How to Remove Track Changes in Word Without Losing Edits

To remove tracked edits in Word, save a copy of the document, open Review > Accept, and choose Accept All Changes; then switch Track Changes off so new edits are not marked. If you want to remove comments too, delete them separately. Choosing No Markup only hides revisions—it does not remove them.

What You’ll Need

A Word document you can edit. If it is shared, read-only, or protected, you may need permission or its password before you can accept changes.
A few minutes to review the result. Accepting all changes makes the edited text final, so save a separate copy first if you may need the original revision history.
Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows or Mac. Word for the web has similar review controls, though the available commands and layout can vary.

Step-by-Step

Save a working copy. Open the document and use File > Save As to create a copy with a clear name, such as “Report-final-clean.docx.” In Word for the web, use File > Save As or download a copy, depending on where the document is stored. This protects the original in case you later need to check who changed what. If other people are editing the file, let them know you are preparing a clean version so they do not make conflicting changes while you work.
Show the revisions before removing them. Select the Review tab. In the Tracking area, set the display to All Markup so you can see insertions, deletions, and formatting changes. On Windows, the display menu is usually labeled Display for Review; on Mac, look for the review display menu on the Review tab. The exact placement can vary with ribbon size. This is an inspection step: changing the display does not accept or reject anything.
Review important edits one by one, if needed. Read through the document and decide whether each suggested edit should become part of the final text. Select a change and use Review > Accept or Review > Reject. The navigation arrows beside those commands move between revisions. Accept an insertion to keep the new text; reject it to discard it. Accept a deletion to remove the old text; reject it to keep that text. Use this method when some suggestions need a decision rather than automatic approval.
Accept all remaining changes. When you have decided that every outstanding revision should be kept, open the Accept menu on the Review tab and choose Accept All Changes. In some Word versions, the menu also offers Accept All Changes and Stop Tracking; that option performs both actions. If you do not see it, accept all changes first and turn tracking off in the next step. Avoid choosing Reject All Changes unless you intend to undo every pending edit.
Turn off Track Changes. On Windows, go to Review > Track Changes and click the button to switch it off. If the button has a dropdown, use it to turn tracking off. On Mac, use Review > Track Changes to toggle the feature. The button should no longer appear selected or highlighted. This prevents your next edits from being recorded as revisions; it does not by itself remove revisions already in the document.
Remove comments separately, if the clean copy should not contain them. Tracked changes and comments are different. To delete comments in Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, open Review > Delete and choose Delete All Comments in Document. On Mac, use the Review tab’s Delete menu and choose the same all-comments command if it appears in your version. If you need to keep some comments, select each one and delete only the comments that should go. Deleting comments is not required to accept tracked edits.
Check the document and save it. Set the review display to No Markup, then scan the whole document, including tables, headers, footers, and text boxes. No Markup is useful for checking the clean reading view, but it is not proof that revisions were removed. Switch back to All Markup to confirm the edits are gone; if there are no pending revisions, there should be no change balloons or revision marks. Save with Ctrl+S on Windows or Command+S on Mac.

For a document where every proposed edit should be discarded rather than kept, use the Reject menu and choose Reject All Changes instead of accepting them. Check the resulting text carefully: rejecting all changes restores the pre-edit wording where possible, while accepting all changes keeps the revised wording.

Common Mistakes

Choosing No Markup and assuming the revisions are gone. This changes only what Word displays. The underlying edits remain available and can reappear when someone selects All Markup or opens the file elsewhere. Accept or reject the changes to remove the pending revisions.
Turning off tracking but leaving old revisions in place. Track Changes controls whether future edits are recorded. It does not clean up existing markup. Accept or reject the current revisions separately.
Accepting everything without checking the edits. One incorrect suggestion can become permanent in the clean version. Review disputed passages first, or keep an untouched copy before using Accept All Changes.
Forgetting comments. Comments are not removed by accepting tracked changes. Decide whether comments belong in the final file and delete them separately if they do not.
Confusing accepting with rejecting. Accept keeps the proposed revision; Reject discards it. For example, accepting a deletion removes that text, while rejecting the deletion restores it.

