Troubleshoot comments, tracked changes, and compared and merged documents

One or more of your reviewers might not have customized their user information when they set up Microsoft Word. Instead of seeing their name in the ScreenTip above the Comment balloon, you see a generic identifier.

Before sending your document out for review, ask each of the reviewers to make sure they update their name on the User Information tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu, Options command).

You may have selected the Remove personal information from this file on save check box on the Security tab of the Options dialog box. When this option is selected, personal information, including the names associated with tracked changes and comments, is removed when you save your document.

To display insertions and deletions marked in the body of the document, click Show on the Reviewing toolbar, point to Balloons, and then select the Only for Comments/Formatting check box.

When the Track Changes feature is enabled, TRK appears bold on the status bar at the bottom of your document. When you turn off change tracking, TRK is dimmed.

Also, you may need to switch to a different review mode to see changes. To do this, click Final Showing Markup or Original Showing Markup in the Display for Review box on the Reviewing toolbar.

You may have filtering applied. On the Reviewing toolbar, click Show, and then select the items that you want to display.

Or, there may be so many balloons on the screen that you can't see all of the tracked changes and comments in the document. Use the Reviewing Pane to see all of the changes and comments.

When Microsoft Word displays inserted or deleted text, certain formatting elements are removed or altered to make the text easier to read. For example, the point size of all balloon text is controlled by the Balloon Text style; so, if you delete text that uses a 24-point font, and the Balloon Text style uses a 12-point font, the balloon showing the deleted text will use a 12-point font.

Examples of other formatting that is omitted from the balloons includes centered or indented text. To see inserted or deleted text with all of its formatting attributes and to view the text in the Reviewing Pane, click the Reviewing Pane button on the Reviewing toolbar.

You may need to switch to a different view to see the changes that were made to a document. View the document in print layout view or Web layout view.

1. On the View menu, click Toolbars, and then click the Reviewing toolbar.

2. In the Display for Review box, click Original Showing Markup or Final Showing Markup.

There are some items that Microsoft Word does not track. These include:

• AutoCaptions
• Routing information
• Embedded fonts
• Some types of mail merge information, such as whether a file is a main document or a data file
• Background color
• Some custom options or commands such as custom toolbar buttons

Note  Formatting and position changes to pictures and shapes are tracked by showing the picture or shape as a deleted and reinserted item.

If you are working in Original mode with Track Changes turned on (TRK appears bold on the status bar at the bottom of your document), Microsoft Word automatically switches the display mode in the Display for Review box to Original Showing Markup. The mode is switched so that you can see your work as you make changes to the document.

This pane is called the Reviewing Pane. To close it, press ALT+SHIFT+C, or display the Reviewing toolbar and click the Reviewing Pane button.

Microsoft Word can store only one set of formatting changes at a time. When you merge multiple documents, you are prompted to decide whether you want to track the formatting from the currently open document or whether you want to track the formatting from the comparison document (the document you selected in the Compare and Merge Documents dialog box).

If you don't need to track formatting changes, you can clear the Find formatting check box in the Compare and Merge Documents dialog box (Tools menu, Compare and Merge Documents command).

Microsoft Word allows you to merge changes into the currently open document, into the document you select in the Compare and Merge Documents dialog box, or into a completely new document. If you merge the changes into the current document or into the document you select in the Compare and Merge Documents dialog box, you can undo the merge by clicking Undo on the Edit menu. Or, if you merged changes into a new, third document, you can close the document and start over.

You may be trying to compare master documents. Microsoft Word does not allow you to compare master documents.

For formatted lists, Microsoft Word only allows you to accept formatting changes made to the bullets or numbers; you cannot reject them. Note, however, that you can accept or reject text changes to the items in a list.

When you turn on the Track Changes feature, Microsoft Word uses continuous section breaks to preserve certain types of formatting changes. If you reject a change that uses these section breaks, the section breaks remain. You can delete these section breaks by selecting them and then pressing the DELETE key.

These commands are available only if you use the Show menu on the Reviewing toolbar to hide some comments or tracked changes. If all comments and tracked changes are visible or if there aren't any comments or tracked changes in the document, these commands are unavailable.

If all changes in the document are visible, use Accept All Changes in Document, Reject All Changes in Document, or Delete All Comments in Document. To make a subset of changes visible, use the Show menu on the Reviewing toolbar.