How to Use Track Changes in Word: A Guide for Authors Reviewing Edits

Just received your edited manuscript with Track Changes? Here's exactly how to review, accept, and reject changes in Microsoft Word — without missing anything important.

If you've sent your manuscript to a line editor, copyeditor, or proofreader — human or AI-powered — you'll get it back with Track Changes enabled in Microsoft Word. For many first-time authors, opening that document for the first time is intimidating: the page is full of colored text, strikethroughs, and underlines, and it's not always obvious what to do next.

Here's exactly how Track Changes works and how to review your edited manuscript without missing anything.

What Track Changes Actually Shows You

Track Changes records every edit made to your document without removing your original text. Instead, it displays both versions simultaneously:

  • Deletions appear as strikethrough text (like this)
  • Insertions appear as underlined text, usually in a different color
  • Comments appear in the margin, used for suggestions or questions that aren't direct edits

Nothing is actually changed in your manuscript yet. Every tracked change is a suggestion — your manuscript only changes when you accept it. This is the most important thing to understand: you have complete control over the final version. An editor (or an AI tool) can suggest a thousand changes, but none of them become permanent until you say so.

Step 1 — Turn On the Right View

Before reviewing anything, go to the Review tab and make sure you're in All Markup view. This shows every tracked change with full detail — strikethroughs for deletions and underlines for insertions.

Word also offers other views:

  • Simple Markup shows a clean version with a line in the margin marking where changes exist, without showing the actual changes
  • No Markup shows what the document would look like if you accepted everything (useful for previewing, but doesn't actually accept anything)
  • Original shows your manuscript as if no edits were made at all

For your first read-through, All Markup is usually best — you want to see exactly what's being suggested.

Step 2 — Review Changes One at a Time

Don't try to read through quickly and accept everything at once on your first pass — even if the editing is excellent, you want to understand what's being changed and why, especially for line edits that affect your voice.

On the Review tab, use the Next and Previous buttons to move through changes one at a time. For each change:

  • Accept if you agree with the suggestion
  • Reject if you want to keep your original wording
  • Leave it and move on if you want to come back to it later (though this can get confusing — it's usually better to decide as you go)

Right-clicking directly on a tracked change also gives you Accept/Reject options in a context menu, which some authors find faster than using the ribbon buttons.

Step 3 — Pay Attention to Comments

If your editor (or AI tool) left comments — questions about plot details, suggestions for alternative phrasing, or notes about consistency issues — these appear in the margin and don't disappear when you accept or reject changes. Make sure Show Comments is enabled on the Review tab so you don't miss them.

Comments often contain the most valuable feedback, because they explain the reasoning behind a suggestion rather than just making the change. Read these carefully even if you ultimately decide not to act on them.

Step 4 — Use "Accept and Move to Next"

Rather than clicking Accept and then manually navigating to the next change, use the Accept and Move to Next option (the dropdown arrow under the Accept button). This automatically advances to the next change after accepting, which makes it much harder to accidentally skip something.

This matters more than it might seem — authors who manually click through without this feature often miss changes, which can mean an error the editor caught makes it into the final published book anyway.

Step 5 — Preview Before You Commit

If you want to see what your manuscript looks like with all current changes accepted — without actually accepting them yet — switch to No Markup view. This gives you a clean preview of the "after" version. Switch back to All Markup to continue your review. This is especially useful for getting a feel for how line edits affect the overall flow before committing to them chapter by chapter.

Step 6 — Accept or Reject Everything at Once (When Appropriate)

Once you've reviewed everything individually, or if you want to accept all remaining changes of a certain type, the Review tab has bulk options:

  • Accept > Accept All Changes — accepts everything remaining in the document
  • Reject > Reject All Changes — rejects everything remaining

Use these carefully. They're useful after you've already reviewed everything individually and just want to clear remaining minor changes (like consistent formatting fixes), but accepting everything in bulk without reviewing first means you're trusting the edits blindly.

Step 7 — Make Sure Track Changes Is Off Before You're Done

Before uploading your final manuscript to Amazon KDP or sending it to a formatter, make sure Track Changes is turned off and that you've accepted or rejected every change. A document with unresolved tracked changes can cause formatting issues, and in some cases, unaccepted changes have accidentally been published — meaning readers see both the original and edited text overlapping.

To check: go to the Review tab and confirm there are no remaining markup indicators in the margin. Switching to No Markup view temporarily can help you spot anything left unresolved (though remember this doesn't actually finalize anything — you still need to accept or reject).

A Note on AI-Edited Manuscripts

If you've used an AI-powered editing tool like ScribeGlow, your manuscript comes back in exactly this same Track Changes format — the same format professional editors have used for decades. This means everything in this guide applies directly: you review each suggestion, decide whether it fits your voice and intent, and accept or reject accordingly.

The advantage of reviewing AI-suggested edits the same way you'd review human edits is that you maintain full creative control either way. No suggestion — from a human editor or an AI tool — becomes part of your manuscript without your approval.

The Bottom Line

Track Changes can look overwhelming the first time you open an edited manuscript, but the underlying system is simple: every change is a suggestion, nothing is permanent until you accept it, and you have full control over your final manuscript. Take your time on the first pass, pay attention to comments, and use "Accept and Move to Next" to avoid missing anything. By the time you've worked through a full manuscript once, the process becomes second nature.

Want to see what a Track Changes edit of your manuscript looks like? Try ScribeGlow free on your first 5,000 words — line editing, proofreading, or both. No account required.