Mastering Track Changes and Comments in Microsoft Word

1. Word Revise documents and keep track of changes

2. Course contents • Overview: Insertions, deletions, comments • Lesson 1: Stay on track with tracked changes • Lesson 2: Tracked changes and the Show menu • Lesson 3: What to do when revisions reappear Use Track Changes and comments

3. Overview: Insertions, deletions, comments • There’s life beyond handwritten revisions. In Microsoft Word documents, you can see insertions and deletions by using Track Changes and discuss document text by using comments. Say you have a memo to review, and before it’s distributed you need to make sure that no revisions or comments are showing. Get to know the Track Changes feature, and you’ll be proud of your track record. Use Track Changes and comments

4. Course goals • Turn Track Changes on and off, and insert marked revisions. • Review tracked changes, and accept or reject them. • Insert, view, and delete comments. • Customize how tracked changes and comments are displayed. • Review to ensure that no unwanted revisions or comments remain in distributed documents. Use Track Changes and comments

5. Lesson 1 Stay on track with tracked changes

6. Stay on track with tracked changes • As you look through your manager's memo, you suggest a few changes: a formatting change, an added word, and a word to delete. How do you see revisions when you work on your computer in Word? Click Track Changes on the Tools menu. Handwritten changes on paper Use Track Changes and comments

7. Insert tracked changes • After Track Changes is turned on, you work as you normally do in Word. Insert text or delete it, move text or graphics, or change formatting. Until you turn Track Changes off, Word will mark each revision separately and distinctly. Track Changes displays each change with special formatting. Use Track Changes and comments

8. Insert tracked changes • The picture on the left shows tracked changes in Print Layout view. • Formatting change • Inserted text • Deleted text Track Changes displays each change with special formatting. Use Track Changes and comments

9. Insert tracked changes • Each change appears in the document with markup: colors, lines, pointers, and notes that show you where each revision goes and what it is. Track Changes displays each change with special formatting. Use Track Changes and comments

10. Insert tracked changes • Deleted text and formatting changes appear in ovals in the document margin called balloons, with lines from the text to the balloons to show where these changes were made. Track Changes displays each change with special formatting. Use Track Changes and comments

11. Insert tracked changes • Inserted text is underlined and in its own color. A vertical line appears in the left margin next to lines with changes in them. Track Changes displays each change with special formatting. Use Track Changes and comments

12. Insert comments • Suppose you want to explain why you deleted the word "just." To do that, you insert a comment, which appears in a balloon in the document margin. That balloon says "Comment" so that it's clear what it is. This comment explains why text was deleted. Use Track Changes and comments

13. Insert comments • Text marked to show it has a comment. • Comment balloon with line to text that has a comment. This comment explains why text was deleted. Use Track Changes and comments

14. Insert comments • To insert a comment, place the insertion point next to the revision, or select the text on which you want to comment: • On the Insert menu, click Comment, and then type your explanation. This comment explains why text was deleted. Use Track Changes and comments

15. Accept or reject changes, delete comments • When you've finished reviewing the memo, your manager can: The Reviewing toolbar • Accept or reject your revisions. • Read and delete your comments. • Deal with revisions and comments one at a time or all at once. Use Track Changes and comments

16. Accept or reject changes, delete comments • As changes are accepted or rejected and comments are deleted, the markup that indicates the changes or comments is removed from the document. The Reviewing toolbar To remove document markup, use buttons on the Reviewing toolbar, or right-click in the document to accept or reject changes and delete comments. Use Track Changes and comments

17. Accept or reject changes, delete comments • The buttons on the Reviewing toolbar help you with changes: • Click Previous to review each item going toward the beginning. • Click Next to review each item going toward the end. The Reviewing toolbar Use Track Changes and comments

18. Accept or reject changes, delete comments • The buttons on the Reviewing toolbar help you with changes: • Click Accept Change to accept revisions. • Click Reject Change/Delete Comment to reject revisions and delete comments. The Reviewing toolbar Use Track Changes and comments

19. Revisions and comments in different views • Track Changes markup looks different in different document views. So far you have seen how it looks in Print Layout view. • As you get to know Track Changes, you'll find which view works best for you. Just select that view when you start to work in a document. Tracked changes in Normal view Use Track Changes and comments

20. Revisions and comments in different views • In Print Layout view, deleted text and comments and formatting changes are displayed in balloons in the document margin. • In Normal view and Outline view, there are no balloons. Tracked changes in Normal view Use Track Changes and comments

21. Revisions and comments in different views • In all views, inserted text is displayed with underlines and in its own color, and vertical lines appear in the left margin to show where changes have been made. Tracked changes in Normal view Use Track Changes and comments

22. Revisions and comments in different views • The picture on the left shows tracked changes in Normal view. • Text with a comment shows the initials of the commenting reviewer and the number of each comment. • Deleted text appears with a line through it. Tracked changes in Normal view Use Track Changes and comments

23. Suggestions for practice • Turn on Track Changes and make revisions on exercise 1. • Insert more revisions and comments. • Use the Reviewing toolbar to see how your document looks with and without markup. • Accept or reject revisions, and delete comments. Use Track Changes and comments

24. Lesson 2 Tracked changes and the Show menu

25. Tracked changes and the Show menu • Imagine now that you need to look over the changes made in a document by JohnD and JudiH. You'll accept or reject their revisions, and then you'll delete their comments. • When a document contains revisions by multiple reviewers, you can choose to see all the revisions at one time or to see the revisions by each reviewer separately. Show menu on the Reviewing toolbar Use Track Changes and comments

