Finding Changes Made by Two People

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 24, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365

Arnold has a document in which Track Changes is turned on. The document has been edited by multiple people. He would like to find text that was added by one person (we'll call him Ted) and then deleted by another person (Mary). Arnold wonders if this can be done.

This cannot be done in the way that Arnold describes. The closest you can come is to display changes by both Ted and Mary, in this manner:

Make sure the Review tab of the ribbon is displayed.
Click the Show Markup tool (in the Tracking group) and then click either Reviewers or Specific People, depending on your version of Word. You should see a list of the reviewers with changes in the current document.
Make sure a check mark appears only beside Ted's name and Mary's name; clear the check marks for any other reviewers.

At this point, only changes made by Ted and Mary are shown in the document. This doesn't answer Arnold's specific need, though, because he wants to see edits to the same text by both Ted and Mary, and what is showing on the screen now is any edits by either Ted or Mary.

Arnold can, however, use the Next Change tool on the Review tab of the ribbon to jump to the next change in the document. By then hovering over the change, he can see who made the specific change and narrow down to those changes made to the same text by both reviewers.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13665) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Understanding the Drawing Canvas

Need to keep your drawing shapes together in one place? The drawing canvas may be exactly what you are looking for.

Discover More

Printing Selected Worksheets

When you accumulate quite a few workbooks in a folder, you might need to print out selected worksheets from all of the ...

Discover More

Table Borders Won't Print

Print a table and you may be surprised if it has no borders. That could be because you actually have the borders turned ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Setting Default Options for Track Changes

The Track changes feature in Word is a great help in editing documents, particularly if you are working with others or ...

Discover More

Word Tracks Changes to Changes

When you have Track Changes turned on for a document, Word remembers which editor made which changes. If this behavior ...

Discover More

Track Changes Thinks the Editor Has Changed

Track changes is a great feature to use when you want to show what has changed in a document. Word should note which ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is four less than 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.