Microsoft Word 2008

Working with the Track Changes Feature

Microsoft Word's tracking and editing features are designed to simplify collaborative work. The key feature, Track Changes, records all document revisions and registers who made which changes at each point in the revision process. From these revisions, the author can decide whether to accept or reject each change.

Understanding the Reviewing Toolbar
Making Edits with Track Changes
Inserting Comments
Viewing Options
Editing and Deleting Comments
Accepting and Rejecting Changes

Understanding the Reviewing Toolbar

You use Track Changes with the Reviewing toolbar. Making yourself familiar with its operations will simplify your tracking and editing experience.

Displaying/Hiding the Reviewing Toolbar

To access the toolbar, from the View menu, select Toolbars » Reviewing
The Reviewing toolbar appears.

The Reviewing Toolbar

The following table provides information on the buttons and commands found on the Reviewing toolbar.

Name	Button	Action
Display for Review		Provides a pull-down list to specify a document view HINT: For more information, refer to Viewing Options.
Show		Provides a pull-down list to specify editing features to be displayed HINT: For more information, refer to Viewing Options.
Previous		Shows the previous change or comment in the text
Next		Shows the next change or comment in the text
Accept Change		Accepts a change permanently
Reject Change/ Delete Comment		Rejects a change or deletes a selected comment
Insert Comment		Adds a comment to the selected area
Track Changes		Enables and disables the Track Changes feature

Making Edits with Track Changes

As an editor, you can turn on Track Changes and edit a document while preserving the original text. The author can then accept or reject the changes.

To access the Reviewing toolbar, from the View menu, select Toolbars » Reviewing
The Reviewing toolbar appears.
From the Reviewing toolbar, click TRACK CHANGES
The Track Changes feature activates.
Make your document edits
When finished, from the Reviewing toolbar, click TRACK CHANGES
The Track Changes feature deactivates.

Inserting Comments

Word allows users to create comments within documents. Comments can be used to guide a reviewer's attention to areas where special input is needed. The writer or reviewer can insert comments by using the Insert menu or the Reviewing toolbar.

Select the text to which you want to add a comment
From the Insert menu, select Comment
OR
On the Reviewing toolbar, click NEW COMMENT
A Comment box appears.
In the Comment box, type your comment
When finished, click outside the Comment box

Viewing Options

While viewing your document, you can select the desired viewing option and the desired Track Changes features. By changing to different views you can view the document at different stages of the writing process including the original text, the original text with markups, the revised text, and the final version with changes marked.

Open the document to be reviewed

On the Reviewing toolbar, from the Display for Review pull-down list, select a view:

View	Description
Final Showing Markup	Displays the final version of the document with changes noted as markups
Final	Displays the document after it has been revised
Original Showing Markup	Displays the text of the original document with changes noted as markups
Original	Displays the text of the original document

On the Reviewing toolbar, from the Show button, select the editing features to be displayed:

Editing Feature	Description
Comments	Shows comments that were added to the document
Insertions and Deletions	Shows what reviewers added and deleted from the original document
Formatting	Shows what changes have been made to the formatting of the document
Reviewers	Shows which reviewer created which edit or comment
Reviewing Pane	Displays a pane which sorts tracked changes by type
Preferences...	Displays a dialog box that provides options to stylize tracked changes

Editing and Deleting Comments

As a document reviewer, once you add comments you can edit or delete them. You cannot make changes to comments made by other reviewers.

Editing Comments

Select the comment to be edited
In the Comment box, type your changes
When finished, click outside the Comment box

Deleting Comments

Select the comment to be deleted
On the Reviewing toolbar, click REJECT CHANGE/DELETE COMMENT
The comment is deleted.

Accepting and Rejecting Changes

As the document author, when you have finished editing your document you will want to review and accept or reject the changes and comments that have been made. Accepting and rejecting changes works much like the Spell Check feature. By cycling through the changes made to a document, the reviewer can accept or reject any or all changes.

WARNING: It is critical to perform these steps prior to sharing the final version of your document. If you do not do this, others will be able to turn on Track Changes and see early mistakes and edits.

Open the document to be reviewed
From the View menu, select Toolbars » Reviewing
The Reviewing toolbar appears.
On the Reviewing toolbar, click NEXT
The first change is displayed.
To accept the change, click ACCEPT CHANGE
To accept all changes, click the arrow buttonnext to ACCEPT CHANGE » select Accept All Changes in Document
To reject the change, click REJECT CHANGE/DELETE COMMENT
To reject all changes, click the arrow buttonnext to REJECT CHANGE/DELETE COMMENT » select Reject All Changes in Document
Repeat steps 3-4 until all changes/comments have been reviewed