Reviewing Copyedits Using Track Changes in Word

“How do I review my copyedited manuscript using Track Changes in Word?” is one of the most common questions we receive. To the uninitiated, tracking changes can be intimidating, confusing, and just plain obnoxious.

But there’s a reason most copyeditors rely on Microsoft Word’s Track Changes feature: It’s the most useful, flexible, and robust solution for relaying suggested changes to an author and commenting on sections of a longer manuscript. In short, there’s no better way to transform your draft into a publish-ready manuscript.

This month, we’re sharing the comprehensive guide we send to our clients to help them review their copyedited manuscripts in Word using Track Changes. With this guide, you’ll be able to turn an intimidating mess into a clean manuscript ready for publication.

Topics Covered In “Reviewing Copyedits Using Track Changes in Word”

Controlling Your View Settings
          Changing Your Review Settings
          Adjusting Display Options
Accepting or Rejecting Edits
Working with Comments
          Resolving or Deleting Comments
          Replying to Comments
          Adding Your Own Comments
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Controlling Your View Settings

Most copyedited manuscripts include hundreds (if not thousands) of tiny changes. If you’re new to Track Changes, seeing all that red text in your manuscript at once for the first time can be dizzying.

Don’t panic! When you understand the various view settings, you can customize the look of your edited manuscript until you find something that works for you.

Changing Your Review Settings

Before you begin your review, it’s important to be sure you’re actually seeing all of your copyeditor’s changes and comments. Here’s how to adjust your settings so you’ll never miss a question or suggestion from your editor:

1. Click “Review” in the menu bar at the very top of Word.
2. If “Show Comments” isn’t selected, push the button to highlight it.
3. Open the “Markup Options” menu and make sure “Comments,” “Insertions and Deletions,” and “Formatting” are checked.
4. Hover over “Reviewers” and make sure “All” is selected.
5. If “Track Changes” isn’t selected, push the button to track your own edits while you review the document.

With these view settings, your document should look something like this:

Note: You can view edits as balloons, but I typically find an edited manuscript easier to review when that box is unchecked. Feel free to play around with these settings until you find something that works for you.

Adjusting Display Options

As you review, you may find it useful to compare the edited version to your original text or see what the manuscript would look like if you were to accept all changes. Do this by clicking on the “Display for Review” menu and moving between the following options:

• Simple Markup—shows all editor changes as accepted but continues displaying all comments
• All Markup—shows the full set of changes you selected under Markup Options
• No Markup—shows all editor changes as accepted and hides all comments (think of this as the “clean edited version”)
• Original—hides all editor changes and comments to reveal your original, pre-edited manuscript

When you first review a copyedited manuscript, I recommend starting with the All Markup option selected. It may be a little tough on the eyes at first, but it gives you the most transparent look at what your editor did so you can learn from those changes.

Later, you can periodically toggle to Simple Markup to see a clean edited version without losing sight of your editor’s comments. And if you find that you’re just not that interested in the nitty-gritty copyediting changes, you can leave Simple Markup selected throughout your review.

Accepting or Rejecting Edits

As you work through your copyeditor’s changes, you can accept or reject each change.

The sheer number of edits to work through individually can be overwhelming, but here’s a tip: you don’t have to accept every change you agree with. Just leave them alone for now. Then, after rejecting the changes you don’t agree with, you (or your editor) can accept the remaining changes in bulk. Phew!

However, many authors find it easiest to “clear” the changes they agree with by accepting them into the document individually. If you prefer to accept and reject each change as you go, here are a few options:

• Under “Review” in the menu bar, you’ll find the Accept and Reject buttons. Use these buttons to accept or reject each change and use the little arrows to bounce through the tracked changes.
• Right-click on each edit in the main text to open a menu containing the Accept and Reject options.
• Create keyboard shortcuts for AcceptChangesSelected and RejectChangesSelected so you don’t have to keep moving your fingers from your keyboard to your mouse. (I recommend this! Setting up these shortcuts and getting acclimated may take some time, but once you do, you’ll fly through the updates.)

To learn more, see Microsoft’s support documents on accepting or rejecting changes and creating custom keyboard shortcuts.

Working with Comments

Word’s Comment feature is the best way for your editor to communicate with you about specific parts of your manuscript. This is how your copyeditor will leave you notes (or “author queries”) prompting you for clarification or pointing out an issue. You have a few options for how to locate these comments:

• Click “Review” in the menu bar to find the Comment tools. You can use the “Next” and “Previous” arrows in the Review toolbar to bounce through the different comments.
• Create keyboard shortcuts for NextComment and PreviousComment. (Recommended!)
• Work through your editor’s changes by scrolling through the manuscript and address each comment as you come across it.

Resolving or Deleting Comments

Once you’ve taken action on a comment, you may decide you no longer need it cluttering up your manuscript. Here’s how to resolve or delete a comment:

1. Click on the comment you’d like to delete or accept.
2. Right-click to open a menu with options to Reply, Delete, or Resolve.
3. Select “Resolve Comment” to gray out the comment (indicating that you’ve dealt with it) or choose “Delete Comment” to remove it entirely.

So when should you resolve a comment instead of deleting it? That is largely up to you. You might resolve anything that you’ve dealt with but still want to track and delete anything you no longer need.

Just keep in mind that resolved comments will still show when you click “Next” (or use the keycode for NextComment). If you’re dealing with a large number of comments—say, more than 30—it may be simplest to delete the unnecessary ones so you can navigate easily between “live” comments that still need your attention.

Replying to Comments

In most cases, your copyeditor will not expect a response to every comment. However, if your editor has asked a question that does seem to warrant a response—and if they have agreed to a second round of edits or review—you can add a reply.

Simply open the comments menu as described above and click “Reply to Comment.” This adds your comment to your editor’s, which helps to keep conversations clear and easy to follow.

Adding Your Own Comments

If you have general notes about your manuscript or your copyeditor’s work, it’s probably best to send them in an email or a separate document. But if you’d like to inquire about a particular change, adding a new comment to the manuscript may be a good idea. Here’s how:

1. Highlight the text you’d like to comment on.
2. Click “New Comment” in the “Review” menu. (You can also type Option-Cmd-A on a Mac or Option-Ctrl-A on a PC.)
3. Add your comment.

To learn more about Word’s Comment feature, consult Microsoft’s comment support documentation.

Schedule a Free Author Consultation

If you’re still overwhelmed by the idea of reviewing your copyedited manuscript in Microsoft Word, consider letting Spoonbridge Press publish your book. We have some of the most flexible manuscript preparation requirements in the business. And not just that; we also provide every author with a dedicated editorial manager to help guide you throughout the editing process, ensuring the most enjoyable and stress-free publication possible. 

To speak with our lead editor about whether independent publishing is right for you, schedule a free author consultation today.