When I am reading an assignment which a student sent to me in a Microsoft Word Document, I highlight my comments by telling Word to track changes made in the document. I just click Tools, Track Changes,  (or click the TRK box on the status bar at the bottom of the window or click the track changes icon on the reviewing toolbar).  All of these act as a toggle -- it track changes is off, it turns on, if it is on, it turns off.  When track changes is on, anything that I enter into the document will appear in a different color, usually red or blue.  Deletions and formatting changes will also be shown.

    When you and another person are exchanging drafts of a document, it can be very useful to use the Track Changes feature in Word. Suppose you write the first draft of a document and send it to your colleague. She sets Word to Track Changes, and the Track Changes Options  to show changes "By Author," so that each author's changes will be highlighted with a different color. She sends the document back to you, with her changes and comments highlighted so you can see them easily. You can then use the Reviewing Toolbar to go through the document and accept or reject the changes that have been made to it. When you reject a change, that text disappears. When you accept a change, it is no longer highlighted. You can add changes and comments of your own and send it back to your colleague.   I often enter comments by simply typing them into the document with Track Changes turned off, but Word does have a separate facility for entering comments.

    Balloons.  By default Word is set to use balloons to show tracked changes and comments in balloons in the margin.  I turn this feature off because leaving it on results in the text becoming too small for my old eyes to read.  To turn this feature off I click Tools, Options, Track Changes, and then set Balloons to never.

    Comments.  If you want to insert a comment in a document you can highlight a word or phrase and click Insert, Comment, or you can click the insert comment icon on the reviewing toolbar (it looks like a folder with a star in the upper left corner).  The Reviewing Pane opens up at the bottom of the window and you enter your comment.  In the body of the document there appears brackets aside the highlighted text.  Within the brackets are your initials, as known to Word.  On the Reviewing Toolbar is an icon that is used to display or hide the Reviewing Pane.  It looks like a document with an upwards arrow on it.  Clicking it turns the reviewing pane on or off.  To delete a comment just right-click it and select delete.

    Your Name.  How does Word know what your initials are?  Click Tools, Options, User Information and see.  Do be sure that correct information is recorded there.

Links

• My Short Document Illustrating This

• Introduction to Track Changes -- nice page at ShaunaKelly.com

• Using the Review Toolbar -- ditto

• Wuensch's Word Help Page

• Wuensch's Computing and Internet Resources Page

Contact Information for the Webmaster,
Dr. Karl L. Wuensch



This page most recently revised on 20. April 2008.