Track Changes in Ms Word 2007

Table of Contents
1. Concept Note on “Track Changes”..............................................................................................1
2. Detailed Procedure for Track Changes........................................................................................2
3. How to Accept or Reject Track Changes......................................................................................2
4. Working with Track Changes in a Document...............................................................................3
5. Turning off Track Changes...........................................................................................................4
6. Print a document with tracked changes......................................................................................5

Table of Figures
Figure 1: Enabling Track Changes....................................................................................................2
Figure 2: Accept Changes.................................................................................................................3
Figure 3: Reject Changes..................................................................................................................3
Figure 4: Track Changes in Balloon View.........................................................................................4
Figure 5: Turning Off Track Changes................................................................................................5
Figure 6: Enabling "Show Markup"..................................................................................................5

1. Concept Note on “Track Changes”

Ms Word 2007 has a unique feature called “Track Changes” using which you can easily mark
and view tracked changes and comments while you work on a document. While reviewing a
document, any changes made can be recorded by using Track Changes feature. This can be
done without deleting the original text or changing the format. These changes can be accepted
or rejected as required. When the Track Changes is activated, MS Word shows the changes in a
color different from the original text. To further view any changes made, there are other
options such as underline, balloons, strikethrough, etc. MS Word uses a vertical line as a pointer

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to the left of the margin in order to locate the lines or margins. The use of Track Changes is
helpful for language and technical reviews.

The reviews used in Track Changes are:-

1. Peer Review: In this review, the document is checked by a colleague to identify any
errors or any changes required.
2. Technical Review: In this review, the Subject Matter Expert (SME) checks the document
to validate the technical accuracy of the document.
3. Language Review: In this review, the document is checked by a senior writer to
determine the consistency of the language.

2. Detailed Procedure for Track Changes

2.1 How to Activate Track Changes?

 To activate the track changes in a document click Review in the main menu, then click
Track Changes from the tracking group & select “Track Changes”. The Track Changes
feature is now activated.

Figure 1: Enabling Track Changes

3. How to Accept or Reject Track Changes

When you view the changes in a document you can either choose to accept or reject the
changes. This allows you to review the document by each change (to accept or reject each
change). The changes made in the document with the help of track changes are not permanent
and hence unless they are accepted, they will appear in a different color, stroked through or in
a balloon.

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Accepting Track changes: To “Accept” track changes in a document, right click on the balloon
or the underlined changed word and then select “Accept Change”.

Rejecting Track changes: To “Reject” track changes in a document, right click on the balloon or
the underlined changed word and then select “Reject Change”.

Note: To Accept or Reject all the changes in a document, click Accept All or Reject All in the
Accept or Reject Changes dialog box. You can also accept or reject changes with the Reviewing
toolbar. To open the Reviewing toolbar, go to the View menu and select Toolbars, then select
Reviewing.

Figure 2: Accept Changes

Figure 3: Reject Changes

4. Working with Track Changes in a Document

In the track changes feature, the original word is stroked through in red and the changed word
is underlined in red. Similarly, the other changes made in the paragraph are also demonstrated
with the original stroke beside the underlined changes. Vertical lines are included on the left
margin to point out the locations in which the changes are made. “Balloon View” is another

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way to view the changes made. To turn on the “balloon view” click review, then click Balloons
icon and select “show revisions in balloons”.

Figure 4: Track Changes in Balloon View

In the above figure, the changes are marked in a balloon separately. In this type of view only
the changes are shown on the right side in balloons; whereas the changed version is shown in
the document itself. Here too the vertical lines are present to point out the changed lines.

5. Turning off Track Changes

When you turn off Track Changes, you can modify the document without marking what has
changed. By turning off Track Changes, the tracked changes in your document do not get
eliminated. To ensure that there are no more tracked changes in your document, use the
Accept or Reject commands for every change in the document.

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 Figure 5: Turning Off Track Changes

6. Print a document with tracked changes

To print a document with tracked changes, switch to and display the printed document.

Print showing all markup On the Review tab, in the Tracking group, click Show Markup.

Figure 6: Enabling "Show Markup"

Click Show Markup to show or hides all in the document for preferred reviewers. When
you display all markups, all forms of markup are selected on the Show Markup menu.
Microsoft Word selects the zoom level and page orientation to best display the tracked
changes in your printed document.

If are turned on, the document will shrink to fit the balloons on the printed page. To make
your printed page readable, you can turn off balloons by click Balloons in the Tracking
group and then click Show all revisions inline.

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NOTE: Table of contents can be inserted in the beginning of the document. List of Figures
should also be inserted below the TOC.