The comment function in Word

An efficient way of keeping track of your own thoughts about your text is by using the comment function in Word. With this function, you can, for example, make notes about things you didn't have time to do or "think aloud" about your text and you can also comment on other people's texts without having to change the main text itself. The image below illustrates what it looks like when you have added a comment to a document.

Example of how the commentary function can be used in a Word document.

Insert comments by following these steps:

- Highlight the text that you want to comment on
- Click on the Review tab on the menu bar
- Click on New Comment in the group Comments
- Write your comment and click outside the comment box.

In the group Tracking, you can choose what type of markup you want to see. If you at any stage do not want to see your comments you can in the drop-down menu choose No Markup.

Track changes in Word

Track Change is a function that can be practical when you quickly want to see what changes you have made in a text. You will get information in various ways about the changes you have made, for example, which text has been newly written or which text has been crossed out. The image below shows what it can look like in a document when the function is used.

Example of how the function Track changes can be used in a Word document.

Start tracking your changes by following these steps:

- Click on the Review tab on the menu bar
- Click on Track Changes in the group Tracking.

In the drop-down menu in the same group, you can choose what type of tracking information you want to see in the document while you are working.

- Simple Markup shows only red lines in the margin where something has changed
- All Markup shows all changes made to the text
- No Markup shows no changes
- Original shows how the document looked before you started tracking your changes.

To "reset" the document, you need to approve the changes by either accepting or rejecting the changes. Click on Accept or Reject in the Changes group under the Review tab in the menu bar. You can read more about it on Microsoft's help page:

Accept or reject tracked changes in Word

Using Track Changes can be a useful way to follow what is happening in a text, however it is usually not a good idea to have others make changes directly to your text because it can be difficult to go through it yourself afterwards and see what has happened. We therefore recommend that supervisors and others who review your text use the comment function instead.

Go back to "Tips och tricks".