Show or hide comments or tracked changes
To prevent you from inadvertently distributing documents that contain tracked changes and comments, Word displays tracked changes and comments by default. Final Showing Markup
is the default option in the Display for Review
box.
You can display all changes in a document in different ways. For example, you can set Microsoft Office Word to display tracked changes by type of edit - such as insertions and deletions or formatting changes. You can also display only the comments. You can turn off balloons for comments and tracked changes to display all comments and changes inline. You can even display only the changes made by the author or by a specific reviewer.
To quickly display tracked changes and comments, click Show Markup
in the Tracking
group on the Review
tab.
Note Clicking Show Markup
displays or hides all of the markup for selected reviewers in the document. When you display all markup, all types of markup are selected on the Show Markup
menu.What do you want to do?
Display changes by type of edit or by reviewer
Display changes and comments for specific reviewers
Hide tracked changes and comments when printing
Display all changes inline
The default in Word is to display deletions and comments in balloons in the margins of the document. However, you can change the display to show comments inline and all deletions with strikethroughs instead of inside balloons.
- On the
Review
tab, in theTracking
group, clickBalloons
. - Click
Show all revisions inline
to show deletions with strikethroughs and comments inline.
Display changes by type of edit or by reviewer
- On the
Review
tab, in theTracking
group, click the arrow next toShow Markup
. - Do one of the following:
- Select the type of change that you want to display.
Note Even if you hide a type of markup by clearing it on the
Show Markup
menu, the markup automatically appears each time the document is opened by you or a reviewer. - Point to
Reviewers
, and then click to clear all check boxes except the ones next to the names of the reviewers whose changes and comments you want to show.Note To select or clear all check boxes for all reviewers in the list, click
All Reviewers
.
- Select the type of change that you want to display.
Display changes and comments for specific reviewers
You can use the Display for Review
list, in the Tracking
group, to view a document at various stages of the edit process. Each of the four options in the list provides a different view of the document. Final Showing Markup
is the default when you open any document.
- Final Showing Markup This view displays the final document with all tracked changes and comments showing. This is the default view for all documents opened in Word.
- Final This view displays the document with all changes incorporated into the text and without tracked changes showing. However, any tracked changes or comments that have not been accepted, rejected, or deleted remain in the document.
- Original Showing Markup This view displays the original text with tracked changes and comments.
- Original This view displays the original document without tracked changes and comments showing. However, any tracked changes or comments in the document that have not been accepted, rejected, or deleted remain in the document.
Display changes for an editor or other reviewer
An editor or reviewer usually wants to view a document as it will appear after their changes are incorporated. This procedure gives an editor or reviewer the opportunity to see how the document will look with the changes.
- On the
Review
tab, in theDisplay for Review
box in theTracking
group, clickFinal Showing Markup
.
Note If you want to see comments and tracked changes in balloons, you must be in Print Layout view or Web Layout view .
Hide tracked changes and comments when printing
Hiding changes does not remove changes from the document. You must use the Accept
and Reject
commands in the Changes
group to remove markup from your document.
- Click the
Microsoft Office Button
, and then click
Print
. - In the
Print what
box, clickDocument
(instead ofDocument showing markup
).