Introduction

Lesson 20

Let's say someone asks you to proofread a report. If you have a hard copy of the report, you might use a
red pen to cross out sentences, mark misspellings, or add comments in the margins. However, you could
also do all of these things in Word using the Track Changes and Comments features.

When you've finished reviewing the document, the other person can choose to automatically accept all
of your changes, or decide whether to accept or reject each change one by one.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to track changes, add comments, and compare two versions of a
document.

Using Track Changes and Comments

When you need to collaborate on the content of a document or if you need someone to proofread your
document, Word's Track Changes and Comments features make it easier for you to collaborate with
others.

Optional: You can download this example for extra practice.

About Track Changes

When you turn on the Track Changes option, all changes you make to the document show up as colored
markups. If you delete some text, it won't disappear but instead will have a visible strike through it. If
you add text, it will be underlined. This allows another person to see which changes have been made
before making the changes permanent.

A document with tracked changes

The color of the markups will vary depending on who is reviewing the document, so if there are multiple
reviewers you'll be able to tell at a glance who made each change.
To turn on Track Changes:

Click the Review tab.

Click the Track Changes command. It should now be highlighted in gold to show that it is active.

The Track Changes command

Any changes you make to the document will be shown as colored markups.

Tracked changes

Click the Track Changes command again to turn it off.

Adding and deleting comments

Sometimes instead of changing something, you may want to make a comment about part of the
document. Comments show up in balloons in the right margin and can be read by the original author or
by any other reviewers.

To add a comment:

Highlight some text, or place the insertion point where you want the comment to appear.

From the Review tab, click the New Comment command.

The New Comment command

Type your comment.

A comment

To delete a comment:

Select the balloon containing the comment you want to delete.

A selected comment

From the Review tab, click the Delete command.

Deleting a comment

To delete all comments:

From the Review tab, click the Delete drop-down arrow.

The Delete drop-down arrow

Click Delete All Comments in Document.

Accepting and rejecting changes

Tracked changes are really just suggested changes. To become permanent, they have to be accepted. On
the other hand, the original author may disagree with some of the tracked changes and choose to reject
them.

To accept or reject changes:

Select the change you want to accept or reject.

Selecting a change

From the Review tab, click the Accept or Reject command.

The Accept and Reject commands

If you accepted the change, the markup will disappear, and the text will look normal.

After accepting a change

For some tracked changes, you can reject the changes by deleting them as if they were normal text. For
example, if a reviewer adds a word to a sentence, you can just delete the word.

To accept all changes:

From the Review tab, click the Accept drop-down arrow. A drop-down menu will appear.

Accepting all changes

Select Accept All Changes in Document.

To reject all changes:

From the Review tab, click the Reject drop-down arrow. A drop-down menu will appear.

Rejecting all changes

Select Reject All Changes in Document.

Accepting or rejecting all changes does not affect comments, so if you want to delete them you'll have to
do so separately.
Changing how markups appear

If there are a lot of tracked changes in a document, they can become distracting if you're trying to read
through the document. There are a few settings you can use to hide the markups or change how they
appear.

To hide tracked changes:

From the Review tab, click the Display for Review command. The Display for Review command is located
to the right of the Track Changes command, and it may not be labeled. It will probably say Final:Show
Markup.

The Display for Review Command

In the drop-down menu, there are four options:

Final: Show Markup: Shows the final version along with the markup

Final: Shows the final version and hides all markups

Original: Show Markup: Shows the original version along with the markup

Original: Shows the original version and hides all markups

Choose Final or Original from the drop-down menu to hide markups.

Setting Display for Review to Final is not the same as accepting all changes. You will still need to accept
or reject the changes before sending the final version of your document.

To show revisions in balloons:

By default, most revisions show up inline, meaning the text itself is marked. You can choose to show the
revisions in balloons, which moves many of the revisions (such as deletions) to balloons in the right
margin. This can make the document easier to read because there are fewer inline markups. Balloons
also give you more detailed information about some markups.

From the Review tab, click Show Markup Balloons Show Revisions in Balloons.

Showing revisions in balloons

Some of the revisions will move to the right margin.

Revisions in the right margin

To go back to inline markups, you can select either Show All Revisions Inline or Show Only Comments
and Formatting in Balloons.

Comparing two documents

If you edit a document without tracking changes, it's still possible to use reviewing features such as
Accept and Reject. You can do this by comparing two versions of the document. All you need is the
original document and the revised document, and they must have different file names.

To compare two documents:

From the Review tab, click the Compare command. A drop-down menu will appear.

From the drop-down menu, click Compare.

The Compare command

A dialog box will appear. Choose your Original document by clicking the drop-down arrow and selecting
the document from the list. If your document is not on the list, click the Browse button to browse for the
file.

Choosing the Original document

Choose the Revised document the same way you chose the Original document, then click OK.

