Track Changes Bar in Word: What It Means and How to Use It

In Microsoft Word, the Track Changes bar usually means the vertical line in the page margin beside text that has been edited. It is a visual change bar: choose Review > Display for Review > Simple Markup to show it, or use Review > Track Changes to start recording edits. If you meant a toolbar button, Track Changes is on the Review tab.

What the Track Changes bar means

The margin bar marks a line or paragraph where Word has recorded a revision. It is intended as a quick locator, not a full description of the edit. Depending on the view, the bar may appear beside inserted text, deleted text, or other tracked changes in that area. Its color can vary with Word’s settings and the document’s revision history, so color alone is not a reliable way to identify who changed something or what kind of change was made.

To see the details, look at the text itself or switch to a more detailed markup view. Insertions may be underlined or shown in a different color, and deletions may appear with strikethrough or in balloons. The display depends on your markup settings. A bar by itself does not mean that the change has been accepted, rejected, or approved; it only signals that a revision is present in the document.

Word does not have a separate feature officially named the Track Changes bar. People may use that phrase for either the margin indicator or the Track Changes control on the ribbon. The ribbon control turns revision recording on or off; the margin bar is part of how Word displays revisions.

How Track Changes works

When Track Changes is on, Word records edits rather than treating them only as ordinary text changes. Depending on the action, it can mark inserted and deleted text, formatting adjustments, and certain other revisions. Later, a reviewer can inspect each revision and accept or reject it. Until a change is accepted or rejected, it remains tracked even if its marks are temporarily hidden.

For example, suppose a colleague changes a sentence from The report is due Friday to The report is due Thursday. Word can show the original wording as a deletion and the new wording as an insertion. In Simple Markup, the margin bar helps you find the affected passage. In All Markup, you can inspect the old and new wording more directly. The exact colors and layout may depend on the document and Word’s settings.

Track Changes is separate from comments. A comment is a note attached to a passage; it does not, by itself, alter the document text. A tracked edit records a change to the document. A review may contain both, and you can show or hide comments and revisions using markup controls.

Turn Track Changes on or off

In Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, open the Review tab and select Track Changes. The button’s highlighted state indicates that tracking is active. You can also open the arrow beside the button for options such as tracking changes for everyone or only your own edits, depending on the available controls. On Windows, Ctrl+Shift+E toggles Track Changes. On a Mac, use the Review tab’s Track Changes control; the keyboard shortcut is Command+Shift+E.

Open the document and select the Review tab.
Select Track Changes to begin recording new edits.
Make a small test edit if you need to confirm that Word is marking revisions.
Select Track Changes again when you want to stop recording further edits.

Turning tracking off only stops Word from recording new changes. It does not accept or reject revisions already in the document. Those outstanding revisions remain until someone resolves them. This distinction matters when preparing a final copy: switching off the button is not the same as removing markup or approving all edits.

In Word for Mac, controls are also on the Review tab, though their grouping and labels can differ slightly by release. Word for the web has review controls as well, but its ribbon layout and available options may not match the desktop app exactly. If you cannot find a control, check that you are using the Review tab and that the document is open in an editing view rather than a read-only view.

Choose a markup view and read the bar

In Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, use Review > Display for Review to choose how much revision detail appears. The main choices are useful for different tasks:

Simple Markup: Shows a cleaner page and margin bars that flag places with revisions. Select a bar or its nearby text to inspect the change.
All Markup: Displays tracked edits in more detail, including insertions and deletions. This is useful when checking the exact wording and scope of proposed changes.
No Markup: Shows the document as it would look with the revisions applied, without displaying the revision marks. The changes are still tracked and can still be reviewed.
Original: Shows the document as it appeared before pending tracked changes. This is a way to compare against the earlier text, not a command to discard edits.

The Review tab’s Show Markup menu lets you control categories such as comments, insertions and deletions, and formatting, as well as whose revisions are shown. These filters can make a busy document easier to inspect. If a margin bar remains but the detail you expect is missing, check whether the relevant category or reviewer has been filtered out.

For a detailed list of revisions, open the Reviewing Pane from the Review tab. Depending on the Word layout, it can display changes in a side pane or below the document. The pane helps you move through many revisions, but it does not replace reading the surrounding text: a small wording change can alter the meaning of a whole sentence.

