Track Changes in Word: How to Review and Accept Edits

To use Track Changes in Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, open the document, select Review > Track Changes, and edit as usual; Word will mark insertions, deletions, and other revisions for review. Later, use Review > Accept or Review > Reject to decide which edits become part of the document.

Track Changes is useful for editing reports, contracts, school assignments, and shared drafts because it records proposed changes without making them invisible. The key is to distinguish between hiding the marks, which changes only what you see, and accepting or rejecting them, which changes the document itself.

What Track Changes records

When tracking is on, Word identifies revisions made to the document. Added text is usually shown with an underline or another revision mark, while deleted text may appear crossed out or in a markup balloon. The appearance depends on the current markup view and the document’s settings. Word can also mark formatting changes, such as a changed font or paragraph style, if that kind of markup is enabled.

Each revision is associated with an editor identity, often based on the name or initials configured in Word. That can help a reviewer see who made a change, but it is not a secure identity check: names can be configured or changed, and a shared computer or account can affect attribution. Track Changes is an editing record, not a tamper-proof audit system.

Comments are related but separate. A comment is a note attached to part of a document; it does not itself revise the text. A team may use comments to discuss an edit and Track Changes to show the proposed wording. Deleting a comment does not automatically accept a revision, and accepting a revision does not necessarily remove related comments.

Turn on Track Changes in Word

In the Windows desktop app, open the document and go to Review > Track Changes. When the button is highlighted, tracking is on. Make an ordinary edit, such as inserting a word or deleting a sentence, and Word should display the revision. Click Track Changes again when you want to stop recording new edits.

On Word for Mac, use Review > Track Changes as well. The common keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+E in Word for Windows and Command+Shift+E on a Mac. Shortcuts can be affected by keyboard layout, system settings, or customization, so use the Review tab if the shortcut does not toggle tracking.

In Word for the web, look on the Review tab for Track Changes. The browser version can be convenient for reviewing a document stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, though the exact controls and available options can differ from the desktop app. If a particular review or markup control is missing, open the file in the desktop version of Word.

Before making a large batch of edits, check that tracking is actually on. A quick test in a disposable sentence can confirm that a change appears as a revision rather than silently replacing the original text. Undo the test afterward if appropriate.

Choose what to display

The markup view controls how much revision detail appears on screen; it does not decide whether revisions have been accepted. In the Windows desktop app, use Review > Display for Review to choose a view. The labels can vary slightly by version, but the main choices are:

Simple Markup: Shows a cleaner page with indicators, such as a line in the margin, where revisions exist. Select an indicator to inspect nearby changes.
All Markup: Shows revisions in detail, including inserted and deleted text and, when enabled, formatting changes and comments. This is useful for a full review.
No Markup: Displays the document as it would look with the proposed changes applied, without showing the revision marks. The revisions are still pending.
Original: Shows the document as it appeared before the pending changes. This view also does not discard the revisions.

A common mistake is to choose No Markup and assume that the document is now final. It is only a viewing choice. Reopen All Markup to see pending changes, or explicitly accept or reject them to resolve the review.

Use Review > Show Markup to control which kinds of changes are visible, such as comments, insertions and deletions, or formatting. If a colleague says a change is missing, check both the display mode and the Show Markup settings before assuming the revision was deleted.

Review, accept, or reject edits

For a careful review, go to Review and use the navigation controls in the Changes area to move to the previous or next revision. Select a change to inspect its context, then choose Accept or Reject. In Word for Windows, the Accept and Reject controls have menus that include options for handling the selected change, moving to another change, or resolving all changes. Read the menu choice before selecting an option that applies to the entire document.

Accepting a deletion removes the deleted text from the final document; rejecting it restores that text. Accepting an insertion keeps the inserted text, while rejecting it removes the insertion. These actions resolve the marked revision rather than merely hiding it. You can generally undo a recent accept or reject with Ctrl+Z on Windows or Command+Z on Mac, but do not rely on Undo as a long-term record of review decisions.

A sensible review sequence is:

Save a working copy or confirm that the document is stored where collaborators expect it.
Choose All Markup so that edits are visible, and inspect comments or formatting marks if they matter.
Move through revisions one at a time, reading enough surrounding text to understand each edit.
Accept, reject, or discuss each change; add a comment when the decision needs an explanation.
When the review is complete, check for unresolved changes and comments before preparing the final copy.

For a short document, reviewing each change individually gives the most control. For a document whose revisions have already been approved, an Accept All option may save time, but first verify that it applies to the intended scope and that no unresolved suggestions should remain.

