Random people showing up in Track Changes??

Anonymous
2023-02-05T00:30:48+00:00

I am doing revisions on a novel and random people are now showing up in the track changes. I have not shared this document with anyone, but it is stored in my OneDrive. How did these people's names get in my document? They are coming up as reviewers and their names are attached to changes I've made.

This is incredibly concerning and a HUGE privacy violation. Has anyone else seen this??

For what it is worth, I've googled these people and I have NO connection to them at all. But one thing I did notice is that LinkedIn profiles appear for all of them near the top of the Google results. One of them is the CMO of Whole Foods?? I, personally, do not have a LinkedIn profile nor have I ever.

Microsoft Word for Mac v16.69.1

macOS 13.2

EDIT: I updated the screenshot to remove content of document.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | Other | MacOS

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

50 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2023-02-12T20:40:10+00:00

    Well, I got an email from someone on the Word team asking for the entire document, which I can provide for contractual reasons. I asked if there was another way to provide them with what they need. No response. They also never provided a case number or anything.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2023-02-12T20:30:58+00:00

    For the record I am having the same issue and I am a Windows user, however one of the contributors is on MAC.

    (Version 2211 Build 16.0.15831.20220) 64-bit

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2023-02-12T17:17:59+00:00

    Please reply here with the results of your engagement of the Word team. Thanks.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2023-02-10T16:10:56+00:00

    Judging by the high number of view of this question, it is affecting a lot of people.

    If this is hurting your work flow, you can restore the previous month's build of Microsoft Word using Time Machine. Simply restore the Microsoft Word.app in the Applications folder using the previous month's build.

    Learn how to use Time Machine to restore specific files

    You might use the Menu Bar and choose Help > Check for Updates and set AutoUpdate to Manual until this is resolved in a future update of Microsoft Word.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2023-02-09T16:40:56+00:00

    Hi

    Please follow the instructions listed earlier and report the problem. It's important for multiple reports to be submitted, else Microsoft may conclude only one Mac is affected.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments