Using Track Changes
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Using “Track Changes” in Microsoft Word.
Please send comments about this document to Ron Evans
Technical Writing & Training Development by Ron A. Evans Contents: Managing the ‘Track Changes’ Mode......................................................................1 Turning the ‘Track Changes’ Mode On and Off .....................................................1 Selecting Edit Colors and Styles..............................................................................2 Making Changes.......................................................................................................3 Inserting Comments.................................................................................................4 Using Protection.......................................................................................................4 Creating a Final Document......................................................................................4 If you are not seeing a 2” wide right margin and a red Comment box, you do not have an original document. Email me for an original.
Managing the ‘Track Changes’ Mode The first two things to learn about the ‘Track Changes’ feature of Microsoft Word are (1) how to manage the viewing mode and (2) how to turn Track Changes off to make it inactive! You’ve just received a Word document from someone and you notice two things; the right-hand margin is abnormally large, as we have here, and there are edits showing in the document including comment boxes in the right hand margin. What has happened is the document has automatically opened in ‘Final Showing Markup’ mode and all you want to do is read the document, so, first, here’s how to get out of the Final Showing Markup view mode and also get out of ‘Track Changes’ mode. In the Toolbars area you will see the Reviewing toolbar which looks like this. Final Showing Markup is indicated in the window to the left of the Show drop down menu. The four view modes are: Final, Final Showing Mark Up, Original or Original Showing Mark Up.
(The “Reviewing” toolbar may be located in a different position in the Toolbars area than is show here.)
By selecting mousing (pointing your mouse at) the drop down arrow, select “Final”. Now you should be viewing the document without the expanded right-hand margin and with all edit highlights removed. For the most part you will want to work in Final Showing Mark Up view mode but need to keeping checking what the document looks like in Final view mode. Following the steps in this training document will make you familiar with doing this. Later, you’ll see how to use the ‘Track Changes’ mode when creating a Word document and also how to set the document so that it doesn’t open up in the ‘Final Showing Markup’ mode, which you need to be able to do for your final version document. Turning the ‘Track Changes’ Mode On and Off
To manage the “Track Changes” mode, making it active or inactive, select Tools at the top of the screen and then select ‘Track Changes’ from the drop down menu. As is noted to the right on the drop down menu, the shortcut keyboard control is Ctrl+shift+E. Using keyboard control can be faster than using the mouse for toggling in and out of the ‘Track Changes’ mode, which you may want to do even in the middle of editing a document. For example, you have to exit ‘Track Changes’ mode to remove a page break in a document. When you select ‘Track Changes’ the Tool Bar with the appropriate options will appear.
The window on the left shows which view mode is selected: Final, Final Showing Mark Up, Original or Original Showing Mark Up. As you will see, you will want to work in Final Showing Mark Up view mode but need to keeping checking what the document looks like in Final view mode. Following the steps in this training document will make you familiar with doing this.
Verify that the following options are checked in the Show drop down menu. Final, Comments, Ink Annotations, Insertions and Deletions, and Formatting.
Now, as a test, type some text here: If the text appears blue then you are in active ‘Track Changes’ mode. If the text is not blue, use Ctrl+shift+E to get into active ‘Track Changes’ mode and automatically change the viewing mode to “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode. Use Ctrl+shift+E again to get out of active ‘Track Changes’ mode, but this does not automatically return the viewing mode to “Final“ view mode. This text has been added and then deleted just to cause the page break to shift.Change the viewing mode to Final to see the difference in the page layout!! Selecting Edit Colors and Styles
The next thing to do before committing to any significant amount of editing is to select your colors and styles that will identify changes that you make.
This is done using the Track Changes screen (shown on the next page). • To access this screen (shown on the next page), click on the Show drop down menu and select Options. When you change a color selection or a markup option and click OK, then these become a visible indication of edits you have made. The Reviewing Pane can be used as a way of identifying who made a particular change. In the example shown here: − blue has been selected for Inserts (added text), − red for Deletions, − green for Formatting comments, − black for Changed Lines, and − red for inserted Comments (Alt/I/M). Choosing the same color for all options is the best approach when multiple reviewers/ editors are involved. There are more than ten color choices! When using the same color for both text changes and for deletions, deletions need to be differentiated from inserted (added) text by having Strikethrough selected.
Other option changes that can be made using the Track Changes screen are: • Balloon options • Position • Preferred width of the comment text box • Paper orientation for printing Making Changes To make changes to an existing document, with active ‘Track Changes’ mode on, overtype misspellings or words you want to replace; insert and type text you want to add; highlight and delete (backspace or delete keys) to remove unwanted text. When you are in “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode, an edited paragraph will end up looking like this (must be in “Final Showing Mark Up” view mode to see!! – select “Final Showing Mark Up“ if you don’t see any edits in the following paragraph): • To make changes edits to an existing document, with active ‘Track Changes’ mode on, overtype mispellings misspellings or words you want to replace, and use the insert ‘insert’ key and type text you want to add, highlight and delete (or backspace or ‘delete’) to remove unwanted text. •
Note the indicator bar in the left margin on any line where a change has been made. This is particularly useful when only a small change has been made. If you make formatting changes you will see comment boxes in the right margin, just like the one seen here (which you won’t see unless
you’re in “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode.) To see what the page/document looks like with all of your edits made, and without the extra wide margin on the right, select the “Final” view mode. You will need to do this occasionally to see what each page really looks like since the old and markup texts are side-by-side. • Toggle between “Final Showing Mark Up“ and “Final“ view modes and you’ll see how edits in “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode affect page breaks of previous pages, this page and later pages.
Inserting Comments Inserting comments is done by highlighting a word, sentence or paragraph and using either mouse to select the Insert drop down menu at the top of the screen and then selecting Comment, or by using the shortcut keyboard command Alt/I/M. The next useful tool to explore is the Insert Comment ( ) tool. With the Insert Comment tool, by simply highlighting a character, word or string of words, you can add a comment, such as a suggestion, in a comment box. Here is an example of a comment. The Reviewing Pane can be opened from the Track Changes” tool bar by clicking on the
icon.
To close the Reviewing Pane, click on the icon again. Alternatively, you can grab the top bar of the Reviewing Pane window and drag it downwards to eliminate it. Equally well the window can be expanded if you want to see more edit entries in a single view. As stated earlier, remember to select view Final mode from time-to-time to review layout and to verify that page breaks are occurring where they should be. Using Protection You can control who is allowed to make changes to your document by using protection (Protect Document). Protect Document is found under the Tools drop-down menu at the top of the screen. In general, you’ll want to: - set for Tracked Changes only - use password control - give the password only to key people. Creating a Final Document Having used the ‘Track Changes’ feature of Microsoft Word, when you send out a document it will automatically open in the “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode. This can be confusing for people who aren’t involved in the edit process, so here are three solutions that you can use to get around this problem. 1. Accept all changes and remove all inserted comments 2. Use Copy-and-Paste 3. Create a PDF Make sure you are in “Final“ view mode and do a final review before creating your final document. 1. Select the drop-down arrow for Accept Changes
on the ‘Track Changes’ Tool Bar.
There are three options; Accept Change, Accept All Changes Shown and Accept All Changes in document. If you have attended to all Comments and taken action including removing all Comments, selecting Accept All Changes in document will release the document from being in ‘Track Changes’ mode. Comments, if short, are best removed by turning Track Changes off (Ctrl+shift+E), and simply retyping as necessary to copy the text that has been highlighted, and then deleting the highlighted text which also deletes the Comment box. If an entire paragraph has been highlighted, the method I use is I copy and paste the entire paragraph into Notepad which removes all formatting, and then copy and paste it from Notepad back to the Word document, reformat as necessary duplicating the highlighted paragraph which can then be deleted. When the last Comment is removed, select Final view mode and Save the document. 2. Create a new document by “copy and paste” into a new Word document (Alt/F/N); which can be faster than removing lots of individual comments. This method is also useful for creating a copy as a preliminary draft that needs to be sent for review to individuals who don’t need to see changes, edits and comments. In Final view mode, use “Select All” (Alt/E/L) to select all of the text and graphics (if any) in your document. Next copy using the Edit drop down menu from the top of the screen and then selecting Copy, or by using either the shortcut keyboard command Ctrl+C or the shortcut keyboard command Alt/C/C. Next, in the new document that you have opened, paste (Ctrl+V or Alt/E/P) to transfer the document contents into the new document. Save the document (Save As) using a non-conflicting filename, e.g. Filename – Final. Verify the layout paying attention to page breaks making adjustments if needed. 3. Create a PDF from the Word document. A free PDF converter is available from www.pdf995.com if you don’t have Adobe Acrobat. (Acrobat Reader from Adobe is also a free download allowing PDF documents to be opened and viewed. Please send comments about this document to Ron Evans
Please send comments about this document to Ron Evans
Technical Writing & Training Development by Ron A. Evans Contents: Managing the ‘Track Changes’ Mode......................................................................1 Turning the ‘Track Changes’ Mode On and Off .....................................................1 Selecting Edit Colors and Styles..............................................................................2 Making Changes.......................................................................................................3 Inserting Comments.................................................................................................4 Using Protection.......................................................................................................4 Creating a Final Document......................................................................................4 If you are not seeing a 2” wide right margin and a red Comment box, you do not have an original document. Email me for an original.
