Why can't I see changes in track changes list in margin? Only deletions are showing up, not additions.

Insertions are shown inline and usually distinguished by a colored underline, but you can customize how insertions are displayed.

I've opened the same heavily edited document in Word from Microsoft 365 and in Word 2019, Word 2013, Word 2010, Word 2007, and Word 2003. They all behave the same way: When I select Show Markup > Balloons > Show Revisions in Balloons, deletions appear in balloons but insertions appear only inline. You can suggest adding insertions to the balloons list, but Microsoft rarely changes things that have a long history like this.

As long as this is the situation, it's important to set the formatting for insertions to a color that stands out from the text so you can see it easily. When you hover the mouse pointer over any revision, its details appear in a tooltip (this depends on having checked the box at File > Options > Display > "Show document tooltips on hover").

Contrary to your final sentence, I find that single-clicking (or at worst, double-clicking) on an item in the Reviewing Pane does scroll the document to the location of the revision. Again, this is the same in all the Word versions that I tried.

Thanks so much for your reply.

I have the Show revisions in balloons selected, but have tried variations.

Why would this program *not* show something inserted when tracking changes?

I do not understand what the point is. It is a very important piece of editing and included in other editing programs.

Thank you!

Thank you for your reply and suggestion.

When I go to the 'Track Changes Options' window, my options are:

Ink

Insertions and Deletions

Formatting

All three are selected. I tried unselecting each one, then reselected each one. Insertions are still not showing up.

This makes editing a document very difficult because you cannot easily tell most of the changes that have been made.

Again, these are not showing up in the "balloons" to the right of my screen. When I select the 'Revisions' button a list of revisions (including insertions and deletions) show up on the left pane. But this is just a running list and if you click on one of the items, it does not connect to the edit in the text of the document.

Hello,

My name is EngineTyme, an Independent Advisor and a Microsoft user like you and I would be glad to help you.

I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues with the track changes list in Word. It seems that only deletions are showing up in the margin, and not additions. This issue could be caused by a number of factors, such as the font settings or the track changes settings.

You can also try checking the track changes settings to make sure that they are set up correctly. Here are the steps to check the track changes settings:

1. Open the document that you want to edit.
2. Click on the ‘Review’ tab in the ribbon.
3. In the ‘Tracking’ group, click on the ‘Track Changes’ button.
4. Click on the ‘Track Changes Options’ button.
5. In the ‘Track Changes Options’ window, make sure that the ‘Insertions’ option is checked.
6. Click ‘OK’ to save the changes and close the window.

“Give back to the Community. Help the next person who has this issue by indicating if this reply solved your problem. Click Yes or No below. “

Please let me know if you have any questions or concern.

Best regards, EngineTyme.