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If you work in a law role, then it'southward a near certainty that you're familiar with collaborating on documents using Word's rail changes features.

Today, at present that nigh all legal writing involves some sort of collaboration, it'southward a hugely valuable and useful tool. Notwithstanding, every bit the tangle of multi-colored markup and overlapping comments grows, It tin also be an incredibly frustrating one.

Given Discussion's dominance (while Google Docs is growing in popularity, Microsoft is still used by more than than fourscore pct of offices) it pays to learn how to use runway changes properly.

Past the way, all the instructions and screenshots are taken in Word 2016.

Understand the basics

How to turn rail changes on

The rail changes feature can be institute on the Review tab of the ribbon at the top of the screen. To enable track changes, but click on the Rail Changes icon. It will become grayed out when enabled.

If you don't see the status of track changes in your status bar at the bottom of Word, and so you probably want to plough that feature on. Right click anywhere on the condition bar and where it says Track changes make sure there is a checkmark abreast it. Trust me, if track changes are on, you desire to know.

Who made the revisions?

It's important, of course, to exist able to identify each person making changes and adding comments to a document. Usefully, at that place'south an option in Word in which you can personalize how you'd like your username to appear beside whatsoever changes you brand.

By default, this will appear as the same name to which the computer is registered. What if yous're a legal secretarial assistant editing a document based on paw-written markup an attorney has handed you, though? Using this characteristic, you can make the changes appear as though they were added by the attorney.

Open the File menu and select Options . The Word Options dialog box will open up. In the General on the right, you can amend the proper noun associated with your instance of Word.

The different track change views

When you use track changes, you've got four options for how the edits are displayed. If track changes are on and in that location are edits in your document you want to make sure that either All markup (where all edits are visible) or least Simple markup (where lines appear on the left-hand side to indicate where edits be) are turned on

Selecting either No markup (a clean looking version that assumes all edits are accepted) or Original (the document as it existed earlier any track changes) can be useful, but you lot want to be very enlightened of the fact that these options are on. Accidentally sharing a document that still contains changes and comments you don't desire others to see is not ideal!

Adding / reviewing comments

When reviewing documents, adding comments can be one of the most useful features of Discussion. To add a comment, simply select the text you wish to comment on and click New comment in the Review tab. Type your comment in the bubble that appears and information technology's just that easy.

Be warned, though. Comments are 1 of the potentially troublesome parts of metadata . If you're sharing a final version of a certificate be sure to follow the steps outlined in our article on metadata before considering your drafting finished.

Plow off balloons and other irritating features

I've never met anyone who prefers to see countless overlapping balloons down the right-manus side of a document over clear, in-line changes (where the deleted appears struck out, and the added text appears in a new color). By default, the latest versions of Give-and-take will apply balloons.

Y'all can quickly revert to in-line markup, all the same. Only navigate to the Review tab then select Evidence Markup > Balloons. You'll so meet the option to deselect the balloon markup option in favor of in-line markup.

While you're at it, you may wish to disable rails changing of formatting changes. Nearly of the time these changes (eastward.g. calculation a line space or adjusting the indentation of a quotation, etc.) are inconsequential anyway, making the track change markup more of an irritant than anything else. Plow it off by unchecking Formatting in the Markup options menu.

Compare drafts to ensure nothing's amiss

If you're exchanging long documents with opposing counsel, you might want to double bank check that all changes have been correctly tracked. The legal blackness line characteristic, which compares two documents and displays only what has changed between them in a tertiary document, does just that.

To use this feature open the two documents that you lot want to compare. On the Review tab, in the Compare group, click Compare. Now browse for both the original and the revised documents that you want to compare. Click OK. A third document, showing the differences betwixt the two, will open up.

Know how to "lock down" a finished certificate

Y'all tin, if you lot wish, restrict the power to brand made edits to a document with a password. Just click the Restrict Editing icon on the Review tab. Cull the level of protection you'd like and and then click on Yes, start enforcing protection . Y'all'll exist prompted to cull a countersign which will need to be entered in order to amend the document further.

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Source: https://www.onelegal.com/blog/how-to-stay-sane-when-using-track-changes-in-word/

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