Track changes turning itself on

[mweaver]

Hi:

Has anyone seen a problem with the Track Changes feature of Word
whereby it spontaneously turns itself on in parts of a document even
though this feature was not enabled? Another user also tells me they
have had a problem where Track Changes reappears in documents
exchanged between different users even though all changes in the
original document had been accepted and Track Changes turned off
before it was emailed.

Thanks,

Michael

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Not noticed this....what version of Word and OS?

There is probably a keyboard shortcut to turn on Track Changes that you
could try disabling. It's also not that hard to single-click the TRK
button in the status bar and overlook the little glowing dot that
signifies "on."

*Many* many people don't understand that they need to accept changes,
not just turn off View | Markup--it sounds like you do, but are you
*sure* your users do?

I *think*, though I'm not so familiar with this, that sending out a
document that has been Protected for Changes might turn on tracked
changes without user intervention.

 

[Jeff Wiseman]

Hi:

Has anyone seen a problem with the Track Changes feature of Word
whereby it spontaneously turns itself on in parts of a document even
though this feature was not enabled? Another user also tells me they
have had a problem where Track Changes reappears in documents
exchanged between different users even though all changes in the
original document had been accepted and Track Changes turned off
before it was emailed.

Well this posting got my attention. The interesting thing is it
occurs frequently to me on my work PC running Windows XP and
Office 2003.

When doing an export from Word to DOORS, if the export fails for
some reason (screwy picture or table, etc.) I get this behavior.
All of a sudden it's doing track changes. The funny thing is, if
I turn track changes off again, it will come back on
automatically each time I try to make a change until I quit
completely out of Word and restart it.

I know that this is a Mac group but Word shares most of the same
programming insanity on both platforms.

Unfortunately, other than confirming that Word seems to have
another bug in it, I'm not sure that this is much help to you.

FWIW, I don't trust track changes anyway...

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Michael:

Yes, you can set specific sections of a Word document to Track Changes, and
having done so, you can Protect Document for Tracked Changes (on the
Tools>Protect... Menu).

If you do, the user won't be able to turn tracked changes off in that area
of the document.

Cheers


On 25/10/07 2:38 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "(e-mail address removed)"

Hi:

Has anyone seen a problem with the Track Changes feature of Word
whereby it spontaneously turns itself on in parts of a document even
though this feature was not enabled? Another user also tells me they
have had a problem where Track Changes reappears in documents
exchanged between different users even though all changes in the
original document had been accepted and Track Changes turned off
before it was emailed.

Thanks,

Michael


--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Jeff:

That's DOORS doing that. Sounds like it's using Tracked Changes as part of
its export processing, and leaving the document with Tracked Changes turned
on if it fails to complete.

You can set specific sections of a Word document to Track Changes, and
having done so, you can Protect Document for Tracked Changes (on the
Tools>Protect... Menu).

If you do, the user won't be able to turn tracked changes off in that area
of the document.

Cheers

Well this posting got my attention. The interesting thing is it
occurs frequently to me on my work PC running Windows XP and
Office 2003.

When doing an export from Word to DOORS, if the export fails for
some reason (screwy picture or table, etc.) I get this behavior.
All of a sudden it's doing track changes. The funny thing is, if
I turn track changes off again, it will come back on
automatically each time I try to make a change until I quit
completely out of Word and restart it.

I know that this is a Mac group but Word shares most of the same
programming insanity on both platforms.

Unfortunately, other than confirming that Word seems to have
another bug in it, I'm not sure that this is much help to you.

FWIW, I don't trust track changes anyway...

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Jeff Wiseman]

Hi Jeff:

That's DOORS doing that. Sounds like it's using Tracked Changes as part of
its export processing, and leaving the document with Tracked Changes turned
on if it fails to complete.

Actually it's a Word macro that Telelogic provides with DOORS for
this pupose. But what you are saying is what I've suspected for a
while.

You can set specific sections of a Word document to Track Changes, and
having done so, you can Protect Document for Tracked Changes (on the
Tools>Protect... Menu).

If you do, the user won't be able to turn tracked changes off in that area
of the document.

John, I haven't tried this at work yet, but the flag ("TRK" box)
at the bottom of the page that shows track changes is on is grey
when this situation occurs (i.e., it seems to be showing that
track changes are off). That is why I assumed that the tracking
was no longer on. When I tried this onthe Mac, the little green
indicator comes on as expected.

I will watch for the protection issue next time. If what you say
is true, then the indicator on my work PC that shows track
changes are active starts to "lie" if you protect the document
(i.e., it says that track changes are off when they are really on).

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Jeff:

That's a pain. The indicator simply means Tracked Changes are "no longer"
being collected. It doesn't mean that the document doesn't contain any

Cheers

Actually it's a Word macro that Telelogic provides with DOORS for
this pupose. But what you are saying is what I've suspected for a
while.




John, I haven't tried this at work yet, but the flag ("TRK" box)
at the bottom of the page that shows track changes is on is grey
when this situation occurs (i.e., it seems to be showing that
track changes are off). That is why I assumed that the tracking
was no longer on. When I tried this onthe Mac, the little green
indicator comes on as expected.

I will watch for the protection issue next time. If what you say
is true, then the indicator on my work PC that shows track
changes are active starts to "lie" if you protect the document
(i.e., it says that track changes are off when they are really on).

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[little_creature]

Hiya Jeff,
There is a addin called Remove hidden date available at MS site (MS is the
manufacturer) This clear all problematic data from document, sometimes it
even help me to repair a broken document. It's available for PC only but it
worths. Not to mention that all your private data a remeoved as well, which
is very handy if you share documents. I would try to run that on your file,
that should clear the track changes as well.