Tips

Make the decision about the document’s purpose first. For a final publication copy, accepting approved revisions is common. For a copy that must preserve the original wording, rejecting proposed edits may be the right choice. If authors have not agreed on every change, resolve those items individually rather than applying a bulk command.
Use All Markup to audit, not to judge the final appearance. It is helpful for seeing the editor’s work, but can make a document look crowded. No Markup gives a cleaner reading view; neither display mode changes the actual revision status.
Keep the original file and a useful filename. A dated or clearly labeled copy makes it easier to distinguish the reviewed version from the version that retains the revision history. Avoid overwriting the only copy when the document is important or has several contributors.
Check more than the body text. Revisions may appear in tables, footnotes, headers, footers, or text boxes. Scroll through the whole file after accepting changes, and inspect page breaks and formatting where a deletion or insertion may have changed the layout.
Coordinate on shared documents. If the file is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, another editor may still be working in it. Agree on who will finalize the revisions, and make sure the clean version finishes syncing before you send or download it.

Troubleshooting

The changes still appear after you selected No Markup. That is expected: No Markup hides the marks. Return to All Markup, open Review > Accept, and choose Accept All Changes if you want the revised text to become final. Then check All Markup again to verify the revisions have been processed.
New changes keep appearing. Track Changes is likely still on, or another editor is making revisions. On Windows or Mac, check the Review tab and turn Track Changes off. If the button is not obvious, widen the Word window or inspect the Tracking group and its dropdown. In a shared file, check with other editors before assuming Word has re-enabled the setting.
You cannot accept or reject changes. The document may be read-only, protected, or open without editing permission. Look for an Enable Editing prompt or a protection notice. If the owner has restricted editing, ask them to remove or change the restriction; do not try to bypass a password or access control.
The Accept All command is missing or disabled. Confirm that you are on the Review tab and that the document contains revisions. If you are in Word for the web, open the file in the desktop app for the full set of controls. Also check whether you have permission to edit and whether the document is in a restricted editing mode.
Some markup remains after accepting all changes. Look for comments, which have their own delete command, and verify the display is not simply showing balloons or formatting marks. If revision marks remain, select All Markup and inspect the affected area; accept or reject any individual changes that were missed. Save, close, and reopen the copy to check that the clean state persists.
The layout changes after accepting revisions. This can happen when edits affect paragraph breaks, tables, or formatting. Review the surrounding text and page layout, then make any ordinary formatting corrections with Track Changes off. If the new layout is wrong, use Undo immediately or reopen the untouched original and create another copy; do not rely on undo after closing the file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does turning off Track Changes remove existing edits?

No. It stops Word from recording new revisions, but existing changes remain. Accept or reject those changes to remove their markup from the document.

Is choosing No Markup the same as accepting all changes?

No. No Markup hides revision marks in the current view. Accept All Changes commits the proposed edits and removes them as pending revisions. A reader can still reveal hidden revisions if they were only concealed.

Can I remove tracked changes but keep comments?

Yes. Accept or reject the revisions, then leave the comments untouched. Comments have separate controls, so do not use Delete All Comments if you need to retain them.

Can I undo Accept All Changes?

Usually, you can use Undo immediately after accepting changes while the document remains open. Once you close the file, undo may no longer be available. Keep an untouched copy if you might need the original revision history.

How do I remove all changes without keeping the edits?

Choose Review > Reject > Reject All Changes. This discards all proposed revisions rather than approving them. Review the restored document before saving, especially if some changes should have been kept.

Do the steps work in Word for the web?

Word for the web includes review and change-acceptance controls, but commands can vary as Microsoft updates the interface. If you cannot find Accept All Changes or need more control, open the document in the desktop Word app and follow the Review-tab steps above.

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