To turn tracking changes on, use one of these methods:

-          Click the Tools menu and click Track Changes

-          Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + E

-          Open the reviewing toolbar and click the Track Changes button ( )

 

Once you perform one of those commands, you can work with the document as normal by editing text, formatting text, adding graphics, and using all of Word’s other cool features. However, all of your changes will be recorded in the document. These changes are denoted by lines, balloons, indicators, and notes. These items are called markup, as they mark up your document as if you were editing it on paper. The great thing about tracking your changes this way is that they are easily visible to (and removable by) the document’s owner.

 

If you’re in print layout, here’s how markups will appear.

 

 

 

Here are some examples of those changes:

 

 

If you’re in Normal view, those changes appear a bit differently.

 

 

 

Let’s take a look at our sample document in Normal view:

 

 

In either view, you can place your cursor over the changed text to see more details.

 

 

The pop-up box will show you the date and time of the change, who made the change, and details of the change.

 

To stop tracking changes, just perform one of the commands that we uses to turn tracking changes on. Remember, though, that turning Track Changes off doesn’t remove markup or undo any of the changes that you made. If you go into reviewing mode, markup will still be visible.