Track Changes Revisited

The Comments feature of Track Changes is an important tool for copyedtiors. It allows us to “talk” to the author. While editing a manuscript, I sometimes come across a sentence or paragraph that I cannot understand; I’m not sure what the author is saying. He may be ambiguous or vague or just plain unclear. Or maybe I have a suggestion of some sort, like adding a metaphor or simile. I can address any number of things with the Comment.

Making sure my Track Changes is on, put the cursor after the word you want to comment on, then find a little yellow Comment icon on the toolbar (to the right of the Reject Change button) and click on that. Depending on how my Options are set (see below), the word I chose will be highlighted in red. In the right-hand margin a “Comment” box will open and is attached to the chosen text with a red line. In the box I then type my question, suggestion, or comment to the author. Although I’ve made no changes in the text, the Comment alerts the author to something  he or she must address. Once he’s responded to my Comment, he can then delete it (click on the Comment to highlight it, right click, then choose Delete Comment).

Track Changes offers options as to how you want your changes to look. Again, making sure Track Changes is on, right click TRK at the bottom of the Word screen and select Options. A box will open that will allow you to choose several options of how you want Track Changes to perform.

The first section is called Markup. The left column gives you a drop-down menu of choices and to the right, another drop-down menu of colors, for Insertions, Deletions, Formatting, Changed Lines, and Comment Color. Select how you want your changes to look.

The next section is called Balloons, with a choice of Always, Never, or Only for Comments/Formatting. I pick Only for Comments so that my balloon is in the right-hand margin. If you’d rather have your comment showing along the bottom of the screen, choose Never.

If you pick Never, the remaining Options screen becomes shaded. But if you select Always or Only, you can choose to Show lines connecting to text (click on the box).

In the last section, Printing, you have a drop-down menu for choices of how the page will be printed. If you select Preserve, your document will be printed with the Tracked Changes (deletions, insertions, and comments).

So you see, Track Changes does not have to intimidate you. It can be an aid in polishing your great American novel!

*These Track Changes instructions are based on Word 2003. Most Word versions follow this basic format; however, Word 2007 is different from the previous versions and these instructions may not work.