How to Use Track Changes in MS Word
Microsoft Word's Track Changes feature records and displays any additions, deletions, moved content or formatting changes you make to a document. If you edit someone else's document, for example, the original author can clearly see your changes and can choose to accept or reject each change. In this way, the original author retains easy control over the document's final version; the edits won't slip past his notice, and Word will preserve his original version beneath the changes. Additionally, viewing the tracked changes helps the original author notice what he did wrong and learn how to improve.
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Instructions
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Click the "Review" tab. In the group marked "Tracking," click the button above the phrase "Track Changes." This button displays a pencil and a dog-eared piece of paper containing black, white and red lines. When the button changes color from blue to orange, "Track Changes" is operating.
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Edit the document as desired; Word will track any changes you make.
Added text will appear in colored letters. Moved text will appear in a different color, along with a note in the margin.
Deleted text can appear in two different ways. In the group marked "Tracking," click the button labeled "Balloons"; a menu will drop down. If you click "Show Revisions in Balloons," then deleted text will appear in a balloon in the right margin. In the body of the text, a small colored arrow will mark the deleted section's original location, and a colored, dotted line will lead to the balloon.
If you click "Show All Revisions Inline," then the deleted text will remain in its original location, but it will appear in color and strikethrough (with a horizontal line through it).
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Click the dropdown field labeled "Final Showing Markup," in the top right corner of the "Tracking" group. From the dropdown menu, select "Final." Microsoft Word now shows what the document will look like if the original author accepts all your changes--in other words, you can view the document in clean, plain text, without the colored changes, dotted lines and margin balloons.
This optional step helps you read and evaluate your changes more fluidly, with less clutter and interruption. Changing the review display doesn't remove the Track Changes or delete the original version; it merely hides the tracked changes. If you switch back to "Final Showing Markup," you will again see your changes in colored text and balloons.
After reviewing your changes, change the display view back "Final Showing Markup" so that the original author can observe your edits.
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Turn off "Track Changes" by clicking the button above the phrase "Track Changes" in the group marked "Tracking." The button will change from orange to blue.
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Tips & Warnings
To customize how Word displays your changes--for example, to choose the color of added text--click the button labeled "Track Changes" (not the button above it). From the dropdown menu, click "Change Tracking Options." A "Track Changes Options" dialog box will appear.
To accept all tracked changes, click the "Review" tab; in the "Changes" group, click the button labeled "Accept"; from the dropdown menu, click "Accept All Changes in Document."
