When you’re working on a Microsoft Word document with other people, the Track Changes feature is the best way to monitor any changes made to the document. Knowing how to track changes is handy when your document has to be reviewed by multiple editors or when you’re working with other authors.

Track Changes is a feature built into Microsoft Word that allows you to track any edits or revisions made to your document.

When this feature is turned on, every modification or correction you make is highlighted for easier reading.

How to Turn on Microsoft Word’s Track Changes Feature

  1. On Microsoft Word, click on the “Review” tab. 
  2. Click on the “Track Changes” icon.
    On Mac, you can toggle Track Changes on and off by clicking on the button beside “Track Changes.”

When a user makes any changes to the text, like deleting or adding words to a sentence, Microsoft Word points out where the changes are with a red line on the margin.

Viewing, Accepting, and Rejecting Revisions

To view all the changes made by a reviewer or an editor, toggle the Track Changes feature to show all edits. You’ll have three options:

  • Simple Markup indicates revisions with a red line in the margin.
  • All Markup shows all changes made to the text, with different colors of text and lines.
  • No Markup hides all edits to show what the text will look like when all the changes have been incorporated.
  • Original shows the document in its initial form – before any edits were made.

To accept or reject the edits made, click on “Review” and then “Accept” or “Reject”.

To check which user made the changes, you can click on the “Review” tab, then “Show Markup” and then “All Reviewers” and you can see the changes and the name of the reviewer.

By following these steps, you can easily track changes on Microsoft Word, making it a great tool for collaborative document editing.