What tracking does and why you might want to change it
Tracking in Word records every change someone makes to a document — deletions, additions, formatting shifts, everything. When tracking is on, Word shows these changes as colored marks in the margin so you and others can see exactly what was altered. When it's off, changes happen silently with no record.
You turn tracking on when you're working with others and want a visible history of edits. You turn it off when you're working alone and don't want the visual clutter, or when you're ready to finalize a document and stop recording new changes. The setting applies to whoever is using the document at that moment — it doesn't lock other people out of editing, it just controls whether their edits show up as tracked changes or blend into the document invisibly.
Key Takeaways
- Tracking is toggled on and off from the Review tab in the ribbon, in a button labeled Track Changes.
- When tracking is on, Word displays all edits as colored marks in the margin with the editor's name attached.
- Turning tracking off stops recording new changes but does not erase changes that were already tracked.
- You can accept or reject tracked changes one at a time, or accept all of them at once, before finalizing the document.
- If you open a document with tracked changes already in it, you can see them whether tracking is currently on or off.
How to turn tracking on in Word
Open the document you want to edit. At the top of the window, click the Review tab in the ribbon. On the left side of the Review tab, you'll see a button labeled Track Changes with a small icon that looks like a pen with a checkmark. Click it once.
The button will change appearance — it will look pressed or highlighted — and a small indicator will appear near the top of your document saying tracking is active. From this moment forward, every change you or anyone else makes to the document will be recorded and displayed as a colored mark in the margin. Word assigns each person a different color, so you can tell who made which edit at a glance.
How to turn tracking off in Word
Click the Review tab again. Find the Track Changes button on the left side — it will still look pressed or highlighted because tracking is currently on. Click it once to toggle it off.
The button will return to its normal appearance, and the tracking indicator will disappear from your document. Any changes you make from this point forward will not be recorded as tracked changes. However, all the changes that were tracked before you turned it off will remain visible in the document until you accept or reject them.
Understanding what happens to existing tracked changes
Turning tracking off does not delete or hide the changes that were already tracked. If you and a colleague have been editing a document with tracking on, and then you turn tracking off, all of their previous edits will still appear as colored marks in the margin. Those marks stay there until someone explicitly accepts or rejects them.
This is useful because it means you can turn tracking off to work without recording new changes, but still review and decide on all the old changes later. You might do this if you're making minor formatting fixes that don't need to be tracked, or if you're adding your own notes that you don't want cluttering the change history.
How to accept or reject tracked changes
Click the Review tab. In the middle section of the ribbon, you'll see buttons for managing changes. The simplest option is Accept All — click this to approve every tracked change in the document at once. Word will incorporate all edits into the final text and remove all the colored marks.
If you want to review changes one at a time, use the Next button to move through them one by one. When you reach a change, you can click Accept to keep it or Reject to remove it. This approach takes longer but gives you control over which edits stay and which don't.
Once you've accepted or rejected all changes, the document will look clean with no colored marks. At that point, tracking can stay on or off — it won't matter, because there are no pending changes to record.
What to do if you can't find the Track Changes button
The Track Changes button lives on the Review tab, on the left side of the ribbon. If you don't see it, make sure you've clicked the Review tab first — it's straightforward to miss if you're on a different tab like Home or Insert.
If the Review tab itself is missing, you may be using a very old version of Word or a limited version that doesn't include this feature. Word Online (the free browser version) has tracking, but it's located in a slightly different place — look for a button labeled Track Changes in the top toolbar instead of the ribbon. If you're using Word on a phone or tablet, tracking may not be available at all.
Common situations and what to do
If you open a document that already has tracked changes in it, you don't need to do anything special. The changes will be visible whether tracking is on or off. You can review them, accept them, or reject them at your own pace. Turning tracking on or off only affects whether new changes get recorded going forward.
If you're sending a document to someone else and you want them to see your edits, make sure tracking is on before you make your changes, and leave it on when you send the file. If you want to send a clean version with no visible marks, accept all the changes first, then send it.
If you accidentally turned tracking off and made changes that didn't get recorded, you can't go back and track them retroactively. The only way to recover is to undo those changes (using Ctrl+Z or Command+Z), turn tracking back on, and make them again. This is why it's worth checking the tracking status before you start editing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does turning tracking off delete the changes that were already tracked?
No. Turning tracking off only stops recording new changes. All the edits that were tracked before you turned it off remain visible in the document as colored marks until you accept or reject them.
Can I see who made each tracked change?
Yes. Word assigns each person a different color and displays their name next to their edits. If you hover over a tracked change, a small box will pop up showing the editor's name, the date, and the time the change was made.
What if I reject a change by mistake?
If you reject a change and when ready realize it was wrong, use Ctrl+Z (or Command+Z on Mac) to undo the rejection. This will restore the change to tracked status so you can accept it. If you've made other edits since then, undo will reverse those too, so do this right away.
Can I turn tracking on for just one person in a shared document?
No. Tracking is a document-wide setting. When you turn it on, it records changes from everyone who edits the file. Each person's edits appear in their assigned color, but you can't track one person's work while ignoring another's.
Does tracking slow down Word or make the file bigger?
Tracking does make files slightly larger because Word has to store information about every change. For most documents this is negligible, but very large files with hundreds of tracked changes may open or save a bit more slowly. Accepting all changes and turning off tracking will reduce file size.