“Track changes” in Word does exactly what it says it does: it keeps track of what other people have changed in a document. The point of this tool is to show you what changes have been made You could use this function to work on a project with other people or get feedback from them. In this article we will show you how to Turn Off or Turn On Track Changes in Microsoft Word.
Track changes in MS Word also make it easy to compare papers. On the other hand, this feature can sometimes make it hard to fix changes and read the text because it may not be clear or be too hard to understand. That’s why it’s important to know how to get rid of tracking in Word files.
What is track changes?
Track changes is a function in Microsoft Word that allows you to see the changes you make to your documents. It also allows you to see what other people change when they edit your work. Since track changes visualizes each edit, you can highlight individual changes and decide to keep them or remove them. This makes it a popular tool for professionals who want to revise one particular document over a long period of time, receive easy-to-read feedback from other professionals and keep a record of every change.
Why You Might Need to Turn Off or Turn On Track Changes
- Finalising the Document: Once you’re happy with all the changes and edits, you can make the document easier to read and share by turning off track changes. This is especially important for final drafts or papers that will be shared with people outside the company.
- Improving Performance: Track changes can make papers more complicated, which could make editing and rendering take longer. It may work better if you turn it off, especially on older devices or ones with limited resources.
- Keeping Things Straight: When working with more than one writer, having too many tracked changes can make things hard to understand and follow. It might be easier to see the end document if you turn it off.
- Collaboration and Feedback: Reviewers must be able to see edits, make changes, and leave comments in order for collaborative editing to work. This is very important for papers that need feedback and changes.
- Tracking Changes for Yourself: Tracking changes can help you remember the changes you made and why you made them, especially if you come back to the document later.
How to Turn Off or Turn On Track Changes in Microsoft Word
Using the Review Tab
- At the top of your Word windows, click on the “Review” tab.
- Press the “Track Changes” drop-down button in the “Tracking” area.
- Choose “All Markup” or “Simple Markup” based on your choice.
Using the Keyboard Shortcut
- Press Ctrl + Shift + E on your keyboard simultaneously.
Tips for Efficiently Managing Track Changes
- Use clear rules for calling things: Give yourself and other users unique names so it’s easy to find the changes you made.
- You can narrow your view by using the filter choices to see only certain types of changes (like additions, deletions, or comments) or changes made by certain editors.
- Allow or deny several changes at the same time: To save time, pick a group of changes and then use “Accept All” or “Reject All.”
- Quickly settle disagreements: Take care of changes that don’t agree right away to avoid confusion and delays.
- Make your thoughts clear: Use comments to explain why you made the changes you did, and ask questions to make things clearer.
- Recap changes that happen every so often: Make it easy to find the most important changes you made to a long document by summarising them in a different document.
FAQs
You might not be able to turn off Track Changes if you were given a paper to look over. Make a copy of the document or ask the person who sent it to you to share it again with review mode off so you can make changes without being tracked.
Tracked changes and comments will stay in the file until you delete them or accept or reject them. “View” setting changes immediately to “Final Showing Markup” when someone opens a file with Tracked Changes or Comments.
On the Review tab, click the Track Changes button. Keep in mind that until you start making changes, nothing will look like it has changed. Click the Accept or Reject command on the Review tab to make a change. The code will disappear, and Word will move on to the next change. When you’re done, click the Track Changes command to turn off Track Changes.
