Editing in Word—a Quick Reference (Back to Table of Contents)
- To turn Track Changes on or off: Click the Track Changes button on the Reviewing toolbar, double-click TRK at the bottom of the screen, or press Ctrl + Shift + E.
- To set markup options: On the Reviewing toolbar, go to Show > Options and choose colors and styles for different types of changes.
- To turn balloons on or off: On the Reviewing toolbar, go to Show > Balloons and choose Always if you want to use them for all your changes, Never if you don’t want to use them, or Only for Comments/Formatting if that’s your preference. You can also choose balloon settings under Show > Options.
- To set how changes are viewed: On the Display for Review toolbar, choose Final Showing Markup while you’re working, to see changes as you make them, and Final when you do your final reading, to get a clean view of the finished product.
- To insert new text: With Track Changes on, place your cursor where you want the new text and start typing.
- To delete text: With Track Changes on, place your cursor at the start of the text you want to delete and hold down the Delete key.
- To add a comment: Place your cursor at the spot in the text where you want to insert a comment, then go to the Reviewing toolbar and click Insert Comment. If you’re using balloons, one will appear, and you can type your remarks in it. If you’re not using balloons, the Reviewing Pane will open; type your comment there. To close the Reviewing Pane, click the Reviewing Pane button on the Reviewing toolbar. (If you want to bypass Word’s commenting tool and just type your remark directly in the text, it’s a good idea to set it off with something like double braces or asterisks to make searching for comments easy.)
- To remove a comment: If you’re using balloons, highlight the balloon that contains the comment you want to remove and click the Reject Change/Delete Comment button on the Reviewing toolbar. If you’re not using balloons, highlight the comment number bracketed in the text and press Delete or click the Reject Change/Delete Comment button on the Reviewing toolbar. (Naturally, if you’ve typed a comment directly in the text, just use the Delete key.)
- To accept or reject changes: Step forward through marked changes by clicking the Next button on the Reviewing toolbar. Step backward through them by clicking the Previous button. To accept a change, make sure it’s highlighted, then click the Accept Change button. To reject one, click the Reject Change/Delete Comment button. Be very leery of choosing an Accept All or Reject All option.
- To search: Use the Find function under the Edit menu. Narrow your search with the options under the More button. Go to the Replace tab to automatically replace text once it’s found (but be very leery of choosing Replace All).
- To work with a split screen or multiple documents: Go to Window and choose Split to create two independent halves of a single document; choose Arrange All to see and work with multiple documents on the screen at the same time; and choose “Compare Side by Side with . . .” to see and work with two documents side by side.
- To spell-check your document: Place the cursor at the beginning of the document and click the Spelling and Grammar button on the Basic toolbar.