Track changes - changes all reviewers to "author" upon savingdocument - fix or workaround?

[Mike S.]

I'm using Office 2007 to work on a document with multiple reviewers.
When I open the document, all prior revisions or comments (mine and
other's) are attributed to "author". When I make changes, they are
tracked under my name, until I save the document, at which point all
comments and revisions are changed to "author", so instead of multiple
authors and colors, I get only one.

I've tried saving the document as a 97-2003 document and a "current"
Word document, both with and without compatability maintained. I'm
not sure what type of document it was originally, but suspect those
working on it have both 2007 and older versions of Word.

I've also tried cutting and pasting into a new document, which solves
the author attribution problem, and the comments remain, but all prior
redlining is lost, so that solution is no good.

Looking for a fix or a workaround that isn't too time-consuming.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In Word 2003, this option was in Tools | Options | Security: "Remove
personal information from file properties on save." This option is now found
at Office Button | Word Options | Trust Center | Trust Center Settings |
Privacy Options (for some reason this setting is disabled for me).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Follow-up: From Help I learned that the option I described is available only
in documents created in previous versions of Word in which that option was
enabled. For new Word 2007 documents, you use the Document Inspector
instead. From your description, however, I would guess that you are dealing
with a document created in an older version and this option is enabled, so
you should be able to disable it from the location I described.

 

[PattyE]

We have encountered the same problem with Track Changes in Word 2003 and have
this option deselected and the problem is still taking place. Is there any
other answer to this question? Thanks...Patty

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Patty,

What version of Word are you using?

Are these documents from other people you're incorporating? You can only control the personal information setting for work you do,
if others have already cleared the document turning off the option doesn't do much.

If you use these steps what result to do you get for the author list?

1. Start a new document and type
=rand(20,10) {enter key)
to create sample text

2. Turn on track changes and make some changes to the text.

3. Change your User Name spelling temporarily:

If prior to Word 2007
Tools=>Options=>User Information (prior to Word 2007)

If Word 2007
Office Button=>Word Options=>Popular
or
Review=>Tracking=>Track Changes=>Change User name

4. Make additional changes to the document.

Assuming your settings are for color by author the last changes should be in a separate color.

5. Close and reopen the document. Did the different author names remain?

=====================
We have encountered the same problem with Track Changes in Word 2003 and have
this option deselected and the problem is still taking place. Is there any
other answer to this question? Thanks...Patty <<
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[PattyE]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your response.

We are using Word 2003. One lawyer here has had problems when working on
documents with track changes. The setting is set to "By Author" and the
document works at first with two or more authors. When she saves, however,
her documents lose all of the separate author history and all the changes
melt into one "Author."

I tried the test on her PC and it did in fact show 2 different authors.

The setting under Tools | Options | Security to Remove personal information
on save has always been deselected and that was the first thing rechecked
every time.

She is working with clients on these documents but the strange thing is that
at first multiple authors are differentiated. We do have a metadata
scrubber, but she does not use it.

Thanks for any more enlightenment you may have.

Patty

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Does she have "Remove personal information from document properties on save"
checked on the Security tab of Tools | Options?

 

[PattyE]

No, as stated, this has never been selected in the whole process.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Patty,

I'm assuming that the files being worked with are always opened from the hard drive and not as email attachments.

With the test, this occured in a new document (with two named authors) rather than a document that came from someone else?

In Tools=>Options=>Save be sure to
Disable: 'Allow Fast Saves'
Enable: 'Make local copy...'
the first can cause problems, the first can help prevent them

If you've already run a repair/reinstall of Office, from either the Help menu or from Add/Remove Programs in the Windows control
panel, and the problem persists there are some additional things you may want to look at.

1. Start a new document, type a space, then use
File=>Web Page Preview to open it in your browser.

In the browser use View=>View Source and look for this entry in the
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings> section near the top of the source view.

<o:RemovePersonalInformation/>

That entry should not be there if the box for personal information is not checked under Tools=>Options=>Security.

You may want to also try the #1 check on a document that is received from someone else (i.e. the setting may already be in force
when the document comes in).

2. Use Alt, T, I to bring up the Add-ins dialog is there an entry for the Remove Hidden Data (RHD) add-in for Word 2003?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/834427
or any add-in that may be related to your document management/metascrubber (they may not appear if they're COM Add-ins)

3. Use File=>Open and open Normal.dot or other template that is used for the basis of the documents where you're seeing this and
with the template open check the setting of the personal information box in
Tools=>Options=>Security
(Also check other templates listed as Global using Alt, T, I).

4. In Tools=>Options=>Security set macro security to high, restart Word and see if the author names hold if you repeat the original
test (prior message)

5. Restart Word in Office safe mode (hold ctrl key while starting Word, and repeat the test.

If #4 or #5 still produce the problem then there could be some corruption in Word's registry keys.

=================
Hi Bob,

Thanks for your response.

We are using Word 2003. One lawyer here has had problems when working on
documents with track changes. The setting is set to "By Author" and the
document works at first with two or more authors. When she saves, however,
her documents lose all of the separate author history and all the changes
melt into one "Author."

I tried the test on her PC and it did in fact show 2 different authors.

The setting under Tools | Options | Security to Remove personal information
on save has always been deselected and that was the first thing rechecked
every time.

She is working with clients on these documents but the strange thing is that
at first multiple authors are differentiated. We do have a metadata
scrubber, but she does not use it.

Thanks for any more enlightenment you may have.

Patty >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*