One of the most useful features of Word 2007, especially when collaborating with colleagues or team members in other offices is Track Changes.  Combined with the comment feature it is easy to understand what changes have taken place in a document, and why!

Here is an example of what you can do with Track Changes, and a Comment.

How to turn on Track Changes in Word 2007

1. Click the “Review” Tab in the Word 2007 Ribbon
2. Click the “Track Changes” button

If you want to incorporate all the changes one of your colleagues made, or reject some whilst approving others, you can do that with the buttons in the “Changes” group, again in the “Review” tab of the Word 2007 Ribbon.

To accept the change, simply click “Accept”.  To reject, click “Reject”.  To move between changes, you can use the “Previous” and “Next” buttons.  Pretty simple really

How to add a Comment in Word 2007

To add a comment, again on the “Review” tab of the Ribbon, in the “Comments” group, click on “New Comment”.  You will then be able to type your comment into the balloon on the side of the document. 

Note that when you add a comment, it will begin with your initials.  To change your initials, click on the Office Orb, in the top right hand corner of the screen, and then select “Word Options”.  In the “Popular” section (should be the default when you open the options dialog box) there is a text field where you can change the initials.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER WHEN USING TRACK CHANGES AND COMMENTS IN WORD 2007…

… is to run the document inspector (Office Orb -> Prepare -> Inspect Document) before publishing the document.  Using the document inspector you can be assured that any of your comments or tracking balloons will not be visible to readers of the document.  Especially important if the comments give away some of your trade secrets, or disrespect one of your team mates in some way

’till next time

TNP

tags: review, track changes, tutorial, word 2007