Managing the ‘Track Changes’ Mode The first two things to learn about the ‘Track Changes’ feature of Microsoft Word are (1) how to manage the viewing mode and (2) how to turn Track Changes off to make it inactive! You’ve just received a Word document from someone and you notice two things; the right-hand margin is abnormally large, as we have here, and there are edits showing in the document including comment boxes in the right hand margin. What has happened is the document has automatically opened in ‘Final Showing Markup’ mode and all you want to do is read the document, so, first, here’s how to get out of the Final Showing Markup view mode and also get out of ‘Track Changes’ mode. In the Toolbars area you will see the Reviewing toolbar which looks like this. Final Showing Markup is indicated in the window to the left of the Show drop down menu. The four view modes are: Final, Final Showing Mark Up, Original or Original Showing Mark Up.
(The “Reviewing” toolbar may be located in a different position in the Toolbars area than is show here.)
By selecting mousing (pointing your mouse at) the drop down arrow, select “Final”. Now you should be viewing the document without the expanded right-hand margin and with all edit highlights removed. For the most part you will want to work in Final Showing Mark Up view mode but need to keeping checking what the document looks like in Final view mode. Following the steps in this training document will make you familiar with doing this. Later, you’ll see how to use the ‘Track Changes’ mode when creating a Word document and also how to set the document so that it doesn’t open up in the ‘Final Showing Markup’ mode, which you need to be able to do for your final version document. Turning the ‘Track Changes’ Mode On and Off
To manage the “Track Changes” mode, making it active or inactive, select Tools at the top of the screen and then select ‘Track Changes’ from the drop down menu. As is noted to the right on the drop down menu, the shortcut keyboard control is Ctrl+shift+E. Using keyboard control can be faster than using the mouse for toggling in and out of the ‘Track Changes’ mode, which you may want to do even in the middle of editing a document. For example, you have to exit ‘Track Changes’ mode to remove a page break in a document. When you select ‘Track Changes’ the Tool Bar with the appropriate options will appear.
The window on the left shows which view mode is selected: Final, Final Showing Mark Up, Original or Original Showing Mark Up. As you will see, you will want to work in Final Showing Mark Up view mode but need to keeping checking what the document looks like in Final view mode. Following the steps in this training document will make you familiar with doing this.
Verify that the following options are checked in the Show drop down menu. Final, Comments, Ink Annotations, Insertions and Deletions, and Formatting.
Now, as a test, type some text here: If the text appears blue then you are in active ‘Track Changes’ mode. If the text is not blue, use Ctrl+shift+E to get into active ‘Track Changes’ mode and automatically change the viewing mode to “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode. Use Ctrl+shift+E again to get out of active ‘Track Changes’ mode, but this does not automatically return the viewing mode to “Final“ view mode. This text has been added and then deleted just to cause the page break to shift.Change the viewing mode to Final to see the difference in the page layout!! Selecting Edit Colors and Styles
The next thing to do before committing to any significant amount of editing is to select your colors and styles that will identify changes that you make.
This is done using the Track Changes screen (shown on the next page). • To access this screen (shown on the next page), click on the Show drop down menu and select Options. When you change a color selection or a markup option and click OK, then these become a visible indication of edits you have made. The Reviewing Pane can be used as a way of identifying who made a particular change. In the example shown here: − blue has been selected for Inserts (added text), − red for Deletions, − green for Formatting comments, − black for Changed Lines, and − red for inserted Comments (Alt/I/M). Choosing the same color for all options is the best approach when multiple reviewers/ editors are involved. There are more than ten color choices! When using the same color for both text changes and for deletions, deletions need to be differentiated from inserted (added) text by having Strikethrough selected.
