Track Changes in Word: How to Turn It On

To turn on Track Changes in Microsoft Word, open the document and select Review > Track Changes on the ribbon. In Word for Windows, you can also press Ctrl+Shift+E; on a Mac, press Command+Shift+E. Once tracking is on, Word marks edits so you and other reviewers can see what changed and decide whether to accept or reject each revision.

Turn on Track Changes in Word for Windows

In the desktop version of Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, open the file you want to review and select the Review tab. Select Track Changes to switch the feature on. When it is active, the button is highlighted or otherwise shown as selected. The exact appearance can vary slightly with the ribbon layout, but the command is on the Review tab.

Open the document in Word and, if needed, save a working copy.
Select Review on the ribbon.
Select Track Changes. If the button has a dropdown arrow, open it to see additional tracking choices.
Make a small test edit, such as adding a word, and check that Word displays it as a revision.

The keyboard shortcut is useful when you want to toggle tracking without navigating the ribbon. Pressing the same shortcut again turns tracking off for future edits. It does not accept, reject, or erase revisions already recorded in the document. Those remain until someone deals with them separately.

Choose whose changes Word tracks

In Word for Windows, the Track Changes dropdown can offer choices such as For Everyone and Just Mine. The wording and availability may depend on the Word version and whether the document is stored in a shared location. Choose For Everyone when the goal is to record edits made by collaborators as well as your own. Choose Just Mine when you want Word to track your edits but not track other people’s edits in the same way.

For most shared reviews, tracking for everyone is the clearest choice: reviewers can see attributed revisions, and the document keeps a record of proposed changes. However, a person’s edits are not necessarily tracked merely because another user switched tracking on earlier. Confirm the tracking setting in the document before a review begins, especially when several people will edit it.

Some Word versions also let an owner restrict changes or lock tracking. If you use a lock, collaborators may be unable to turn tracking off without the password. This can help enforce a review process, but it is not a substitute for securely sharing the file or keeping a backup. Only use a password you can manage and recover through your organization’s approved process.

What Track Changes records and how revisions look

Track Changes records edits such as inserted text, deleted text, and—in supported cases—formatting changes. Word identifies revisions by reviewer, often using a color or label. For example, if a reviewer changes The report is due on Friday to The report is due on Monday, the new word may appear as an insertion and the old word as a deletion. The exact marks depend on the display settings and the document’s layout.

Tracking is different from simply changing text: it preserves the proposed edit as a revision that can be accepted or rejected. It is also different from comments. A comment is a note or question attached to part of the document; it does not itself alter the document’s wording. Reviewers commonly use both—for example, they can replace a sentence using tracked edits and add a comment explaining why.

If marks seem to disappear, they may only be hidden from view. On the Review tab, use the Display for Review menu to choose All Markup when you want to inspect revisions. Simple Markup gives a less detailed view, while No Markup shows how the document would look without visible revision marks. That view does not remove the revisions. Similarly, selecting Original can show the document before the proposed changes. These are display choices, not decisions to accept or reject edits.

Review, accept, or reject edits

Turning tracking on is only the first step. When the review is complete, someone should inspect the revisions and decide which ones become part of the clean document. Use the Review tab’s Previous and Next controls to move through changes. Select a revision and choose Accept or Reject to decide what happens to it. Accepting an insertion keeps the added text; accepting a deletion removes the deleted text. Rejecting a revision returns that portion to its earlier state.

Word also provides options in the Accept and Reject menus to handle multiple revisions, including accepting or rejecting all changes. Use an all-changes command only after reviewing the document and confirming that no proposed edit needs individual attention. In a collaborative or legal review, it is often safer to make decisions revision by revision and retain an untouched copy of the original.

When all revisions have been resolved, turn off Track Changes so new edits are not marked. Turning tracking off does not clear existing markup; accepting or rejecting the revisions is what resolves them. Before sending a final version, switch to All Markup and check that no unresolved changes or comments remain. A document that looks clean in No Markup view may still contain pending revisions.

Track Changes compared with comments and version history

These tools solve related but different problems. Use Track Changes when a reviewer needs to propose exact edits to the text. Use comments when the reviewer needs to ask a question, explain a suggestion, or discuss a passage without changing its wording. For instance, a comment might say, Please confirm this figure, while a tracked revision changes a sentence’s wording.

Version history, available for files saved to supported OneDrive or SharePoint locations, helps you view or restore earlier saved versions of a file. It is not the same as a list of individual tracked edits. Track Changes is usually the better tool for line-by-line approval; version history is useful if you need to compare or recover an earlier state of the whole document. For important work, these features can complement one another, but neither removes the need to review the final file.

Use Track Changes on Mac and Word for the web

In Word for Mac, open the Review tab and select Track Changes. The Mac shortcut is Command+Shift+E, rather than the Windows Ctrl shortcut. The main workflow—recording edits, showing markup, and accepting or rejecting revisions—is similar, though ribbon layout and the exact location of some options can differ between Mac and Windows releases.

In Word for the web, open the document in a browser and use the Review tab’s Track Changes control. Depending on the web interface and account, its dropdown may let you choose whether changes are tracked for everyone or only for you. If you cannot find a particular review or restriction option in the browser, open the document in the desktop app; not every desktop command is available in every web interface. Word on phones and tablets has a more compact interface, so look under the app’s Review controls and check the active state before editing.

Common Track Changes problems

The markup is not visible: Go to Review and select All Markup from Display for Review. Also check Show Markup settings to ensure insertions and deletions are not hidden.
Tracking appears off, but old marks remain: This is expected. The switch controls whether future edits are tracked. Accept or reject existing revisions to resolve them.
My edits are not being marked: Confirm that Track Changes is on and check whether the document is set to track only another reviewer. If the file is shared, verify the tracking scope with its owner.
I cannot turn tracking off: Tracking may be locked or restricted. Ask the document owner or administrator whether a password or policy is controlling the setting.
The final file still shows edits: Check the document in All Markup, not only No Markup. Review and resolve each pending change, then save and reopen the file to confirm the result.

A further point of confusion is that a clean-looking page does not prove that revisions have been removed. Word can hide markup for convenient reading while preserving it in the file. If you are preparing a document for publication or external distribution, explicitly resolve revisions and inspect comments rather than relying on the current visual mode.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does turning Track Changes off delete previous edits?
No. It stops Word from marking new edits. Revisions already in the document remain until you accept or reject them.

Can I turn on Track Changes after editing?
Yes, but Word generally tracks edits made after the feature is enabled. It cannot automatically turn earlier untracked editing into a reliable revision history. If the earlier version matters, compare saved copies or use version history where available.

Why can I see edits but not who made them?
Check that markup is displayed and that reviewer information has not been limited by the current view or document settings. In shared files, confirm that each person is signed in with the intended account. Display and identity details can differ by app and organization settings.

Does Track Changes work when several people edit a document?
It can be used in collaborative documents, including files shared through supported OneDrive or SharePoint workflows. Make sure everyone is working in the shared file and confirm whether tracking is set for everyone. Separate emailed copies can create conflicting versions that are harder to reconcile.

How do I remove all markup before sending a document?
Review the changes, then accept or reject them using the Review tab. Resolve or delete comments as appropriate, save the file, and inspect it in All Markup to confirm no revisions remain. Do not use No Markup alone as a removal method because it only changes what is displayed.

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