Author info getting erased from comments

[Wayt Gibbs]

I am editing a document in .docx format with Track Changes enabled. Each time
I edit a comment, it intially appears correctly with my initials (as entered
in the Word Options dialog), and when hovering over the comment a balloon
appears that correctly displays my name and the timestamp for the comment.

However, each time I save the file (Ctrl-S), Word changes all the comments I
have entered. (Bizzarely, the change is only updated onscreen after paging up
or down and then back to the page with the new comment.) All new comments are
revised so that there is no longer a timestamp, the comment identifier is A##
rather than WWG##, and hovering over the comment pops up a balloon that says
only "Author commented:"


The same is true for insertions, deletions, and formatting changes.

As a result of this bug, comments and changes entered in this document by
other reviewers have been anonymized and I cannot tell who changed what.
The feature works properly in other Word documents, but in this one, Track
Changes is busted.

Two questions:
1) How can I prevent this bug from occurring or stop it once it has occurred?
2) Is there any way to revise the authorship of a comment and/or
insertion/deletion/formattting revision so that Word will display it as being
made by a particular reviewer?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Do you have "Remove personal information from file properties on save"
checked on the Security tab of Tools | Options? If so, that would be the
explanation.

 

[Wayt Gibbs]

Yes, that's it! One of my coworkers apparently turned this option on when
working on the document in Word 2003, and it stuck when I opened it in Word
2007.

For future reference of others who have this problem, here's how you solve
it in Word 2007:

Office menu: Word options (button at bottom of menu)
Trust Center
Trust Center Settings...
Privacy Options
uncheck "Remove personal information from file properties on save"

Thanks, Suzanne!

Wayt