Other option changes that can be made using the Track Changes screen are: • Balloon options • Position • Preferred width of the comment text box • Paper orientation for printing Making Changes To make changes to an existing document, with active ‘Track Changes’ mode on, overtype misspellings or words you want to replace; insert and type text you want to add; highlight and delete (backspace or delete keys) to remove unwanted text. When you are in “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode, an edited paragraph will end up looking like this (must be in “Final Showing Mark Up” view mode to see!! – select “Final Showing Mark Up“ if you don’t see any edits in the following paragraph): • To make changes edits to an existing document, with active ‘Track Changes’ mode on, overtype mispellings misspellings or words you want to replace, and use the insert ‘insert’ key and type text you want to add, highlight and delete (or backspace or ‘delete’) to remove unwanted text. •
Note the indicator bar in the left margin on any line where a change has been made. This is particularly useful when only a small change has been made. If you make formatting changes you will see comment boxes in the right margin, just like the one seen here (which you won’t see unless
you’re in “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode.) To see what the page/document looks like with all of your edits made, and without the extra wide margin on the right, select the “Final” view mode. You will need to do this occasionally to see what each page really looks like since the old and markup texts are side-by-side. • Toggle between “Final Showing Mark Up“ and “Final“ view modes and you’ll see how edits in “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode affect page breaks of previous pages, this page and later pages.
Inserting Comments Inserting comments is done by highlighting a word, sentence or paragraph and using either mouse to select the Insert drop down menu at the top of the screen and then selecting Comment, or by using the shortcut keyboard command Alt/I/M. The next useful tool to explore is the Insert Comment ( ) tool. With the Insert Comment tool, by simply highlighting a character, word or string of words, you can add a comment, such as a suggestion, in a comment box. Here is an example of a comment. The Reviewing Pane can be opened from the Track Changes” tool bar by clicking on the
icon.
To close the Reviewing Pane, click on the icon again. Alternatively, you can grab the top bar of the Reviewing Pane window and drag it downwards to eliminate it. Equally well the window can be expanded if you want to see more edit entries in a single view. As stated earlier, remember to select view Final mode from time-to-time to review layout and to verify that page breaks are occurring where they should be. Using Protection You can control who is allowed to make changes to your document by using protection (Protect Document). Protect Document is found under the Tools drop-down menu at the top of the screen. In general, you’ll want to: - set for Tracked Changes only - use password control - give the password only to key people. Creating a Final Document Having used the ‘Track Changes’ feature of Microsoft Word, when you send out a document it will automatically open in the “Final Showing Mark Up“ view mode. This can be confusing for people who aren’t involved in the edit process, so here are three solutions that you can use to get around this problem. 1. Accept all changes and remove all inserted comments 2. Use Copy-and-Paste 3. Create a PDF Make sure you are in “Final“ view mode and do a final review before creating your final document. 1. Select the drop-down arrow for Accept Changes
on the ‘Track Changes’ Tool Bar.
There are three options; Accept Change, Accept All Changes Shown and Accept All Changes in document. If you have attended to all Comments and taken action including removing all Comments, selecting Accept All Changes in document will release the document from being in ‘Track Changes’ mode. Comments, if short, are best removed by turning Track Changes off (Ctrl+shift+E), and simply retyping as necessary to copy the text that has been highlighted, and then deleting the highlighted text which also deletes the Comment box. If an entire paragraph has been highlighted, the method I use is I copy and paste the entire paragraph into Notepad which removes all formatting, and then copy and paste it from Notepad back to the Word document, reformat as necessary duplicating the highlighted paragraph which can then be deleted. When the last Comment is removed, select Final view mode and Save the document. 2. Create a new document by “copy and paste” into a new Word document (Alt/F/N); which can be faster than removing lots of individual comments. This method is also useful for creating a copy as a preliminary draft that needs to be sent for review to individuals who don’t need to see changes, edits and comments. In Final view mode, use “Select All” (Alt/E/L) to select all of the text and graphics (if any) in your document. Next copy using the Edit drop down menu from the top of the screen and then selecting Copy, or by using either the shortcut keyboard command Ctrl+C or the shortcut keyboard command Alt/C/C. Next, in the new document that you have opened, paste (Ctrl+V or Alt/E/P) to transfer the document contents into the new document. Save the document (Save As) using a non-conflicting filename, e.g. Filename – Final. Verify the layout paying attention to page breaks making adjustments if needed. 3. Create a PDF from the Word document. A free PDF converter is available from www.pdf995.com if you don’t have Adobe Acrobat. (Acrobat Reader from Adobe is also a free download allowing PDF documents to be opened and viewed. Please send comments about this document to Ron Evans
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