Choosing the Revised document

At this point, Word compares the two documents to determine which changes were made, and it creates
a new document that you can save if you want. The changes show up as colored markups, just like the
ones that appear when using Track Changes. You can then use the Accept and Reject commands to
finalize the document.

Comparing two documents

To the right of the new document, there's a pane that displays the original and revised documents that
you can use for reference (although you can't edit them). If you don't see the pane on the right, click
Compare Show Source Documents Show Both.
Using the reviewing features safely

If there are any comments or tracked changes in your document, you should remove them before
sending it to anyone you're not collaborating with. Comments and tracked changes can reveal
confidential information that could lead to embarrassment or make you or your company appear
unprofessional—or worse.

Once you've removed all of the comments and tracked changes, it's a good idea to double-check your
document using the Document Inspector. The Document Inspector can tell you if there is any hidden
data in your document that you may need to remove. It looks for data in many different places—not just
comments and tracked changes.

To use the Document Inspector:

Save your document.

Click the File tab to go to Backstage view.

Select Info on the left side of the page.

Selecting Info

Click the Check for Issues command. A drop-down menu will appear.

Select Inspect Document.

Clicking Inspect Document

Click Inspect.

Starting the inspection

The inspection results will show an exclamation mark for any categories where it found potentially
sensitive data, and it will also have a Remove All button for each of these categories. Click Remove All to
remove the data.

Removing possibly sensitive data

Close the dialog box when you're done.

From Backstage view, click Save to make the changes permanent.

Challenge!
Open an existing Word document. If you want, you can use this example.

Turn on Track Changes.

Delete some text.

Add some text.

Change some of the text formatting.

Experiment with the Display for Review command.

Accept all of the changes.

Use the Document Inspector to check the document.

.........

What is track changes, and why would I want to use it?

Q: What is Track Changes?

Track Changes is a way for Microsoft Word to keep track of the changes you make to a document. You
can then choose to accept or reject those changes.

Let's say Bill creates a document and emails it to his colleague, Lee, for feedback. Lee can edit the
document with Track Changes on. When Lee sends the document back to Bill, Bill can see what changes
Lee had made.

Track Changes is also known as redline, or redlining. This is because some industries traditionally draw a
vertical red line in the margin to show that some text has changed.

Q: What do I need to know to use Track Changes?

To use Track Changes, you need to know that there are three entirely separate things that might be going
on at any one time:

First, at some time in the past (last week, yesterday, one millisecond ago), Word might have kept track of
the changes you made. It did this because you turned on Track Changes. Word then remembered the
changes you made to your document, and stored the changes in your document.

Second, if Word has stored information about changes you've made to your document, then you can
choose to display those changes, or to hide them. Hiding them doesn't make them go away. It just hides
them from view. (The only way to remove the tracked changes from your document is to accept or reject
them.)

Third, at this very moment in time, Word may be tracking the changes you make to your document.

Just to make the point:

Word may, or may not, be currently keeping track of the changes you make.

At the same time, Word may, or may not, have stored changes you made to the document at some point
in the past.

And, at the same time, Word may, or may not, be displaying those tracked changes. Turning off (ie,
hiding) the tracked changes doesn't remove them. It just hides them. To remove the tracked changes
from the document, you must accept or reject them

How to turn track changes on and off

Q: How do I tell Word to track the changes I make to my document?

To turn on Track Changes (that is, to tell Word to track each change you make in your document), do one
of the following:

In all versions of Word: Ctrl+Shift+e

In Word 2007 and Word 2010: on the status bar, click "Track Changes: Off" to turn on track changes. If
you can't see "Track Changes" on the status bar then right-click the status bar and click Track Changes.
In Word 2007 and Word 2010: Review > Track Changes. When the button is highlighted, Word is tracking
changes.

In Word 2003 and earlier versions: Double-click the TRK text in the status bar at the bottom of the
screen. If TRK is black, Word is tracking changes.

In Word 2002 and 2003: Tools > Track Changes.

In Word 2000 and earlier versions: Tools > Track Changes > Highlight Changes. Tick Track Changes while
editing.

Q: How can I tell if Word is tracking changes in my document?

Look at the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen. In Word 2003 and earlier versions: look for "TRK". If
it's black, Word is tracking changes. If it's dimmed, Word is not tracking changes. In Word 2007 and Word
2010, look for "Track Changes: On" or "Track Changes: Off". If you can't see "Track Changes" on the
status bar, then right-click the status bar and click Track Changes.

But… turning Track Changes on or off doesn't affect whether you can see the tracked changes. So read
on…

How to display the tracked changes

Q: I want to see the tracked changes in my document. How do I turn on the display of tracked changes?

There are several ways to do this, depending on what you need:

In Word 2007 and Word 2010, on the Review tab, use the little menus in the Tracking group. Final: Show
Markup or Original: Show Markup will show what changes you have made. But check the selected items
on the Show Markup menu to be sure that Word is showing you the right things.

