Turn off Track Changes in three clicks

Track Changes is a feature that records every edit made to a document — insertions, deletions, formatting changes — and shows them as colored marks in the margin. To stop tracking, go to the Review tab at the top of Word, then click the Track Changes button (it looks like a pen with a checkmark). The button will no longer be highlighted, and Word stops recording edits when ready.

If you have already turned on Track Changes and made edits, those recorded changes stay in the document until you accept or reject them. Turning off the feature does not erase what was already tracked — it only stops new edits from being recorded.

The same steps work in Word on Windows, Mac, and Word Online. On mobile versions of Word, Track Changes appears under the Review menu in the same way.

Key Takeaways

  • Track Changes records every edit as colored marks; click the Track Changes button on the Review tab to stop recording new changes.
  • Turning off Track Changes does not delete changes already recorded — those remain in the document until you accept or reject them.
  • If you see tracked changes in a document you did not create, you can accept all of them at once or review them one by one before deciding.
  • When you share a document with others, make sure Track Changes is off if you do not want your edits to be visible to them.

Why Track Changes appears when you open a document

Sometimes you open a Word document and see colored lines and comments in the margins even though you did not turn on Track Changes yourself. This happens because someone else created the document with Track Changes on, or they sent it to you with the feature already active.

The tracked changes are part of the document file itself — they travel with the document when it is shared. You can turn off Track Changes to stop adding new marks, but the old ones remain visible until someone accepts or rejects them. If you want to clean up the document, you need to deal with the existing changes first.

Accept or reject changes one at a time

Go to the Review tab and look for the Changes group. You will see buttons labeled Accept and Reject. Click Accept to keep a change and remove its mark from the document. Click Reject to undo the change and remove the mark.

Word moves to the next tracked change after you accept or reject one, so you can work through them in order. This method takes longer if there are many changes, but it lets you review each one and decide whether to keep it.

If you are not sure what a change is, hover your mouse over the colored mark in the margin. A small box will appear showing who made the change and when.

Accept or reject all changes at once

If you trust all the changes in the document, you can accept them all without reviewing each one. On the Review tab, click the small arrow next to the Accept button, then select Accept All Changes. All tracked changes will be applied to the document and the marks will disappear.

To reject all changes at once, click the arrow next to Reject and select Reject All Changes. This undoes every tracked change and removes all the marks.

Use this method only when you are certain about the changes. Once you accept or reject all changes, you cannot undo that action by pressing Ctrl+Z — you have to manually redo the work.

Hide tracked changes without removing them

If you want to see what the document looks like without the colored marks cluttering the page, you can hide the changes temporarily. On the Review tab, find the Display for Review dropdown (it usually shows "All Markup"). Click it and select No Markup.

The marks disappear from the page, but the changes are still in the document — they are just hidden from view. Switch back to All Markup to see them again. This is useful when you want to read the document cleanly while still keeping the option to accept or reject changes later.

Prevent Track Changes from turning on by accident

If you share documents with others or work on shared files, you might want to lock Track Changes so it cannot be turned on without a password. On the Review tab, click the arrow next to Track Changes and select Lock Tracking. Word will ask you to set a password.

Once locked, anyone who opens the document will see a message if they try to turn on Track Changes — they will need the password to do so. This prevents accidental edits from being recorded when you are reviewing a final version.

To unlock it later, click the same menu and select Lock Tracking again, then enter the password.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does turning off Track Changes delete the marks already in the document?

No. Turning off Track Changes stops Word from recording new edits, but it leaves all previously tracked changes in place. You must accept or reject those changes separately to remove the marks.

Can I see who made each change?

Yes. Hover your mouse over any colored mark or comment in the margin, and a box will appear showing the person's name, the date, and the time the change was made. If Track Changes was turned on but no name was entered, it may show "Author" or a generic label.

What happens if I accept a change by mistake?

You can undo it when ready by pressing Ctrl+Z. If you have already made other edits, undoing may revert more than just that one change. In that case, you can reject the change manually by clicking Reject on the Review tab, though this only works if the change is still tracked.

Can I turn off Track Changes for only part of a document?

No. Track Changes is a document-wide setting — it is either on or off for the entire file. If you want to stop tracking in one section, you must turn off the feature, but changes already made in that section will remain tracked until you accept or reject them.

Why does my document show tracked changes even though I never turned on Track Changes?

Someone else created or edited the document with Track Changes on. The changes are saved as part of the file and will appear whenever anyone opens it. You can accept or reject them, or hide them using the Display for Review dropdown.