Some things about Word that every writer and editor should know
In the good old days editors wrote on manuscripts with
a red pen. An entire syntax of corrective marks was used. Nowadays we have a
powerful and easy-to-use program called Microsoft Word, and its Track Changes
tool.
In Microsoft Word, reviewing tools can be found in the
Review tab on the ribbon. Good editors
will know when to turn Track Changes on and off to present to the writer the
most useful feedback on their manuscript. They will be able to easily accept or
reject actual line editing changes, read comments and make their own changes or
comments in response.
When I am editing I almost always have Track Changes
on, which marks in red my additions and puts a strikethrough on any deletions. I
also tend to preview the document in its final form (if, for example you
decided to accept all the changes) to look for any final errors or problems
with page layout not visible due to extensive tracked changes.
When you’re
not used to using Microsoft Word and/or the reviewing tools there can be a few
hurdles that somebody will need to teach you to overcome. For example:
Reading View
Occasionally Microsoft Word opens documents in
‘Reading View’. Such a pain! If so, there will only be three menus visible and
you need to press the third menu 'View' and then click ‘Edit Document’. Then it
should let you have all the menus and full editing capability with the document
coming up in Print Layout.
Working through your tracked changes
Your editor will expect you to work through the
Changes he or she suggests by first turning off Track Changes in the Review
tab and then, using the Next/Previous
arrows, working through their suggestions and Accept or Reject
them.
Just a tip about Track Changes, in case you are not
aware of it: apart from Accepting/Rejecting each individual change one by one,
you can also select a block of text (e.g. a paragraph or page) with your mouse
and then right click to Accept/Reject all changes within that block. The
Comments will need to be removed manually one by one (click on the X) but there
is a good reason for that—they have questions or suggestions that require your
input or consideration. You can Delete the Comments as you go or you can leave them to last and
run through when you’re
sure that you do not need them anymore.
Accepting all changes
If you wish to accept all changes, you can easily go
to Review , then click the tiny arrow beneath the Accept button and click on Accept All Changes in
Document . There may still be some comments you will need to visit because of
certain questions your editor has raised.
Check that your document is showing you
all changes
If you have a recent version of
Word please make sure you go to Review -> Track Changes and
make sure it is set to show you All Markup
not Simple Markup. See screenshot below:
I’m still seeing green squiggly lines
You may see some blue/green underlines from the Grammar Checker unless
you have turned it
off. Don’t worry about them. The red underlines are for the Spell
Checker and that should be set
by the language setting in your copy of Word to English Australian so that it works properly. We
have manually fixed any spelling problems, including American spelling.
If you want a version of
this document for Americans as well, please let us know and we’ll
restore your “ises” to “izes”,
your “res” to “ers” and consider American grammar differences, such as commas,
etc.
Formatting
Your editor may have altered the formatting (eg. tabs, fonts, bullets,
line spacing and paragraph spacing)
to make the document look better, but tracking all these changes can
make the document a bit
complicated so we often leave these changes untracked.
Formatting changes, when tracked, can make it look as if your document
has corrections
everywhere! All you need to do to hide these changes If we have left
these changes tracked, you
may want to turn off. If you hide all formatting corrections when you
start to go through it’ll
make it a lot cleaner. When you’re finished with the other corrections
you could then turn it back
on and decide what you want to do. (See screenshot)
Questioning Your Editor’s Changes
Many aspects of editing are related to knowledge and preference, with
some things being black and white and others not so much. If you have any
questions or wish to discuss the pros and cons of any of our edits, please feel
free. You will find we’re very flexible. In some cases your editor may be wrong
and we will be happy to discuss this amongst ourselves and learn from your correction.
Different Version of Word
If you are having trouble viewing your tracked changes please let your
editor know. It may have
something to do with your version of Microsoft Word and what operating
system you are using (Windows
or Mac).
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