Track Changes

in Microsoft Word

Optional ways to provide feedback
to a Document Author

Option 1) Hand-write, email, or verbally describe suggested changes

And see more ideas in our online training for a Document Author.

Option 2) For Word documents that aren't protected

the best way to provide feedback is by using Track Changes.

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How to use Track Changes

What is Track Changes? 

Track Changes is a feature within Microsoft Word that makes it easy to suggest changes to a document.

We suggest using Track Changes only in MS Word.

Although it is available in other MS Office applications (such as Excel), we have found it to be problem-prone in anything but Word.

To highlight suggested changes

1) Turn on the Track Changes feature

Review tab > Track Changes > Track Changes

(which toggles Track Changes on. If you do it again, it will toggle off.)

2) Make your suggested changes

3) Save your revised document, and email it to the document's Author

DO NOT EVER OVERWRITE THE MASTER DOCUMENT ON THE SERVER UNLESS YOU ARE THE AUTHOR.

Author instructions
to accept/reject/edit suggested changes

Review tab

Then use Previous and Next to find changes, and Accept or Reject.

Merge Documents

Merge Documents can be used on non-password-protected documents when:

1. Someone made changes without using Track Changes
2. The same document is simultaneously sent to multiple people for comments

Review tab > Compare

Just follow the intuitive screen prompts, which will compare the revised document with the original, and highlight the changes just like Track Changes.