Formatting, comments, and reviewer details

Text edits are only part of a review. A heading-level change, a table adjustment, or altered emphasis can affect meaning and presentation. If formatting revisions make the page hard to read, use Show Markup to temporarily hide formatting marks while reviewing the text, then inspect formatting separately. Hiding a markup category does not accept those changes.

Comments help explain why a revision was suggested or ask a question without changing the document’s wording. In the desktop app, add a comment from Review > New Comment after selecting text or placing the cursor where the note belongs. The exact comment controls can differ across Word versions. Resolve or delete comments according to the team’s process; a resolved comment may remain available in the thread, while a deleted comment is removed.

To check who made revisions, display All Markup and look at the author labels or balloons. If the displayed name is not useful, Word’s account or application settings may let the author adjust the name used for future edits. Changing that setting should not be treated as a way to authenticate past edits or to rewrite the history reliably.

Track Changes in shared documents

When several people edit a document, agree on a review process before work begins. For example, one person might make tracked edits, another might accept or reject them, and questions might stay in comments until resolved. If everyone accepts changes as soon as they appear, later reviewers may lose the chance to inspect the original proposals.

Word’s tracking controls can include a scope choice, such as tracking changes by everyone or only changes made by the current editor, depending on the app and version. For a collaborative review, confirm the scope rather than assuming that the button is capturing every contributor’s work. In a file stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, coauthoring and synchronization can also affect when another person’s edits appear. Allow changes to sync and avoid making conflicting edits offline when the document is being actively reviewed.

Before sharing a final version, decide whether recipients need to see the review history. Accepting or rejecting revisions removes those pending marks from the document’s current review state; changing to No Markup does not. If you need to preserve both a clean reading copy and a review record, keep separate, clearly named copies and store them in an approved location.

Common problems and how to fix them

Edits look ordinary, not marked: Check Review > Track Changes and make sure tracking is on before editing. If the text was changed while tracking was off, turning it on later does not generally recreate those earlier revisions.
Markup seems to have disappeared: Switch Display for Review to All Markup and check Show Markup. The document may simply be showing Simple Markup or No Markup.
The final page still shows deletions: The edits may still be pending. Accept or reject them; changing the display mode alone does not resolve them.
A revision is hard to select: Click within the changed text or use the previous and next change controls on the Review tab. For dense markup, widen the window or use the Reviewing Pane if it is available in your version.
Someone else’s changes are absent: Confirm that you have the latest synchronized copy, that markup categories are not hidden, and that the tracking scope includes the relevant edits. Ask the contributor to check whether tracking was enabled while they edited.

For documents with many revisions, the Reviewing Pane can provide a list or summary of changes and make it easier to move through them. Its exact layout and available commands vary between desktop and web versions. It is a navigation aid, not a substitute for reading the affected passages in context.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I turn off Track Changes in Word?
Go to Review > Track Changes and click the control to turn it off. This stops Word from recording new edits as tracked revisions; it does not accept or remove revisions already in the document.

Does No Markup remove Track Changes?
No. No Markup changes the display so the document looks cleaner, but pending revisions remain. Use Accept or Reject to resolve them.

Can I accept all changes at once?
Yes, the Accept menu in Word’s Review tab includes an option to accept all changes in the document in supported desktop versions. Use it only after checking that every pending revision is approved; otherwise, review changes individually.

Can I track changes in Word without showing them?
Yes. You can keep tracking enabled and choose No Markup for a cleaner view. Remember that the revisions remain in the file and can be shown again by selecting All Markup.

Why can’t I see who made a change?
Check that All Markup and the relevant markup categories are visible. Author information also depends on the identity settings used when the change was made, so it may be incomplete or unhelpful.

Preparing a clean final copy

When decisions are complete, review the document once more in All Markup and resolve the remaining revisions. Decide what to do with comments separately, then switch to No Markup or reopen the file to check the resulting text and layout. A final visual pass can catch awkward wording, broken line breaks, or formatting that became noticeable only after edits were accepted.

If you need to retain the proposed edits for reference, save a review copy before resolving them and a separate final copy afterward. Use descriptive filenames or your organization’s version history rather than assuming that hidden markup is an adequate archive. That small distinction helps readers know whether they are looking at a working draft, a document awaiting approval, or the version intended for use.

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Sources: Function behaviour and menu paths: Microsoft Support documentation for Excel. Method & sources

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