How to Track Changes in Microsoft Word: A Step-by-Step Guide

Enable Track Changes

• Open your Word document.
• Go to the Review tab at the top of the screen.
• In the Tracking section, click on Track Changes to turn on the feature.
• Once enabled, Word will begin to track any changes you make, highlighting them for easy identification.

2. Set Tracking Preferences

• Click the small arrow next to the Track Changes button to open additional options.
• Select Change Tracking Options to customize how changes are displayed.
  • Markup: Choose how changes (insertions, deletions, and formatting) appear in the document (e.g., with colored text, in balloons, or inline).
  • Balloons: Decide if changes should appear in the margins as balloons.
  • Formatting: Control how changes to formatting (like font or paragraph style) are tracked.
• Once you’re happy with your settings, click OK to save.

3. Make Edits

• Now, as you make changes to the document, Word will track them:
  • Insertions: Any text you add will appear underlined or in a different color.
  • Deletions: Text you remove will have a strikethrough.
  • Formatting Changes: Changes in font size, style, or other formatting will be highlighted.
  • Comments: You can add comments by selecting text and clicking New Comment in the Comments section of the Review tab.
• Each change will show who made it and when.

4. View Tracked Changes

You can choose how to view the tracked changes:

• Simple Markup: Shows the final version of the document with a red line in the margin to indicate changes.
• All Markup: Displays all changes—insertions, deletions, and comments—in the document.
• No Markup: Hides all tracked changes, showing only the final version.
• Original: Shows the original version of the document before any changes.
• Choose your preferred view under the Tracking section in the Review tab.

5. Accept or Reject Changes

• Once you’ve reviewed the changes, you can either accept or reject them:
  • Go to the Review tab and look for the Changes section.
  • Use the Accept or Reject buttons to apply or remove individual changes.
  • You can also click Accept All or Reject All to apply or remove all changes at once.

6. Turn Off Track Changes

• When you’re finished tracking changes, turn off the feature:
  • Go back to the Review tab and click Track Changes again to disable it.
• Note: Turning off Track Changes doesn’t delete previously tracked changes. You still need to accept or reject them before finalizing the document.

7. Save the Document

• After finishing your edits, save the document. If you’re sharing it, save it as a new file or keep it in its current format so that tracked changes are preserved for others to review.

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