Track Changes in Word XP

About tracked changes and comments

To facilitate online review, Microsoft Word allows you to easily make and view tracked changes and comments in a document. In order to preserve the layout of your document, Word shows some markup elements (i.e. comments and tracked changes such as insertions, deletions, and formatting changes) in the text of the document while others are displayed in balloons that appear in the margin.

Balloons show insertions or deletions, formatting changes, and comments.

Note   If you want to see comments and tracked changes in balloons, you must be in print layout view or Web layout view.

Comments

To insert a comment (at your cursor), click on Insert > Comment. Or, if the Reviewing Toolbar is visible, click on the New Comment button.

To edit a comment, click in the comment balloon and type.

To delete a comment, right-click on the comment and choose Delete Comment.

As you review comments, you can delete them or respond to them (by editing or inserting your own comment.

Track Changes

With the Track Changes feature turned on, each insertion, deletion, or formatting change that you or a reviewer makes is tracked. As you review tracked changes, you can accept or reject each change.

Track changes while you edit

1. Open the document you want to revise.
2. On the Tools menu, click Track Changes. Or, click on the Track Changes button on the Reviewing toolbar.

When the Track Changes feature is enabled, TRK appears on the status bar at the bottom of your document. When you turn off change tracking, TRK is dimmed.

3. Make the changes you want by inserting, deleting, or moving text or graphics. You can also change formatting.

Note: You can change the color and other formatting that Word uses to mark changed text and graphics. From the menu, choose Tools > Options and click on the Track Changes tab.

Turn off change tracking

• On the Tools menu, click Track Changes.

View change tracking by type or reviewer

1. If the Reviewing toolbar is hidden, display it.

Note: To turn on the Reviewing toolbar, right-click any toolbar, and then click Reviewing on the shortcut menu.

2. On the Reviewing toolbar, click Show.

3. Do any of the following:

Show a specific type of change

• Select the check box next to the type of change that you want to display.

Show changes and comments for specific reviewers

• Point to Reviewers, and clear all check boxes except for the ones next to the names of the reviewers whose changes and comments you want to show.
• To select or clear all check boxes for all reviewers in the list, click All Reviewers.

Displaying changes

• On the Reviewing toolbar, in the Display for Review box, click Final Showing Markup. All changes (of the types selected in the Show menu) will be visible. Or, from the menu, choose View > Markup.

Note   By default, Microsoft Word chooses the zoom level and page orientation to best display the tracked changes in your printed document.

Display for Review settings

Original   Shows the original, unchanged document so that you can see how the document would look if you rejected all changes.

Final   Allows you to see how the document would look if you accepted all changes.

Original Showing Markup   Shows the inserted text and formatting changes in the balloons, while the deleted text remains inline.

Final Showing Markup   Shows deleted text in the balloons, while inserted text and formatting changes are shown inline.

Review tracked changes and comments

1. If markup is not already displayed in your document, click Markup on the View menu.

Note   Clicking Markup on the View menu will display or hide all markup in the document. When you display all markup, all types of markup will be selected on the Show menu.

2. Do one of the following:

Review each item in sequence

1. On the Reviewing toolbar, click Next or Previous .

2. Click Accept Change or Reject Change/Delete Comment .

Accept all changes at once

1. Click the arrow next to Accept Change, and then click Accept All Changes in Document.

Reject all changes or delete all comments at once

1. Click the arrow next to Reject Change/Delete Comment.
2. Do one of the following:
• Click Reject All Changes in Document.
• Click Delete All Comments in Document.

Review items created by a specific reviewer

1. On the Reviewing toolbar, click Show. Point to Reviewers, and clear all check boxes except for the ones next to the names of the reviewers whose changes you want to review.

To select or clear the check boxes for all reviewers in the list, click All Reviewers.

2. Do one of the following:

Review each change and comment shown in sequence

1. On the Reviewing toolbar, click Next or Previous.

2. Click Accept change or Reject Change/Delete Comment.

Accept all changes for the selected reviewer

1. Click the arrow next to Accept change.

2. Click Accept All Changes Shown.

Reject all changes or delete all comments from the selected reviewer

1. Click the arrow next to Reject Change/Delete Comment.

2. Do one of the following:

§ Click Reject All Changes Shown.

§ Click Delete All Comments Shown.

Show or hide the Reviewing Pane

Microsoft Word cannot always display the complete text of a tracked change or comment in a markup balloon. To see these items, and to see items such as inserted or deleted graphics or text boxes, use the Reviewing Pane.

On the Reviewing toolbar, click on the Reviewing Pane button . The Reviewing Pane will open at the bottom of your screen.

Print a document with markup

When you print a document with markup showing, by default, Word chooses the zoom level and page orientation to best display the markup in your printed document. You can also print only a list of all markup in a document.

Print a document with tracked changes and comments showing

1. Switch to print layout view.
2. Display the tracked changes and comments as you want them to appear in the printed document.

Tip: To quickly display tracked changes or comments, click Markup on the View menu.

Note   Clicking Markup on the View menu will display or hide all markup in the document. When you display all markup, all types of markup will be selected on the Show menu.

Hide tracked changes and comments when printing

1. On the File menu, click Print.
2. In the Print what box, select Document (rather than Document showing markup).
3. Click OK.

Print tracked changes and comments

1. On the File menu, click Print.
2. In the Print what list, click Document showing markup, and then click OK.

Note: You can override the default layout of printed tracked changes. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Track Changes tab.