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Track Changes Balloons: Show Comments only, not Formatting, and keep it that way?

Anonymous
2011-01-21T13:56:00+00:00

We frequently use Track Changes and Comments (Word 2010, Win 7) in our documents. I set the Track Changes Options to not track formatting and set Balloons to "Only for comments/formatting." This causes the tracked changes to be shown inline, which is what I want to see. The thing is, I do not want to see the balloons for formatting changes, I only want to see balloons for comments. So, in the "Show Markup" drop down, I uncheck "Formatting." This gives me the appearance I want. However, I occasionally need to turn Track Changes off to make an edit that I do not want to show as a tracked change. When I turn Track Changes on again, the balloons for formatting reappear! I then have to go back to the Show Markup drop down and uncheck "Formatting" again. Is there any way to change Word 2010's behavior so that I show only comments in balloons and it stays that way? It would be nice if the Track Changes Options dialogue included a choice for comments only. Any ideas would be appreciated.

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  1. Stefan Blom 340.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-01-22T14:11:10+00:00

    The following should do what you want: Click File tab | Options | Trust Center. Click the Trust Center Settings button. In the Privacy Options category, clear the check mark next to "Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving." You can now save the options in the Review tab | Show Markup drop down with the current document.

    Note that the "Make hidden markup..." option is specific to your installation of Word. What other people see (if you send them the document) depends on the setting on their machines.

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  1. Stefan Blom 340.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2012-08-11T13:24:02+00:00

    Good catch! Testing for protected view with:

    If Application.ActiveProtectedViewWindow Is Nothing Then

    'code here

    End If

    is definitely helpful.

    An alternative approach is to use the On Error statement, of course.

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  1. Stefan Blom 340.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-09-09T08:22:07+00:00

    I have noticed that Word 2010 may not consistently preserve all settings under Show Markup, even if you correctly set the Privacy option mentioned earlier in this thread.

    However, you can prevent Word from tracking formatting changes in the specific document, if that helps. In Word 2010, on the Review tab, click the arrow on the Track Changes button, and then click Change Tracking Options. Clear the check box next to "Track formatting," and click OK. If there already are formatting changes in the document, you'd have to accept or reject those, of course.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-01-27T14:29:10+00:00

    That seems to have solved my problem. Thanks.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-01-22T07:00:48+00:00

    I dont  its possible to change that, its by desgin

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