Finding Changes Made by Two People

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 20, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


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:

  1. Make sure the Review tab of the ribbon is displayed.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 2021.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Removing Spaces

Need to get rid of spaces in a range of cells? There are two ways you can approach the task, as described here.

Discover More

Calculating Dates with Fields

Can you calculate dates using fields? Yes, but you probably don't want to except as a learning experience. An easier way ...

Discover More

Keeping Part of a Paragraph with the Next Block of Text

If you are a WordPerfect user, you may be very familiar with the block-protect feature and wonder if there is a similar ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Hiding Formatting Changes in Track Changes

Word can easily (and handily) keep track of changes you make in your document. You may not want all your changes tracked, ...

Discover More

Turning Track Changes Off for Selected Areas

Track Changes is a great tool to use so that you can, well, "track" what changes are made during the development of a ...

Discover More

Disabling Track Changes Completely

Have you ever had problems with a document because you accidentally pressed a keyboard shortcut? The good news is that ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is eight more than 8?

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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.