26. Tracked changes and the Show menu • Use the Show menu on the Reviewing toolbar to customize tracked changes and to keep track of tracked changes. Show menu on the Reviewing toolbar Use Track Changes and comments

27. Choose to view tracked changes, comments • Suppose you decide to read the comments John put in the document. You don't have to read through all the tracked changes and all the comments to find what John had to say. Instead, you can see just John's comments. How? Use Track Changes and comments

28. Choose to view tracked changes, comments • Click the Show menu. • Then click the check mark beside the type of information you don't want to review. • Because you don't want to see insertions and deletions right now, click beside Insertions and Deletions to clear that check mark. Use Track Changes and comments

29. Choose to view tracked changes, comments • Warning: You cannot delete any revisions or comments by clearing check marks on the Show menu. Clearing check marks only temporarily hides revisions and comments. They remain in the document, visible to every reader. Use Track Changes and comments

30. Choose a reviewer's tracked changes to view • To hide Judi's comments temporarily: • Click the Show menu, and point to Reviewers. The name of each reviewer appears. Use Track Changes and comments

31. Choose a reviewer's tracked changes to view • To hide Judi's comments temporarily: • To just see John's comments and not Judi’s, clear the check mark beside Judi's name. • Select the check box beside Judi's name, or click All Reviewers, to display her comments again. Use Track Changes and comments

32. Ensure all revisions, comments are displayed • When you're ready to accept or reject proposed changes and to delete comments, click the Show menu. Use Track Changes and comments

33. Ensure all revisions, comments are displayed • Make sure that a check mark appears next to every one of these items on the menu: • Comments • Ink Annotations • Insertions and Deletions • Formatting Use Track Changes and comments

34. Ensure all revisions, comments are displayed • If a check mark does not appear next to an item on the Show menu, you could be in danger of distributing a document that contains tracked changes or comments. Use Track Changes and comments

35. Ensure all revisions, comments are displayed For example, if the check mark does not appear next to Comments, you'll miss all comments in the document. Those comments will reappear as soon as anyone opens the document. Use Track Changes and comments

36. Balloons: Always, sometime, never? • Deletions, comments, and formatting changes appear as balloons in Print Layout, Web Layout, and Reading Layout views. If you like to work in any of these views and you'd prefer a different form of display, click the Show menu, point to Balloons, and make your choice. Options for displaying balloons Use Track Changes and comments

37. Balloons: Always, sometime, never? • If you never, ever want balloons to show up, click Never. • If you want to see formatting changes while you work, or you like marginal comments, click Only for Comments/Formatting. • To get balloons back all the time, click Always. Options for displaying balloons Use Track Changes and comments

38. Choose how you make tracks • You have other choices about the display of insertions, deletions, and formatting changes: • Click the Show menu. • Then click Options. Options for Track Changes Use Track Changes and comments

39. Suggestions for practice • Select the type of revisions to review on exercise 2. • Reveal comments and revisions. • Change the balloon settings. • Change other Track Changes options. Use Track Changes and comments

40. Lesson 3 What to do when revisions reappear

41. What to do when revisions reappear • Have you ever sent a document out and then learned later that it contained a tracked change? Or do you worry that it could happen? • Imagine what the result would be if you distributed a carefully polished document and then learned that it still contained all the reviewers' comments for all the world to see. A document with a tracked change Use Track Changes and comments

42. Turning off Track Changes won’t delete marks • Turning off Track Changes does not delete revisions or comments. • Instead, when you turn off Track Changes, changes are no longer shown with markup: • Underlines • Strikethroughs • Balloons Use Track Changes and comments

43. Turning off Track Changes won’t delete marks • To remove tracked changes and comments: • Use the Reviewing toolbar to accept or reject revisions and to delete comments. • OR • Use the right-click method to accept, reject, and delete using the shortcut menus. Use Track Changes and comments

44. The Show menu doesn’t delete marks, either • Hiding is not deleting. You can't stop people from seeing revisions and comments by clearing check marks on the Show menu. • To remove tracked changes (and comments), use the same method as described on the previous slide: on the Reviewing toolbar, accept or reject revisions or delete comments. Use Track Changes and comments

45. What you show isn't all they get • Clearing check marks on the Show menu temporarily hides tracked changes or comments. • Say that you clear the check mark for Comments to see only insertions and deletions. • Now comments are hidden. But they aren't gone. Use Track Changes and comments

46. What you show isn't all they get • Time passes, and you forget that you hid the comments and Judi's revisions. You use the Reviewing toolbar to accept or reject all of the changes you see. Everything looks good, and you're ready to send the document out. Wait. Don't distribute the document yet... Use Track Changes and comments

47. Check your document • Before you distribute a document, do what the professionals do. • On the Show menu, be sure that there’s a check mark beside Comments, Ink Annotations, Insertions and Deletions, Formatting, and All Reviewers. • Use the Reviewing toolbar or the right-click method to check your document for any tracked changes or comments. Use Track Changes and comments

48. Check your document • Click to put a check mark anywhere there wasn't one before, and then use the Reviewing toolbar (or the right-click method) from the beginning of the document all the way through to find any tracked changes or comments. Remove any changes by accepting or rejecting them, and delete any comments. Use Track Changes and comments

49. Be safe, not sorry • Word displays any revisions and comments in your documents automatically to help prevent the accidental distribution of documents containing revisions or comments. Use Track Changes and comments

50. Be safe, not sorry • You can see the option that makes this happen if you click Options on the Tools menu, and then click the Security tab. See the image at left. • Select this option to be warned of tracked changes or comments before you print, save, or send a file. • This option displays all tracked changes and comments by default. Use Track Changes and comments