Track changes and comments

[Eujo]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

I use track changes and the comments function for editing books. In my older version of Word I used to be able to show all the strikethroughs etc onscreen and have a list of comments (queries, etc) at the bottom. I now have the 2004 version and love the bubbles for the comments but can't seem to show the edited changes onscreen at the same time as the comments. I do not want all the deletions and insertions showing up in bubbles as well as the comments because that is too difficult to follow (likewise I don't want hundreds of lines at the bottom of the page with all the insertions and deletions written out in longhand). And it's also not clear waving my mouse over the page looking for small brackets to indicate comments when the bubble feature is switched off. Is there a simple way of doing this because I've spent hours trying to work it out.

I also have another related question. I am editing a big manuscript with Track Changes on and I want to email a few pages to the author so they can see what amendments I have made - i.e. I want the tracked changes
(and comments! Grrrr) showing onscreen. If I copy and paste the pages I want to send, then I can't seem to make the tracked changes stay there. The comments are there but not the amendments. Is there any way of doing this without sending the whole document just so they can read a few pages?

I'm sorry if these are 'basic' questions but I can't seem to find the answers anywhere!

Thanks!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

For Question #2, see here:
http://shaunakelly.com/word/trackchanges/HowTrackChangesWorks.html#Copying
(the page is written for WinWord--MacWord ought to behave the same for this)
Alternatively, if you all are doing is showing the comments, printing a
few pages to PDF and sending that might be easy. Of course, if you have
enough markup, the balloons get truncated and PDF doesn't work.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Sorry! I have the same complaint about Reviewing/Markup (track changes
and comments) in Word 2004 (I grade, and I *want* my students to see the
strikethrough). It's not really fixable. Balloons are on or off for
everything, and the Reviewing Pane at the bottom of the screen jumbles
everything together. Please send your feedback to MS--explain it very
carefully so that someone who doesn't use Markup will know what you mean.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/suggestions.mspx
or Help | Send Feedback in Word will always take you to that site.

Word 2008 is marginally improved in that the commented text is
highlighted as well as bracketed, so you can see it easier. But that's
not a reason to upgrade (and if/when you do upgrade, don't delete Office
2004).

Hmm--if you go into the Track Changes preferences, you can set different
colors for Comments/Insertions/Deletions. Such color-coding might help
you make sense of the mess of balloons? Perhaps you could assign
something near invisible to Deletions (Gray-25%?). At least Insertions
don't show in balloons.

 

[MC]

What is visible and what is not can be easily fixed on a document by
document basis. I have one client (on Windows) whose Changes are never
visible -- until I go to Tools -> Track Changes and *make* them visible.

I suspect it has something to do with how the client configures *her*
Track Changes.

Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they're not there!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

One of us misunderstood the question, MC.

I think by "onscreen", Eujo means "in line with text" or "right in the
main text of the document", rather than the literal "visible on screen".
The way stuff shows up if you turn off balloons. Insertions are always
in line with text, regardless of balloons. I read it as "I want to see
deletions inline with text, but comments in balloons. Can I do that?"

Re your client--that's odd. It's not supposed to happen. View | Markup
should be a faster route for you than Tools | Track Changes (it controls
the "highlight changes on screen" box, far as I can tell), but it's
supposed to be forced on by default.

 

[Eujo]

Thanks so much - at least I can copy and paste tracked changes happily now!!

I guess for the rest of it I'll have to send 2 versions of everything - track changes showing in the text in one, and comments in bubbles in the other.
At least I can stop wasting time trying to do something that can't be done now!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I guess for the rest of it I'll have to send 2 versions of everything - track changes showing in the text in one, and comments in bubbles in the other.

Well, that doesn't make any sense. Assuming you are using Word's
features, and not jerry-rigging Track Changes by inserting red text,
then what you do has no effect on what your recipient sees. You'd be
sending them two documents that both show Track Changes and Comments.
But your recipient can easily Hide Comments, turn off balloons and just
see the changes in-line with text, then turn balloons back on and hide
insertions and deletions, getting the same effect as you sending two
versions. (as can you, of course)

Or are you talking about actually *creating* two versions of the edited
document, one with tracked changes and the other with comments,
basically editing it twice? Or sending PDFs?

 

[Eujo]

So I've just discovered when I sent two versions and the recipient who uses Word 2007 on a PC said both versions looked the same. Duh!

 

[contexteditorial]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

I too use Track Changes as a book editor and I can answer your 2nd
question – regarding sending a few pages of a doc to an author.

To copy any text where you have tracked the changes, you need to
switch OFF Track Changes. Otherwise Word sees the copy-and-paste as a
change in itself, and this overwrites your existing changes within the
text. (You will probably know this from moving text around within a
document.)

Then copy the pages and paste them into the new doc (the changes will
show). Finally, switch Track Changes back ON for your author.

Good luck.

Sally

 

[Clive Huggan]

For an editor, from the viewpoint of document stability it's far better to
forget having Track Changes on altogether (and to start with "Accept All"
for any document you receive). When you have had your wicked way with a
document, choose Tools menu => Track Changes => Compare Documents. The new
document created will show all changes but the parent document that you are
working on will remain pristine.

I develop long documents that undergo many edits. This technique has saved
me much aggravation.

For more information, you might like to have a look at some notes on the way
I use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available
as a free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html). Page 67 has details
of what can go seriously wrong with Tracked changes. See also page 70:
'Always remember this if you are tracking changes'.

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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