Chapter 11: Revising Documents Using Markup Tools

As you probably know, many finished documents (including this book!) reflect the efforts of a group of people who worked together to create a polished product. For example, a single document might first be written by an author and then modified by an editor, commented on by a technical reviewer, and inspected and approved by a project manager. Such team collaboration can be simplified tremendously by using the markup tools available in Microsoft Office Word 2007.

Benefits of an Organized Revision Process

Revising documents can be a messy and confusing business-sometimes, it can even get downright frustrating when ideas and well-formed language are lost forever amidst the web of modifications made by reviewers. Fortunately, with the revision tools provided by Office Word 2007, the revision process doesn’t need to be painful-in fact, the process can be an enjoyable, educational endeavor when approached properly.

Over the years, the revision tools included in Word have been carving out a name for themselves in businesses, educational institutions, and personal arenas. Using markup tools, coworkers can collaborate on publications without losing ideas along the way, educators can require students to track and show changes while a class works through the process of writing a paper, and you can keep an eye on personal document changes, such as changes to legal agreements or contracts in negotiation. Of course, like all tools, the effectiveness of markup and revision tools stems from knowing how to use them.

In Word, numerous people can review the same document and incorporate changes and comments with those made by other people. After participants add their comments to a document, others in the group can insert their responses into the document as well. Throughout the process, Word dutifully tracks and color-codes everyone’s comments and changes, as long as you configure the markup features properly. To help streamline the configuration and use of markup tools, Word 2007 now conveniently groups proofing, commenting, tracking, comparing, and document protection tools on the Review tab on the Ribbon. This chapter covers these markup features and reviewing options so that you can maximize your revision efforts when you work with various versions and renditions of documents, either on your own or with others.