In Word 2002 and 2003, on the Reviewing toolbar, choose Final with Markup or Original with Markup.
This will show you what changes have been made. If you are using balloons to display track changes
(there's information about balloons, below), then:

Original Showing Markup displays insertions in balloons.

Final Showing Markup displays deletions in balloons.

In Word 2000 and earlier, Tools > Track Changes > Highlight Changes. Tick Highlight Changes on Screen.

Q: How do I control how Word displays tracked changes?

Word 2003 and earlier versions

Do Tools > Options. Click the Track Changes tab. Here you choose how to display tracked changes when
you are displaying tracked changes.

To learn more about how Word displays tracked changes in Word 2002 and Word 2003, see How to use
the Reviewing Toolbar in Microsoft Word 2002 and Word 2003.

[Just to recap: Turn on the display of tracked changes by choosing Final with Markup or Original with
Markup. Having turned on the display, tell Word how to display the tracked changes using Tools >
Options > Tracked Changes.]

Word 2007 and Word 2010

In Word 2007 and Word 2010, on the Review tab, click the bottom half of the big Track Changes split
button and choose Change Tracking Options. (In my view, this menu item is mis-named. The options are
not about the tracking. They are about how to display the effects of the tracking. It's a subtle difference,
but it's got a lot of people into hot water over the years!)

[Just to recap: Turn on the display of tracked changes by choosing Final: Show Markup or Original: Show
Markup. Refine the choice of what to show using the Show Markup menu. Having turned on the display,
tell Word how to display the tracked changes using Review > Track Changes > Change Tracking Options.]

How to hide (but not delete) tracked changes

Don't accidentally distribute documents containing tracked changes!

In Word 2002 and 2003, Tools > Options. On the Security tab, make sure you have ticked two important
boxes.

Tick the "Warn before printing, saving or sending a file that contains tracked changes or comments" box.

Tick the "Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving" box.

In Word 2007: File > Word Options. In Word 2010: File > Options. In both Word 2007 and Word 2010:
From the Word Options dialog, click Trust Center, then Trust Center settings. In the Trust Center dialog
box click Privacy Options. And now, exhausted from your long trip through the labyrinth of dialog boxes,
tick the "Warn before printing, saving or sending a file that contains tracked changes or comments"

Turning these off is akin to removing the battery from the smoke alarm in your house.

Q: I want to hide the tracked changes in my document. How do I turn off the display of tracked changes?

There are several ways to do this, depending on what you need:

In Word 2007 and Word 2010, on the Review tab, in the Tracking group, choose Final. This displays your
document as if you had accepted all the tracked changes in the document. It hides (but does not
remove) the tracked changes.

In Word 2007 and 2010, on the Review tab, in the Tracking group, choose Original. This displays your
document as if you had rejected all the tracked changes in the document. It hides (but does not remove)
the tracked changes.

In Word 2002 and 2003, on the Reviewing toolbar, choose Final. This displays your document as if you
had accepted all the tracked changes in the document. It hides (but does not remove) the tracked
changes.

In Word 2002 and 2003, on the Reviewing toolbar, choose Original. This displays your document as if you
had rejected all the tracked changes in the document. It hides (but does not remove) the tracked
changes.

In earlier versions of Word, Tools > Track Changes > Highlight Changes. Un-tick Highlight Changes on
Screen. This displays your document as if you had accepted all the tracked changes. It hides (but does
not remove) the tracked changes.
But… if you turn off the display of tracked changes, it doesn't mean they're not there. The tracked
changes are just hidden. Anyone could open your document and choose to view your tracked changes.
To remove the tracked changes from your document, read on…

How to remove tracked changes

Q: How do I delete tracked changes from my document?

To delelete a tracked change, either accept it or reject it.

Q: How do I accept or reject one tracked change?

In any version of Word, right-click on the tracked change and choose Accept Insertion or Reject Deletion
or Accept Change or Reject Format Change etc.

The menu you see when you right-click text depends on the context. Generally (though not always) if you
right-click on a tracked change that Word deems to be a spelling error, you'll get the menu appropriate to
spelling errors, not the menu appropriate to tracked changes. If that's the case, use the menus or the
ribbon to accept or reject the tracked change.

In Word 2007 and Word 2010, to accept or reject one tracked change, click within the change and on the
Review tab, click Accept or Reject.

To accept one tracked change in Word 2002 or Word 2003, click within the change and then on the
Reviewing toolbar, click the Accept Change button (it's the one with the blue tick). To reject (ie delete)
one tracked change in Word 2002 or Word 2003, on the Reviewing toolbar, click the Reject Change
button (it's the one with the red cross).

In Word 2000 and earlier, Tools > Track Changes > Accept or Reject Changes. Click one of the Find
buttons (with the green arrow) to go through the changes one by one. Accept or reject the change.