Merging documents with some tracked changes accepted in one of the documents

Question

Hi,

I have a document that I sent out for review. One of the reviewers sent it back to me after having made some edits and, more importantly, after having accepted some of the tracked changes--but not all (because they didn't apply to her).

I would like to merge her document with my original--which I made some edits to since sending it out. However, when I merge the two documents, the edits that she accepted are essentially deleted because they still exist in the original document which overwrites hers. Here's a simplified example of what happens:

(Bolded text are edits)

Original text sent out:

I would like to combine mergeher document with my original one--which I made some changes edits to since sending it out.

Text colleague sends back after review:

I would like to merge her document with my original one--which I made some changes to since first sent sending it out.

(Note in the returned text, some changes have been accepted and a new one introduced.)

If I merge the two I get this:

I would like to combine mergeher document with my original one--which I made some changes edits to since first sent sending it out.

As you can see, her acceptances are lost. Any ideas for merging the documents while preserving her accepted edits and both hers and my new edits?

Thanks,

Stephen

Answer 1

Yes, exactly.  I couldn't agree more.

Normally, the doc would have been shared via an implementation of Sharepoint using our project management tool. Unfortunately, and without naming names, the document management component of it recently melted down with no fix in sight, so we had to resort to this. We may move to using OneDrive as a temporary solution, but it's not officially "approved," so there are hurdles to address first. My hope is this experience will motivate that approval....

Answer 2

You're not taking advantage of Track Changes the way it seems you could be.

You're sending a file round-robin but making edits out of the loop, and then consolidating everything after the fact. That's a time-consuming way to go about it.

Instead of working on multiple files, work on a single file that's saved in a shared network location either on OneDrive.com (free) or Sharepoint (if you have Sharepoint).  When everyone is working on the same file, consolidation becomes unnecessary, since there is always only one file in play. If it turns out multiple authors happen to editing the file at the same time, that's OK, too. The file's owner gets to decide which changes win.

If you have not set up your OneDrive account, then go to **OneDrive.com** and set one up. Make a folder in OneDrive and set permissions on that folder so that only the people you designate have access to it.

Now that you have a folder in OneDrive to store your file, in Microsoft Word use File > Share > Save to OneDrive. Save the file in the OneDrive folder you made earlier. Turn track changes on. You can go back to OneDrive in your web browser and set sharing options there so your collaborators can have a link to the Word document. You will get the URL of the Word document from OneDrive and can send invitations to the collaborators from the OneDrive site.

Sharing this way instead of the way you were doing it should solve your problem and end the headache of merging documents.

Answer 3

Unfortunately not, but thanks for the try. That's a simpler case of all tracked changes still existing in the respective documents, unlike mine, where some track changes have been accepted and therefore disappear. Seem the only real solution is warn reviewers to not accept any changes until the absolutely final version.

Answer 4

Hope this helps.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2011-macword/how-to-merge-track-changes-from-multiple-documents/900e9ec8-8129-4479-979b-31da3f6e14e5