How to Turn Off Track Changes in Microsoft Word

Word's Track Changes feature allows you to see edits in documents.

Microsoft Word's Track Changes feature offers writers and reviewers a way to collaborate on documents and view changes that each makes. Each addition or deletion that a writer makes is tracked in the document in a certain color to indicate what changes exist and who made them. Tracking changes can be useful, but it can also become overwhelming or distracting. You can turn Track Changes off to make the document more readable.

Instructions

1. Open the Word document with tracked changes.

2. Click the "Review" tab on the ribbon.

3. Click the "Track Changes" icon in the Tracking group.

Tips & Warnings

• You can display whether tracked changes are on or off in the status bar at the bottom of your document. Right-click on the status bar and select "Track Changes" to display whether changes are on or off.

• When you turn off Track Changes, Word will not track any changes from that point on. However, changes that have already been tracked will still be visible. To remove existing tracked changes, go through the document and "Accept" or "Reject" the existing changes.

References

• Microsoft Office: Turn Track Changes On or Off