Hide the bar or remove the tracked changes

If you only want a cleaner screen, choose Review > Display for Review > No Markup. This hides revision indicators and markup in the current view; it does not erase the revisions. Choosing Simple Markup restores the margin bars, while All Markup exposes more details. These are display choices, so other people opening the document may see different markup depending on their own view settings.

To resolve revisions, use the Accept and Reject controls in the Review tab’s Changes group. You can move between edits with Previous and Next, then decide whether to accept or reject each one. Accepting incorporates the proposed edit into the document; rejecting removes that proposed edit and returns the affected text to its prior state. Review the context before making either choice, especially in a shared or important document.

Word also provides options to accept or reject multiple changes, including all changes, through the menus associated with the Accept and Reject controls. Using an all-changes command is a substantive decision, not just a way to hide bars. If the document is being reviewed by others, check with the relevant collaborators before accepting or rejecting revisions in bulk. Save a separate copy first if you may need to preserve the review version.

Deleting a comment is different from accepting or rejecting an edit. Likewise, hiding comments or choosing No Markup does not remove them. A final document should be checked for both pending revisions and comments, and the reviewer should confirm the final appearance rather than assuming that a clean-looking page has no review data.

Why the bar may be missing or confusing

If you expect a margin line but cannot see one, first check Display for Review. All Markup may show edits directly in the text, while No Markup suppresses the visual indicators. Simple Markup is the view most associated with the margin bar. Also check Show Markup filters: if revisions, a reviewer, or a category is hidden, the visible page may not show every change.

Other common explanations include:

There are no pending revisions in that area. Track Changes may be on now, but that does not create bars until an edit is made.
Tracking was off when the edit happened. Ordinary edits made while tracking is off are not retroactively marked as revisions.
The document is in a different view or window size. A narrow window, page layout change, or different app version can make markup appear in a different place.
The change is shown in a balloon or inline. Look at the surrounding text and the selected markup view before concluding that the revision disappeared.
You are looking at a filtered set of reviewers. Show Markup can limit which people’s changes appear.

If a document looks final but you are unsure whether edits remain, switch to All Markup and inspect the Reviewing Pane. Do not rely on the absence of a bar in No Markup as proof that revisions have been removed. To ensure that no tracked edits remain, review and resolve them rather than merely changing the display.

Working with reviewers and shared documents

In a collaborative review, margin bars help readers scan for edited sections, but they do not provide a complete audit trail by themselves. The detailed markup and, where available, reviewer information help explain who made a change. A document can contain contributions from several reviewers, and Show Markup filters may hide some of them from view without deleting their work.

Before sending a document for review, turn on Track Changes if you want recipients’ edits to be recorded. Give reviewers a clear instruction about whether they should edit directly, add comments, or do both. For example, ask them to revise wording with Track Changes and use comments to explain a concern that cannot be resolved through a simple text edit. This keeps proposed language distinct from discussion.

When the review is complete, inspect the revisions, make decisions about the comments, and save the intended final version. If collaborators need to see the review history, retain a marked-up copy as well as a clean reading copy. A clean display and a clean document are not the same thing: No Markup changes what appears on screen, while accepting or rejecting revisions changes the tracked state.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I show the Track Changes bar in Word?
On Windows, select Review > Display for Review > Simple Markup. This view shows margin indicators for areas with tracked changes. On Mac, use the corresponding Display for Review control on the Review tab; the exact layout can vary by version.

How do I remove the red line in the margin?
Choose No Markup to hide the bar and other revision marks from the current view. To remove the underlying revisions, review them and accept or reject them. Hiding the line does not resolve or delete edits.

Does turning off Track Changes accept edits?
No. Turning the Track Changes button off stops recording new edits, but revisions already in the document remain pending until accepted or rejected.

Why can I see a bar but not the changes?
The document may be using Simple Markup, which emphasizes the affected area without showing every detail inline. Select All Markup, check Show Markup filters, or open the Reviewing Pane to inspect the revision.

Can I accept all changes at once?
Yes. Use the menu attached to Accept in the Review tab’s Changes group and choose the all-changes option available in your Word version. This commits revisions rather than merely hiding them, so inspect the document and save a copy first if you may need the marked-up version.

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

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