Hello, my name is Erin.
This tutorial shows how to use Track Changes in Microsoft Word.
Track Changes helps us edit documents by tracking insertions, deletions, replacements, and format changes.
Word calls these edits markups.
This tutorial also includes an overview of Word’s new Modern comment tool.
We will cover nine topics.
How to turn Track Changes on and off.
Show and hide Track Changes.
Delete, insert, and replace text with Track Changes.
Change formatting with Track Changes.
Accept or reject Track Changes.
Insert comments.
Reply to and resolve comments.
Delete comments.
And, open and close the Reviewing Pane.
There are multiple ways to perform each of these tasks.
To conserve time, we’ll focus on the methods I believe are the most useful for the majority of users.
Today I will be using Word for Microsoft 365.
If you are using an older, single-purchase version of the software,
please see one of my previous Track Changes tutorials, which are linked in the description box below.
To turn on Track Changes, select the Review tab in the ribbon.
Then, select the Track Changes button in the Tracking group.
The button will appear darker than the rest of the ribbon when tracking is on.
When you are ready to turn Track Changes off, reselect the Track Changes button.
You may notice that turning off Track Changes does not hide or remove existing tracking.
It just means that the software will stop tracking future changes.
I’m going to turn my Track Changes back on to complete the tutorial.
To choose how edits and comments are displayed, select the Display for Review drop-down menu.
Simple Markup displays the edited version of the document without visible in-line edits.
However, edits are indicated by a vertical line in the left margin.
If you want to see an edit, select the vertical line to switch to All Markup.
All Markup displays all edits and comments.
A vertical line, like the one shown in Simple Markup, will appear on the left side of the screen
indicating that a change was made in that location.
Select that line to switch back to Simple Markup.
By default, comments will always appear in balloons on the right side of the text
in the Simple Markup and All Markup views.
No Markup displays the edited version of the content without any visible edits or comments.
And Original displays the original version of the content without any edits or comments.
To choose what features Track Changes displays, select the Show Markup drop-down menu.
Note that this menu is called Markup Options in Word for Mac.
I recommend showing markups for Insertions and Deletions
and Formatting
as well as choosing Show Only Formatting in Balloons
so that your insertions and deletions will appear in the text and formatting changes will appear next to the text.
Lastly, you can choose Specific People if you are working with multiple reviewers
but want to limit tracking to specific people.
Please note that I will be using the All Markup view for the remainder of this tutorial.
In addition, I will stay in the Review tab.
To delete text, select the text and then press the Delete key on your keyboard.
The deleted text will appear with a strikethrough.
To insert text, place your cursor where the text should appear
and then type the new text.
The insertion will appear with an underline.
To replace text, select the text and then type the replacement.
The original text will appear with a strikethrough, and the replacement text will appear with an underline.
To change the formatting with Track Changes, select the text and then change the format.
Track Changes will automatically display the change in a balloon
if you have selected Formatting in the Show Markup section of the Tracking group
and selected “Show Only Formatting in Balloons.”
Edits created with Track Changes must be accepted before they become part of your document.
You can accept or reject edits individually or all at once.
To accept or reject an individual edit,
click on it or select it.
And then select the Accept or Reject button in the Changes group.
You can also use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate through all the edits in the document
without accepting or rejecting anything.
Now we’ll look at how to accept or reject all edits.
Unless you are very confident in your reviewers’ expertise,
I strongly caution against doing this without first checking the accuracy of the edits.
To begin, select the Accept or Reject menu arrow in the Changes group.
From there, select Accept or Reject All Changes
or Accept or Reject All Changes and Stop Tracking.
This section covers the basics of using Modern comments in Word.
For a more in-depth look, please see my previous tutorial “How to Use Comments in Microsoft Word.”
Note that you can use the Comment tool with Track Changes turned on or turned off.
To begin, place your cursor near the text you want to comment on or select the text.
Next, select the New Comment button in the Comments group.
Now, type your comment into the Start a conversation text box on the right side of the screen.
If you are part of an organization, you may be able to @ mention other users in your comments.
I have linked to a Microsoft support article in the description box below
for those who would like to learn more about that feature.
When you’re finished, select the Post button
or type the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Enter on a PC or Command + Return on a Mac to post the comment.
If you need to edit your comment later on, select the pencil icon on the PC or the Edit button on a Mac.
To reply to a comment, type your response into the Reply text box in the other person’s comment.
And then once again select the Post button
or type the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Enter on a PC or Command + Return on a Mac.
You can mark a comment as “Resolved” to tell other people or remind yourself that an issue has been taken care of.
To do so, select the three-dot menu in the comment.
Followed by Resolve thread from the drop-down menu.
The comment will no longer be visible in the contextual view on the right side of the screen.
You can also reopen a resolved comment, thereby turning it back to a regular comment.
To begin, select the Show Comments menu arrow.
And from there, select List to show all comments in the Comments pane.
Next, select the Reopen button in the comment.
To delete a comment, select the three-dot menu in the comment
and then select Delete thread from the drop-down menu.
Alternatively, you can place your cursor in the comment or the text connected to the comment
and then select the Delete menu arrow in the Review tab.
From there, choose Delete to delete the current comment,
or Delete All Comments in Document, or Delete All Resolved Comments.
To open the Reviewing Pane, select the Reviewing Pane button in the Tracking group.
The Reviewing Pane, which is labeled Revisions, shows all the comments and edits selected in the Show Markup drop-down,
along with the total number of those comments and markups in the document.
The Reviewing Pane isn’t necessary for using Track Changes,
but it can be helpful when you need to find a specific edit
or want to see how many edits or comments are in the document.
The Reviewing Pane will normally appear on the left side of your screen.
However, you can select the Reviewing Pane menu arrow and select Reviewing Pane Horizontal, if you prefer.
When you’re finished, select the Reviewing Pane button again to close the pane.
And as always, remember to save your file to save your changes.
For many more Microsoft Word tutorials, please see my playlist “How to Use Microsoft Word”
which is linked in the description box below along with my website erinwrightwriting.com,
which shows all the steps we just performed with images.
Feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic that you would like me to talk about in the future.
And please subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss upcoming tutorials.
And give this video a thumbs-up if you found it helpful.
Thank you so much for watching!
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