Microsoft® Word 2007: use the Track Changes feature

Microsoft Word 2007 includes a Track Changes feature that allows you to easily collaborate with others on documents. In this demonstration we will review how to use the Track Changes feature. With Track Changes enabled, you can view modifications to your original document as well as see who made the changes. This is especially helpful when groups collaborate and several people need to review and modify the same document. To turn on Track Changes, select Track Changes in the Tracking Group of the Review tab on the Ribbon. Once that's enables, let's see what a tracked change looks like by typing some new text.

Track Changes indicates the new text in red with an underline. If multiple people make changes to your document, each person will automatically be assigned a different color. This makes it easy to see at a glance who made the change. In addition to new text, Track Changes also tracks changes to formatting. Let's take a look at how formatting changes are tracked.

First, you need to return to the Home tab where you can make formatting changes.

For this example, let's select a new line spacing in the Paragraph group.

On the left-hand margin a vertical bar indicates a change was made…

and on the right-hand margin a comment balloon specifies what the change was. In this example, it details the formatting change to double-spaced lines.

Track Changes also allows you to accept or reject the changes made as you review the document. Let's make some additional changes to this document so we can explore that feature.

First we'll make some text bold. As you can see, the vertical bar appears in the left margin and the comment balloon details the change in the right margin.

Once the changes are made, click at the beginning of the document.

And then click the Review tab.

In the Changes group, click the Accept button and…

the first tracked change is highlighted.

On the Accept button there is a menu arrow at the bottom. This displays your options for the change. Select the menu arrow…

and then choose Accept and Move to Next from the menu.

Now the change is accepted and the new text looks just like the original text.

And the next tracked change is highlighted.

Repeat the process by selecting Accept and…

selecting the menu arrow at the bottom.

But this time choose Accept Change from the menu.

The change is accepted but remains highlighted. Notice that the vertical bar in the left margin is gone. The comment balloon in the right margin is also gone.

Because we selected Accept Change and not Accept and Move to Next, the next change is not highlighted.

Now we'll review how to reject changes.

In the same Changes group on the Review tab, click the Reject and Move to Next button, which has a small red X.

You can reject a single change or use the arrow button at the right to reject several changes at once.

After you click the Reject button, the bold text returns to normal. The vertical bar in the left margin and the comment balloon in the right margin are both gone.

The next change is highlighted. After you select the Reject and Move to Next button, the change is rejected. A pop-up window also appears that cautions you that there are no more comments or changes in the document.

Click OK to shut this window. Notice that all the change indicators are gone. There are no more comment balloons in the right margin and the vertical bars in the left margin are also gone.

In this demonstration, we used the Track Changes feature to make changes to our text, as well as learned how to accept or reject those changes. Now you're ready to collaborate on documents with others by using the Track Changes feature.