How to Edit a Document Using Microsoft Word's Track Changes Feature

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This wikiHow teaches you how to use the "Track Changes" tool in Microsoft Word to display any edits you make to a document in red ink.

Enabling the "Track Changes" Feature

• Before making any changes to the current document, consider creating a copy and editing it rather than the original document--that way you'll have a backup document if something goes wrong.

Click the Review tab. It's in the blue section at the top of the document's page. Doing so will open a new set of options related to editing your document.

Click Track Changes . This option is at the top of the Word page, near the middle of the screen. Clicking it will enable Microsoft Word's "Track Changes" feature.

• Simple Markup - Draws a vertical red line on the far left side of any added or deleted text, but shows no other edits.
• All Markup - Displays all changes you make to your document in red text and comment boxes on the left side of the page.
• No Markup - Displays your changes in addition to the original document, but no red text or comment boxes appear.
• Original - Displays the original document without your changes.

Click All Markup . This option will show all edits you make to the original document in red ink while leaving the original document's text in black ink.

Editing Your Document

• If you reformat the document at all (e.g., you change the font of the writing), the details of the reformatting will appear in a box on this side of the screen as well.

• If you start a new line of text by pressing ↵ Enter (or ⏎ Return ), you'll see a grey vertical line appear on the left side of the screen where your new line of text begins.

• You can click anywhere on the screen to save your comment when you're done typing.

• You can also save the document with the tracked changes by skipping this step.

Save your document. To do so, hold down Ctrl (or ⌘ Command on Mac) and tap S . Your document will retain the changes you made.

Community Q&A

You can use all mark up to show all your changes, whether they be in deletion, correction, or paraphrasing. In editing, it is important to capture the voice of the original writer, making changes only to bridge the gap between grammar and clear visual images for the reader. It isn't easy to rewrite other's work, nor one's own in my experience.

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Click Review, click Track Changes, Change User Name, and type in the initials that you want to appear. You can also change the color that changes are typed in.

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To make corrections in color, just highlight the word, then click 'text color' at the top of the screen.

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Failing to save a copy of the original document before using Track Changes may result in losing the original document's content.

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