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!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

65 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2016-08-11T09:14:58+00:00

    Wow, I can't believe it's been almost two years since I started this thread! I just wanted to mention that I no longer have the problem, presumably because my clients eventually all upgraded their own versions of Office. What I would suggest to the people who are still experiencing this problem - go to your clients and ask them to upgrade their software. At a certain point, if there are technical problems because the editor has stayed with the times and the client hasn't, it becomes the client's responsibility to put in the time and money required to fix the issue - not the editor's. MS 97 - 2003 is simply obsolete at this point. We can all go and blame Microsoft for this, but that won't resolve the immediate problem (though it might make you feel better).  Anyway

    • good luck!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Stefan Blom 352.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-08-11T01:17:24+00:00

    I haven't received any news on this topic, unfortunately.

    Just to be clear, you have selected the option at File | Options | General to "Always use these values regardless of sign in to Office"? Also, if you look at Review | Show Markup | Specific People only lists one name (= your user name)?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-09T06:26:12+00:00

    Hi Stefan,

    I am having the same problem as Kristin1234 and MBen-Gad. And this has happened after I switched to MS Office 2013, from 2007 version.

    1. On the same PC, with the same USERID, on the same document, on the same day, even after saving the document (Ctrl+S), when I edit the document in track mode, it shows the changes under my name. Then, when I close and reopen the doc, and revise the same changes I made a little while ago, it shows them in track as well, although in my name as well.
    2. When I compare two Word documents, it does not allow me to view the document in Print Layout.

    There is something seriously wrong with the Track Changes feature of MS Word 2013.

    Pls assist in resolving these, thanks.

    Joy

    Hi Stefan,

    I'm having the same problem.  I received a MS 97 - 2003 document from a customer that I am now editing.  It's a legal contract that I need to send back to my customer, and we'll be going back and forth for many rounds to come.   I spent six hours making changes yesterday, and when I closed and re-opened it (on the same PC, with the same login, within an hour or so), it now tracks my new edits as changes to the text I added earlier.  It actually shows my same user name as two different individuals (and in two different colors).  So, let's say I added a paragraph yesterday, and now today I want to delete it.  When I delete it, it shows as struck-out text, it doesn't just disappear like I wanted it to.  Saving and re-opening the document did not resolve the issue.  My own items that I moved or deleted are still showing as moved or deleted.  I also tried to save it as a Word 2013 document, but that didn't help either.     

    I have hundreds of minor modifications to make and I don't have time to go through accepting every tiny change.  Ugh!  I'm going crazy!

    I really look forward to any insight you can provide from the MS team.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Stefan Blom 352.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-06-20T12:40:42+00:00

    Yes, my reply was only in response to the specific text lines that I quoted from JFerris' post.

    I'm aware of the problem that different edits by the same user get different colors in a single session as discussed in this thread. It's still not clear if this is by design or if it is a bug. (I might add that I am not particularly fond of this, no matter if it is by design or a bug.)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2015-06-19T06:17:39+00:00

    Stefan - I assume you're referring to this: 

    Q: If Fred's revisions are shown in red on my machine, will they also be red on someone else's machine?

    "Maybe, maybe not. Don't rely on any one author's revisions being displayed in a particular colour from day to day, or from machine to machine. Word likes to be creative, and you can't control its creative urges!"

    But that's not what's happening with Word 2013. The problem that's been annoying everyone is that the SAME author's revisions can appear simultaneously in two different colors. In the older versions, yes, changes might change color from session to session - but this would be across the board for each author.

    My own problem has been resolved (thanks to Jacques), but I've continued to follow this conversation with interest!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments