tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post8175201974216484505..comments2023-09-04T00:51:09.374+10:00Comments on Microsoft Word 2007 & 2010 Tips and Tricks : How to turn Keep Track of Formatting on and offUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post-6724980934654393932012-07-21T01:29:14.923+10:002012-07-21T01:29:14.923+10:00Christine,
Thanks for the great info. When you sa...Christine,<br /><br />Thanks for the great info. When you say "Avoid bringing in garbage styles by importing text only," do you mean by pasting unformatted text, or could you elaborate?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post-61331965980715765832012-06-15T04:43:09.414+10:002012-06-15T04:43:09.414+10:00I agree with the comment from the 3rd "Anonym...I agree with the comment from the 3rd "Anonymous" and "tommykay". I am using MS Word 2010, and I cannot permanently disable Track Changes' "Track formatting" feature. It does not appear that MS has provided users with the ability to change the default setting in this regard. Rather, one must change the setting for each document. This is annoying, frustrating, and unnecessarily takes extra time. I was hoping that MS, this blog, or *someone* would have the answer. Since I haven't found one yet, I decided to create a workaround solution by recording a macro. The macro simply enables "Track Changes" and disables the "feature" that tracks formatting changes.<br /><br />If you don't know how to create a macro, it's really quite simple:<br /><br />1) Right-click the ribbon and choose "Customize the Ribbon". (Alternatively, click the "File" tab, choose "Options", and go to the "Customize Ribbon" option in the left-hand menu.)<br /><br />2) On the right-hand side (in the "Main Tabs" menu), check the box for "Developer". Click "OK".<br /><br />3) Navigate to the newly-shown "Developer" tab and click "Record Macro" (on the left side).<br /><br />4) On the window the pops up ("Record Macro"), assign a "Macro name" (I chose to use "Disable_Tracking_Formatting_Changes"). Optionally, write a description (I chose to use "Starts 'Track Changes' feature and disables 'Track formatting'.). I'm a keyboard shortcut guy, so I also chose to "assign macro to" the keyboard. Click the keyboard icon, hit Ctrl-t, and click close. (Ctrl-T, "T" for track changes.) Click "OK". <br />CAUTION: At this point, you are recording a macro, so do not do anything other than what follows. Otherwise, you could run into issues every time you run the macro.<br /><br />5) Navigate to the "Review" tab and click the "Track Changes" icon to begin tracking changes.<br /><br />6) Click the drop-down arrow under the "Track Changes" icon, and choose "Change Tracking Options".<br /><br />7) On the window that pops up, under the formatting section, uncheck the box next to "Track formatting". Click OK.<br /><br />8) Navigate back to the "Developer" tab and click on "Stop Recording".<br />Note: After completing this step, you are no longer recording a macro, so you don't have to exercise caution anymore.<br /><br />9) You're done! Now, whenever you want to track changes (but not formatting changes!), just hit Ctrl-t.<br /><br />Note that if you are not a "Power User", you may want to make the "Developer" tab disappear from the Ribbon again. Just follow Step 2 above and uncheck the box next to "Developer".<br /><br />Hope this helps you all! I know it will make *me* much happier. But Microsoft, if you are reading this, PLEASE allow users to change this default setting. We want the ability to customize and make our own choices, not be told how to do things. Half the time it assumes that we know nothing about how to use a word processor anyway. I think we're a little smarter than that. ;-)<br /><br />Cheers!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12932319171769149817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post-33899117693640687462012-03-17T18:54:16.931+11:002012-03-17T18:54:16.931+11:00Set it once and use templates. It is NEVER on in m...Set it once and use templates. It is NEVER on in my documents. Avoid bringing in garbage styles by importing text only.Christinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17688071016639013563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post-5665470618585773642012-03-17T09:54:32.953+11:002012-03-17T09:54:32.953+11:00"Feel the magic"? Fine, except you have..."Feel the magic"? Fine, except you have to keep telling it to stop showing these pointless extra styles with every flipping document. That's not magic, that's irritating.<br /><br />Why should Microsoft make me repeatedly uncheck "paragraph level formatting" and "font formatting" when I have already told it NOT to track that nonsense? <br /><br />It's like Microsoft has gone out of their way to be the obtrusive formatting police.<br /><br />Read Anonymous' comments again very carefully. She/he said it perfectly.tommykaynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post-72522468281189692692012-02-24T17:51:07.641+11:002012-02-24T17:51:07.641+11:00So Anonymous, you couldn't follow my construct...So Anonymous, you couldn't follow my construction's above? You can choose to switch on and off a whole array of options. Follow the instructions and feel the magic.Christinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17688071016639013563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post-91200046481370015132012-02-24T11:07:21.026+11:002012-02-24T11:07:21.026+11:00Keep track of formatting is the most frustrating *...Keep track of formatting is the most frustrating *bug* in Word. I should be able to decide for myself to turn this on or off. But instead, no matter what I do, Microsoft litters my styles with every stray bit of formatting in my document. And if my documents have been edited by others, that can be literally hundreds. I want my ten styles ONLY. Microsoft, stop telling me how I must use Word!!!! AAAAAACK!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post-23675084670838847202011-04-18T01:49:21.120+10:002011-04-18T01:49:21.120+10:00THANK YOU! I've been looking for this informat...THANK YOU! I've been looking for this information for a while, and finally found it! I need to track formatting so I can use "Select text with similar formatting." Thanks!Bthishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04569530638079333193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post-74774588277065937762010-06-03T07:20:35.495+10:002010-06-03T07:20:35.495+10:00It would help if you answered this most basic of q...It would help if you answered this most basic of questions: WHY do you want to keep track of formatting? <br /><br />If you are using Track and Review, then (to me) it's just maddening to see bold, italic, etc. EXCEPT when I'm doing a copy edit.<br /><br />Are there reasons outside of doing a review why you would want to keep track of formatting versus keeping it turned off?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-624248569184978452.post-42309489604210367282010-01-19T13:27:45.281+11:002010-01-19T13:27:45.281+11:00Thanks - super helpful! There is nothing about th...Thanks - super helpful! There is nothing about this whasoever on the MS site that I found in over 10 mins of searching.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com