Microsoft Word Review Pane / Version History - Is there any way to use this so that if others copy text (e.g. from generative AI) that the pasting can be observed?

Question

I work at a college and we need to keep our students accountable.

As far as I know, there is no timestamp or capacity within Word to view students' pasting content versus typing it out. Am I correct?

Google Docs does have Version History but our school uses Microsoft products.

Thank you,

Sam

Answer 1

Thank you, Jay. It appears that Microsoft Word's current tools will not be useful in having students show their work in order to discourage them from copying external text directly.

I agree with that conclusion.

From the beginning, Word and the other Office programs were designed as productivity tools for workers, especially those in large corporations. Most of the added features since then were aimed at the same audience. That the programs could also be useful for educators and students, attorneys, physicians, and others who require changes in their documents to be traceable or prohibitable has been a subsidiary consideration.

You can tell Microsoft about your situation through the File > Feedback page in Word, or at https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/ . As it says there, don't expect a reply.

Answer 2

Thank you, Jay. It appears that Microsoft Word's current tools will not be useful in having students show their work in order to discourage them from copying external text directly.

Thanks,

Sam

Answer 3

If the students are using desktop Word, the Windows File History feature can be set to keep versions, but it has to be turned on and configured. The versions would then be on the student's computer, so you'd have to get access to it to see what and when the changes were.

If the student used Word Online, or if their desktop is properly synchronized to OneDrive, there would be versions there. Again, you would need access to the student's OneDrive account to see the versions.

In either case, if Track Changes was turned on during all editing sessions, there would be time stamps and names that can be seen by anyone with access to the document. However, the student always has the ability to turn Track Changes off for part or all of a session, or to use the Document Inspector to remove the names and leave only the time stamps -- and there is no indication of whether a particular insertion is typed or pasted. (For that matter, a student could look at some source on the Internet and type a copy of it into a document, and you couldn't tell the difference unless you had the source to compare.)