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Redlining (track changes) in MS Word

Anonymous
2022-07-07T21:30:51+00:00

I am often involved in several rounds of contract negotiation, each round having one or more revisions. Sometimes some text is deleted, then modified and added back, then deleted again, then added back with further changes, then deleted again, then added back with the originally proposed text, etc., etc. I would like to be able to color code the additions/overstruck deletions by one party in, say, blue, the additions/overstruck deletions by a different party in red, and the additions/overstruck deletions by a still different party in green (or purple).

How do I do that and maintain the color coding over several rounds of negotiation?

James Sullivan1

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows

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Stefan Blom 340.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2022-07-08T23:37:01+00:00

When you are tracking changes, you can instruct Word to color-code editors. Use the "By author" options in the Advanced Track Changes Options dialog box. Note that Word will assign different colors to different users, but you won't get any control over the specific colors that are being used. In other words, if edits from User A is blue on your computer, the color for User A may very well be different on someone else's computer.

On the Review tab, click the dialog launcher button on the bottom right of the Tracking group. Click Advanced Options. In the Advanced Track Changes options dialog box, change all color options to "By author."

As illustrated by the screen shot below, I have specified "By author" for all options except for insertions and deletions, but you should choose "By author" for everything of course.

Image

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  1. Stefan Blom 340.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-07-08T23:39:10+00:00

    Note that if one user has made an edit, such as an insertion, and someone else edits the insertion further, those two actions won't be marked as separate edits, unless the first edit was accepted before the second edit occurred.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-07-08T10:17:11+00:00

    Dear James Sullivan1,

    Good day! Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

    We went through the post carefully. It seems like you have Word document which needs to be modified several times based on different parties.

    May I know if you edit the document just by yourself for several times based on the additions/overstruck deletions by different parties? If yes, as far as we know, we are afraid there is no build-in feature in Word which can meet this kind of requirement. We apologize for the inconvenience.

    Or is the document is edited for several times by different people from different parties?

    If yes, you may refer to the information in this article to set tracked changes to appear in different colors for different authors: Change the track changes color (microsoft.com)

    If our understanding of the scenario is not consistent with yours, feel free to point it out. We will try our best to assist you.

    Hope you keep safe and healthy always!

    At the same time, community members who have similar experience are welcome to share insights and suggestions here.

    Sincerely,

    Tina | Microsoft Community Moderator

    ***Note: In the event that you're unable to reply to this thread, please ensure that your Email address is verified in the Community Website by clicking on Your Account Name > "My Profile" > "Edit Profile" > Add your Email Address > tick "Receive email notifications" checkbox > click on "Save".***

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