Authors: Using Microsoft Word’s MarkUp Tool

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This tutorial focuses on Mac for Word 2004. The principle is the same for any PC version.

Table of Contents

• To See Markups
• Tweaking Markups
• Anatomy of a Comment Balloon
• Using Markup
• Disappear the Comment Balloons
• Set Your Preferences

Microsoft’s Word has a very useful tool for authors and their editors/proofreaders/copyeditors—the Markup tool. It allows any number of people to edit or make comments on a Word file without irrevocably changing the file itself.

You can ask questions, make statements. Change the formatting. Anything at all without changing the original document at all.

Word allows you to view the original file without any changes whatsoever or choose to see the final document with all its changes as it retains all the versions within the one file.

To See Markups

Using Markup requires a special toolbar so comments can be viewed, made, or accepted/rejected.

Figure 1. Choose Reviewing to open the Markup toolbar

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1. Open the Markup tool bar by selecting:
   1. Tools > Customize > Customize Toolbars/Menus…
   2. Select the Reviewing checkbox
   3. OK
2. Open the Word file you want to mark up
3. Select Track Changes on the Markup toolbar, see Figure 2

Figure 2. Track Changes on the Markup toolbar must be selected (a darker background than the rest of the icons on that toolbar) in order for you to view the balloons.

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• If edit or comment balloons do not show in the right margin of the document (see Figure 3), then Track Changes is not selected

Figure 3. A Word file with Markup turned on and displaying two comment balloons. The upper tag is an explanation of the change. The lower tag is the edited text. A checkmark and an x provides the author the option to accept or reject the edit.

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Tweaking Markup

You have control over which comment balloons are displayed on the page through Show—selecting Comments, Insertions and Deletions, and/or Formatting will determine if that balloon tag is visible in the document.

Reviewers provides a list of all the people using Markups on this document.

Reviewing Pane is a drop-down at the bottom of the document that displays the comments in a larger text form.

Figure 5. You can adjust the actual height of the Reviewing Pane window. This example simply shows the different sections of a document into which Word divides the changes.

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At the top, the Reviewing Pane begins with Main document changes and comments followed by Header and footer changes, then Text box changes, Header and footer text box changes, and finally Footnote changes.

Preferences allows you to customize how you see the markups in the document. The colors used, whether the change is highlighted in a color, with lines, in bold, etc. Ideally, the author should set these preferences.

You may also choose as to the color used by your particular comment balloons.

For more detail, view Preferences at the end of this document.

Figure 4. Further customize your Markup by selecting (or deselecting!) Comments, Insertions and Deletions, and Formatting. They are all comment tags that appear as balloons on the right.

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Anatomy of a Comment Balloon

The top tag is for typing in Comments.

The middle tag is Insertions and Deletions, a reminder as to what text, punctuation, line break, or empty space used to be there.

The bottom tag marks Formatting changes.

Figure 6. Displays a comment and edit tag as well as the line indicator pointing to the text that is affected. I did blow up the size of editor and the arrow-shaped blob for Formatting so you could actually see the markers.

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All three balloon tags in Figure 6 provide the name of the person making the comment as well as the date and time the comment/edit was made.

All three balloon tags in Figure 6 provide include action buttons—a delete option which rejects the change.

The middle and bottom balloon tags in Figure 6 provide include a “checkmark” option which indicates acceptance of the change.

Using Markup

Ask a Question / Explain

Inserting a comment allows you to ask a question or make an explanation:

1. Select the desired text

Figure 7. Technology is the selected text. After clicking New Comment, the green bubble is inserted on the right (in Preferences, Figure 1, you can change the color of your comment bubble).

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2. Click on New Comment (in the toolbar)

1. A cursor will appear to the right of the Comment:

Figure 8. The New Comment icon is in the Markup toolbar.

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3. Type the question/answer in the box

Figure 9. A comment balloon tag allows you to type in a question or response, well, actually, you can type anything you like. A blow-up of the markings Word uses to indicate the selected text is included.

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Edit Text

Any changes made in the text will reflect in a balloon tag.

Figure 10. The red text is the edited word. The text replaced is inside the balloon tag preceded by a note that it is Deleted.

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New Text

Text that is added and does not replace anything does not have a balloon tag.

Accept/Reject Markup

All three balloon tags include action buttons—a delete option which rejects the change.

The middle and bottom balloon tags include a checkmark option which indicates acceptance of the change.

You can also question a comment by clicking inside a Comment balloon and adding your question or response, or you can also insert your own comment to respond to someone else’s comment.

Disappear the Comment Balloons

Sometimes it is just too irritating to have the balloon tags showing. You can turn them off and edit or read the changed text as though it is a final document through the Markup toolbar.

Figure 11. Markup choices are in the left end of the Markup toolbar.

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Displays:	Text	Balloon Tags	Changes/Markups
Final Showing Markup	Text and changes	Most current	Most current
Final	Most current	No	No
Original Showing Markup	Text and changes	All of them	All of them
Original	Original	No	No

Authors! Set Your Preferences

Before sending a manuscript to an editor, set your preferences for how you want corrections or comments to appear by entering Word > Preferences > Track Changes.

Figure 12. There are six Preference choices: Inserted text, Deleted text, Changed formatting, Changed lines, Comments, and Balloons.

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• Inserted text – the choices affect text the reviewer inserts
  • (none) – no text decoration other than color
  • Color only
  • Bold
  • Italic
  • Underline
  • Double underline
• Deleted text – the choices affect deleted text (only visible if you choose Original showing markup
  • (none)
  • Color only
  • Bold
  • Italic
  • Underline
  • Double underline
  • Strikethrough
  • Hidden – there is no trace of any deleted text
  • ^ – replaces deleted text with a caret
  • # – replaces deleted text with a pound sign
• Changed formatting – the choices affect text with formatting changes. Allows you to choose the color of changed formatting.
  • (none)
  • Color only
  • Bold
  • Italic
  • Underline
  • Double underline
• Changed lines – places a vertical line next to a line of text that is changed. You can also choose the color of that line.
  • (none)
  • Left border
  • Right border
  • Outside border
• Comments – affects balloon colors
  • By author
    • Word automatically assignes unique colors to the first eight reviewers who revise a document
  • Auto
    • Displays comment balloons with the default text color (usually black)
  • Choice of 15 colors including several shades of gray, black, and white
    • Choosing a color causes Word to mark all reviewers’ comments with the same color.
• Balloons
  • Checking Use balloons… causes the colored boxes to appear on the right of the document
  • It must be checked to enable Include author…

The color choices you make will affect the color of the comment balloons.

More tools for authors interested in self-editing are available at Author Tools

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