How to use Track Changes in Microsoft Word

(Note: These instructions do not apply to Word 2007.)

First thing, go up to the menu and click TOOLS.

Click TRACK CHANGES.

Click HIGHLIGHT CHANGES (if your version of Word gives you that option).

In the box that comes up, check both “Highlight changes on screen” and “Highlight changes in printed document” (if your version of Word gives you that option—otherwise, highlighting the changes is already activated).

If you have an older version of Word (95 or maybe even 98), your document will show a lot of red and blue text. BLUE = my addition, RED = my deletion.

If you have a more recent version of Word, your document should have a lot of red and blue bubbles in the right margin. If not, go to the menu and click VIEW; then select either PRINT LAYOUT or NORMAL (whichever one is not on). Now you should see the bubbles.

If you are one of the people with a recent version of Word, DO NOT PANIC that the margins of your document have been changed because of these bubbles. Once you have accepted or rejected all of the changes and you have deleted all of the comments, your margins will return to normal.

In order to accept or reject my additions and deletions, go to the menu and click VIEW; click TOOLBARS; click REVIEWING. A new toolbar will pop up on your screen at the top of Word. (If it does not, that means your version of Word automatically put it up there as soon as you clicked TRACK CHANGES earlier.)

Click on the icon that looks like a piece of paper with an arrow pointing right. The first thing I changed will automatically be highlighted on your document.

If you have an older version of Word, read the text knowing that the red-slashed letters have been deleted and the blue letters have been added.

If you have a more recent version of Word, read the text to see if you like it. The bubble that’s highlighted will tell you what was deleted. Added text will be in blue and you can read the document as it will be if you accept the change.

TO ACCEPT THE CHANGE, look at your new Reviewing toolbar and click on the icon that looks like a piece of paper with a check mark on it. The change will be incorporated into the document and you have to do nothing further.

TO REJECT THE CHANGE (if you don’t like what I’ve done), click on the icon that looks like a piece of paper with an X on it. The change will be rejected and this portion of the document will return to the way you originally had it.

Once you have accepted or rejected that change, click on the icon that looks like a piece of paper with an arrow pointing right; you will be taken to the next change and you can start the process all over again.

If accepting and rejecting each individual change seems like too much work, never fear—you can ACCEPT ALL CHANGES (only recommended after you have read the entire document with all of my changes and have decided you like everything I’ve done). If you have an older version of Word, to accept everything go to the menu and click TOOLS then TRACK CHANGES then ACCEPT OR REJECT CHANGES. In the box that pops up, under VIEW check “Changes with highlighting.” Click ACCEPT ALL. If you have a more recent version of Word, look for the icon in the Reviewing toolbar that looks like a piece of paper with a check mark on it; click the tiny black “down” arrow next to that icon. Select ACCEPT ALL CHANGES IN DOCUMENT.

Note: My suggestion is that you read through the entire document with all the changes and deletions showing so that you can see exactly what I changed. Whenever you come to something you don’t like, REJECT that change (use the icon in the Reviewing toolbar that looks like a piece of paper with an X on it). Then, when you are done with the document you can ACCEPT ALL CHANGES. If you do it this way you are not accepting or rejecting every single change (that’s time consuming and therefore annoying!) but instead are reading to see what you like/don’t like and are  only spending time rejecting the things you don’t like. This way is a lot less work for you.

If some text is highlighted in green or pink (or if there are green or pink bubbles to the right of your document), then that means some formatting has been changed—like italics, indentation, etc. Usually you should accept these changes no matter what, unless you know for certain that I have changed something that HAS to be some other way (a heading in an APA paper, for example).

There may also be green or pink lines down the left side of your document. These lines simply indicate that changes have been made. I wish I could turn this off but I can’t. You can just ignore these lines.

If you have an older version of Word there will be sections of yellow highlighting with numbers next to them in [ ], and if you have a more recent version of Word there will be shaded bubbles to the right of your document. These places indicate COMMENTS in which I am talking directly to you. For older versions of Word they will pop up in a box at the bottom of your screen when you click on the number in [ ]; for more recent versions of Word they will automatically show up in right-side bubbles.

You should carefully read each comment I leave for you. Only once you have made a decision regarding a comment should you delete the comment. To DELETE THE COMMENT, look at your Reviewing toolbar and for older versions of Word click on the icon that looks like a yellow post-it note with an X on it; for more recent versions of Word the icon is the same icon as the REJECT CHANGE icon (it looks like a piece of paper with an X on it).

Once you have accepted or rejected all of the changes and deleted all the comments, there should be no colored text or bubbles or left-side lines on your document anywhere. If you have a more recent version of Word your margins will return to normal. You are done and your document is good to go.

If you have any trouble using this program (if you can’t see the comments, for example), please feel free to email me and I can provide more detailed instructions or call me and we can both open a version of Word and walk through the steps.

Please note that while Track Changes may seem cumbersome at first, once you get the hang of it it is far more efficient and saves you far more time than me marking changes on a hard (printed) copy of your document that you then have to type in.

Good Luck!

Composed by Cindy Sheffield Michaels, 2005; revised 2007.