Track Changes function thinks I'm two people

Anonymous
2014-10-26T16:00:11+00:00

I am a copyeditor, which means I use the track changes function all the time. Since I switched to Word 2013 I've had a problem with some documents whereby after I close the document and open it again, the track changes function treats me as a new user. The problem with this is that I often go over any given bit of text several times, potentially making new changes each time, and when the system treats me as a new user, any earlier additions that I later delete show up in the margin as deleted text (rather than simply disappearing).  This is confusing for my clients, who only want to see my final changes and not the history of my train of thought. Of course, I can resolve the problem by rejecting the change instead of deleting the added text, but (a) I don't always remember to do that, and (b) this is still awkward, especially where I rewrite a given bit of text several times, making new additions and deletions each time. Can anyone advise as to how I can alert the system that when I return to a document, it should treat previous tracked changes as still active? I know there must be a way to do this because the problem only arises with some documents. I suppose there is something about the settings in the original document as it is sent to me that affects this, but for the life of me I can't figure out what that is. Thanks to anyone who can help!

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-01-13T18:31:59+00:00

    Hi Stefan,

    It's happening again!!! This is a Word 97-03 document that I've saved based on one that was sent to me. I just checked, and 'always use these values regardless of sign-in to Office' is ticked - so that can't be the problem.  Is there a way I can send you the document as an attachment so you can look at it?

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  2. Stefan Blom 352.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-12-18T18:57:44+00:00

    I was referring to creating a test document, only, not something that you would actually use in your work.

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  3. Stefan Blom 352.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-12-18T18:57:00+00:00

    Please do post back if/when with you encounter this again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-12-18T18:32:53+00:00

    No, I haven't tried that Stefan.  And unfortunately, I'm not usually in the position of starting my contracts as new documents.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-12-04T13:20:44+00:00

    Not yet, because the problem hasn't come up again yet. It doesn't happen with every document. I just finished a long project and will be starting another one soon.... I'll keep you posted. Thanks.

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