Tip of the week # 514
30 May 2017


Show changes and comments inline instead of in balloons (Microsoft Word) *

Do you every so often track who changes what and where in your documents, using Word's Track Changes functionality? Even if you are the only person working on the text this can be an extremely useful tool! You might have noticed that deletions and comments are, by default, displayed in balloons in the margins of the document. But if you prefer you can change the settings to show deletions with strikethroughs and comments inline as "ScreenTips".

Here's how:

  1. On the Review tab, in the Tracking group, click Show Markup.
  2. Point to Balloons.
  3. Click Show All Revisions Inline.

If you want, you can even make this your default setting.

Here's how:

  1. On the Review tab, in the Tracking group, click on the Track Changes drop-down arrow (not on the button itself).
  2. Click on Change Tracking Options.
  3. Select Never from the Use Balloons (Print and Web Layout) drop-down list, or - if you prefer - Only for comments/formatting.
  4. Press ENTER or click OK.

With thanks to Caroline for this week's tip inspiration.

Related tips:

Tip # 381: Remove - not just hide - tracked changes (tip_381.php)

Tip # 385: Inspect your document for tracked changes (tip_385.php)


* Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.