwrap();
+        let comment = match &p.objects[..] {
+            [InlineObject::NoteRef { kind: k, id: n, .. }, InlineObject::CommentStart { id: c }, InlineObject::CommentEnd { id: e }]
+                if *k == kind && *n == id && c == e =>
+            {
+                *c
+            }
+            o => panic!("{kind:?} {id}: {o:?}"),
+        };
+        assert_eq!(d.comments.get(&comment).unwrap().author, author);
+        assert_eq!(p.text.chars().filter(|c| *c == OBJ).count(), 3);
+        assert_eq!(p.plain_text(), text);
+    }
+}