Track Changes and Comments

Track Changes and comments are widely used in academic and professional settings for reviewing work, collaborating, and giving feedback.

They let you edit documents without making permanent changes — useful for group projects, peer review, or when getting feedback from a tutor.

It’s essential to remove tracked changes and comments before submission — leaving them in your final assignment looks unprofessional and can lose you marks.

Common mistakes with Track Changes and Comments usually happen when students forget to turn the tool off or misunderstand how to finalise their document.

These issues can lead to submitting work that still shows edits, comments, or hidden mark-up.

• Leaving Track Changes turned on when submitting — meaning your tutor can see all your edits and deletions.
• Forgetting to accept or reject changes — tracked edits stay in the document until you process them.
• Thinking deleting a comment is the same as accepting a change — it isn’t! They’re separate tools.
• Assuming comments are gone just because the comments pane is closed — comments are still attached to the document unless deleted.
• Not checking the Reviewing Pane or using balloons — which makes it easy to miss hidden mark-up or unresolved changes.

• Turn on Track Changes when giving feedback or reviewing a document.
• Add comments to highlight issues or suggest improvements without changing the text.
• Accept or reject changes once you’ve reviewed suggested edits.
• Delete comments before submitting your work — right-click the comment and select Delete.
• Turn off Track Changes before submission — so no further edits are recorded.

These Microsoft help guides show you how to use Track Changes, manage comments, and prepare your document for submission:

• Track changes in Word
• Accept or reject tracked changes

• Turn on Track Changes when reviewing or editing — it helps you (and others) see what’s changed.
• Use Comments to leave notes for yourself or others — useful for reminders or feedback.
• Use 'Accept' or 'Reject' to process changes — this finalises edits made using Track Changes.
• Delete comments separately — removing tracked changes doesn’t delete comments automatically.
• Check that Track Changes is turned off before submitting — otherwise, hidden edits or mark-up might appear in your final file.