Turn off Track Changes with one click
Track Changes is a Word feature that records every edit you make — deletions, additions, formatting changes — and shows them as colored marks in your document. To stop recording changes, go to the Review tab at the top of Word and click the Track Changes button. It toggles on and off. When the button appears pressed or highlighted, tracking is on. Click it once to turn it off, and Word stops recording new edits.
The changes you already recorded stay in the document until you delete them. Turning off Track Changes does not erase the marks that are already there — it only stops Word from adding new ones as you type.
Key Takeaways
- Track Changes is on the Review tab at the top of Word, and one click toggles it on or off.
- Turning off Track Changes stops recording new edits but does not remove marks already in the document.
- You can accept or reject individual changes one at a time, or accept all changes at once from the Review tab.
- If you want to hide the tracked changes from view without deleting them, use the Display for Review dropdown on the Review tab.
- Turning off Track Changes before sharing a document prevents your edits from being recorded and visible to others.
Where to find the Track Changes button
Open any document in Word and look at the ribbon — the toolbar at the very top. Click the Review tab. You will see a button labeled Track Changes with an icon that looks like a pen with a checkmark. This button is usually near the left side of the Review tab, often one of the first buttons you see.
In older versions of Word (2010 and earlier), the button may say Track Changes with a small arrow next to it. Click the arrow to see options like "Track Changes" and "Highlight Changes". Click Track Changes to toggle it on or off.
What happens when you turn Track Changes off
When you click the Track Changes button and it is no longer highlighted or pressed, tracking stops when ready. Any new text you type, delete, or format from that moment forward will not be recorded. Your document will look normal — no colored marks, no balloons in the margin showing what changed.
The edits that were already tracked before you turned it off remain in the document. If you see red strikethrough text or blue underlines from earlier changes, those stay until you deal with them. You can accept them (making them permanent and removing the marks), reject them (undoing them and removing the marks), or leave them as they are.
How to accept or reject tracked changes
If your document has tracked changes in it, you can remove them by accepting or rejecting each one. Go to the Review tab and look for buttons labeled Accept and Reject. These are usually to the right of the Track Changes button.
Click Accept to keep a change and remove its marking from the document. Click Reject to undo a change and remove its marking. Word moves to the next change each time you click one of these buttons. If you want to accept or reject all changes at once without reviewing each one, click the small arrow next to Accept and choose Accept All Changes.
How to hide tracked changes without deleting them
Sometimes you want to see what the document looks like without all the colored marks, but you are not ready to accept or reject the changes yet. Use the Display for Review dropdown on the Review tab. It usually shows All Markup by default, which displays every tracked change with its marks visible.
Click the dropdown and select No Markup to hide all the marks and see the document as if all changes were accepted. The changes are still in the document — they are just hidden from view. Switch back to All Markup anytime to see them again. This is useful if you want to read through the document cleanly before deciding what to do with each change.
Why you might want to turn Track Changes off before sharing
If you are working on a document and do not want others to see your edits, turn off Track Changes before you share it. Once it is off, any new work you do will not be recorded as a change. The document will look like a finished product rather than a draft with visible revisions.
Be aware that if the document already has tracked changes in it from earlier work, those marks will still be visible to anyone who opens it — unless you accept or reject them first. Turning off Track Changes only stops new edits from being recorded; it does not hide changes that are already there.
Keyboard shortcut for Track Changes
If you use Word frequently, you can toggle Track Changes on and off with a keyboard shortcut instead of clicking the button. Press Ctrl + Shift + E on Windows or Command + Shift + E on Mac. This is faster than navigating to the Review tab, especially if you turn tracking on and off often.
The shortcut works the same way as clicking the button — it toggles tracking on if it is off, and off if it is on. You can use it while you are typing without interrupting your work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does turning off Track Changes delete the changes I already made?
No. Turning off Track Changes stops Word from recording new edits, but it does not remove or delete any marks that are already in the document. Those changes stay until you accept or reject them individually, or until you accept all changes at once.
Can I turn off Track Changes for just one part of a document?
No, Track Changes is a document-wide setting. When you turn it off, it stops tracking for the entire document. If you want to edit one section without tracking, you can select that section, turn off Track Changes, make your edits, and then turn it back on. But the simplest approach is to turn it off for the whole document and accept or reject changes afterward.
What if I accidentally turned off Track Changes and made edits I wanted to track?
Those edits will not be recorded as changes. You can undo your recent work with Ctrl + Z (or Command + Z on Mac) to go back to before you turned off tracking, then turn Track Changes back on and redo the edits. Otherwise, there is no way to retroactively track changes you made while tracking was off.
How do I know if Track Changes is currently on or off?
Look at the Track Changes button on the Review tab. If it appears pressed, highlighted, or has a colored background, tracking is on. If it looks flat or unpressed, tracking is off. Some versions of Word also show a small indicator in the status bar at the bottom of the window.
Can I turn off Track Changes if someone else is editing the document at the same time?
Yes, but it only affects your own edits. If you and another person are working on the same document together (through OneDrive or SharePoint), turning off your Track Changes stops recording your changes only. The other person's Track Changes setting is separate, so their edits will still be tracked on their end.