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The track changes feature the tracker feature of Microsoft Word allows the user to follow any modifications made to the document by other users. For instance, you’ve created an article and would like someone else to edit the document, but you’d like to also track the edits that are made by your editor. This is where „Track changes is a great tool.

However, the ‚Track Changes‘ feature is sometimes an actual problem. For instance, you do not want other people to be able to see any changes you that you made to your document, or the original document’s content. The viewer is also able to look at all the mistakes which were originally made and can impact the credibility of your document in certain instances. Thus, a significant portion of Word users prefers not to track changes enabled.

Disabling Track Changes in Microsoft Word

It’s pretty easy to turn off ‚Track Changes‘ in Word. It even has a shortcut keyboard to it, which turns off the feature quickly. To turn off „Track Changes‘, you need to press CTRL + Shift + E. The similar keyboard shortcut could also be used to turn on the feature, in the event that it’s disabled.

You can also turn off „Track Changes“ in the review tab located on the top. Go to the document in which the track changes feature is disabled and then click the review tab on the menu bar.

The icon for Tracking Changes within the section ‚Tracking‘ on the tab for review. In the event that the feature has been turned on the icon will appear more dark than the other icons surrounding it. Select the top portion of the icon ‚Track Changes‘ to disable the feature.

When the Track Changes feature is turned off The appearance of the symbol is lighter, and is now in line with the surrounding.

Why am I Unable to Turn Off Track Changes?

Have you tried to turn off the ‚Track Changes‘ feature, but the options are grayed out and clicking doesn’t work? This happens when the Lock Tracking‘ option is activated in the document.

If you have enabled ‚Lock Tracking it is impossible to switch off the ‚Track Changes‘ until you have entered the password you initial set. If you’ve got the password then follow the steps below to turn off the lock, and disable the ‚Track Changes‘.

Under the tab called ‚Review‘ in Microsoft Word, click on the bottom of the icon for Track Changes by clicking an arrow. select Lock Tracking in the dropdown menu.

The Unlock Tracking box will be displayed, type in the password into the text box, and then click ‚OK‘ in the box.

The ‚Lock Tracking‘ function is now off, but the track changes feature is enabled and needs to be turned off as previously. Simply click on the top half of the Track Changes icon to disable it or select to use the CTRL + Shift + E keyboard shortcut.

You can now easily disable ‘Track Changes’ in Word documents when you don’t want others to view the changes that you have made. Also, if you are unable to disable the feature, you know the reason and can ask for the password from the person who shared the document.