Reviewing documents > Tracking changes in a document > Settings for the Track changes function

If you open the dialog box by clicking on the group arrow in the bottom right corner of the ribbon tab Review | group Changes, you can make various settings for the "Track Changes" function on the Review tab.

Note: You can also open this dialog box with the ribbon command File | Properties .

The following options are available:

"Comments" section

This section is not responsible for the track changes function, but for inserting comments. For more information, see Using comments.

"Comments pane" section

The comments pane is an area in the right margin of the page where the details of the changes can be clearly displayed.

For this purpose, the change actions Deleted text and Changed formatting in the "Changes" section (see below) must be set to In the comments pane. The change action Inserted Text is never displayed in the comments pane, but only in the document text itself.

▪Width

This option allows you to change the width of the comments pane.

▪Position

This option lets you change the position of the comments pane: on the right/left margin or outside/inside (for documents in book layout, i.e. with opposite pages).

Note: You will set the width and position of the comments pane here in the same way for the Comments function, because track changes and comments are displayed together in the comments pane (see also Using comments).

"Changes" section

▪Track changes

This option enables/disables the tracking of changes.

This button corresponds to the icon

on the ribbon tab Review | group Changes.

▪Show changes

This option enables/disables Show changes. If this option is enabled, changes are indicated. If it is disabled, the document appears as if all changes have been accepted.

This button corresponds to the icon

on the ribbon tab Review | group Changes.

▪Print changes

If this option is enabled, tracked changes are not only indicated on the screen, but also in the printout. If it is disabled, the document is printed as if all changes had been accepted.

▪Show tooltips

If this option is enabled, information about a change is automatically displayed on the screen when you hover over it (author, date and type of change).

▪Inserted text, Deleted text, Changed formatting, etc.

In the lower part of the dialog box you can specify exactly how changes in the document should be indicated: In what way should changes be displayed in the document and in what color should the changes be highlighted?

Deleted text and Changed formatting are displayed by default in the comments pane on the right margin of the document, Inserted text appears underlined in the document text itself.

If you use the default setting Author for a color, a different color is selected automatically for each user who edits the document. If the first user makes changes, they appear in red. If another user then opens the document and makes additional changes, they appear in blue, etc.

Note: For this to work correctly, all users who edit the document must have specified their name in the Write settings.
To enter your name, choose the ribbon command File | Options , switch to the General tab and enter your name using the User info button.

The Edited lines setting causes a vertical line to appear in the page margin next to each change to additionally indicate that a change has been made at that position.