Editing Tools

Modules >>
Word Processing II >>
Editing Tools

There are a few editing tools that will allow you to track the changes made to a document, who made the changes, and when. We'll go through of each of them below:

Editing Options

To view the editing options for your Word program,

Go to the "Tools" menu

Select "Options"

Click the "Edit" tab to get the following window:

To learn more about what each option means, click on the button with the question mark "" on the top right of the Options window, then click on the option you wish to learn more about.

Track Changes

The "Track Changes" option allows you to do just that, which is to make changes to a document and allow the program to track the changes you made. For your assignment, you are asked to download the following word document, turn on track changes, make a deletion to its contents, insert your comments on making an effective online environment, then insert a comment as described below.

Click here to download Edit.doc

Before starting to track changes, please review your options. To do this,

Go to the "Tools" menu
Select "Options" and click the "Track Changes" tab to get the following window:

You can leave the default settings or change them to suit your preference. To learn about any one setting, click on the button with the question mark "" on the top right of the Options window, then click on the setting you want to learn more about. Click OK to set your preferences.

To turn on track changes,

Go to the "Tools" menu
Select "Track Changes"
Click on "Highlight Changes"

A shortcut to turn on track changes is to simply double-click on the "TRK" box, at the bottom of your Word window. It is the box circled in the image below:

In case you are curious what the remaining boxes mean, each are described below:

REC - Record Macro
TRK - Track Changes
EXT - Extend Selection
OVR - Overtype
WPH - WordPerfect Help

Follow the instructions found in the Edit.doc on where to delete text and insert your comments on creating an effective online learning environment.

Insert Comments

In the same word processing document you downloaded, you are required to insert a comment for your assignment. This is different to tracking additions to the text through "track changes." To insert a comment,

Go to the "Insert" menu
Select "Comment"
The following screen will appear at the bottom of your window:
You can choose the reviewer name from the drop-down men (that currently shows "Valerie Irvine"). You can even record and insert a sound object by clicking on the small tape icon. You would need a microphone, of course. Your comments can be typed in the window next to "[VI1]," which is your initials followed by the comment number. Click the "Close" button to accept your comments.
The text you selected to comment on will appear highlighted. When your pointer is moved on top of the highlighted text, the reviewer name (in this case, your name) will appear along with the comments.
To edit or delete a comment, right-click your mouse when your pointer is on top of the comment. Choose "edit comment" or "delete comment" from the pop-up window.
There is a "Reviewing" toolbar, which has shortcuts for many of the above commands. To view the toolbar, go to the "View" menu, select "Toolbars" then click on "Reviewing." It will look something like the following:

As you hold your pointer over each toolbar button (also called doing a "mouse-over"), a small window will appear to describe the command that each button performs.

Once you have completed the track changes and insert comment requirements, use "Save As" to name your file "XXXedit" (where XXX are your initials) and save the changes to the document. Remember where you save the document on your hard drive as you will need to send the file as part of your assignment. Keep this file open as you will need to insert some text for the next section

Please continue to the next lesson on Highlighting.