Be Your Own Editor

Time for an information technology break. My company’s IT department recently sent out a dire-looking announcement regarding some features of Microsoft Word’s “Track Changes” feature, and it got me thinking… Many writers probably use Track Changes to, you know, track their changes. Many writers may also be e-mailing documents—manuscripts, query letters, etc.—to agents or editors or friends or teachers. If you don’t want those agents or editors or even your friends to see every step you took on the road to the finished product, read on for a few simple tips.

You know when you occasionally send an e-mail you’ve received along to the wrong person? (I call this the “NO!!! FORWARD, NOT REPLY!!! COME BACK!!! phenomenon.) I once sent some rather negative comments about a writer’s work to the writer herself, rather than to a colleague. Ouch. Similar embarrassment can occur if you use Word’s Track Changes feature and e-mail your manuscript or other document without properly hiding the changes.

Most agencies and publishers still require hard copies for the submission of manuscripts, but more and more are accepting, at the very least, query letters and/or sample chapters via e-mail. And short stories can often be submitted to journals or to contests via e-mail. In fact, many prefer it that way, to save paper and reduce office clutter (but find out first). If you ever, at any point, even just for fun, wrote “Dear Asshole Agent,” you’ll want to take steps to ensure that your letter isn’t circulated around ICM’s literary department for laughs and then deleted forever.

This applies to users of Microsoft Word 2002 and 2003. Since they can explain it better than I, I’m going to risk plagiarizing a few tips from the memo I received (I have, of course, fixed their atrocious punctuation and inconsistent capitalization):

TRACK CHANGES AFFECTS:

1. Users creating and viewing documents in Word 2003 or users creating documents in Word 2002.

CHECK YOUR VERSION OF MICROSOFT WORD

1. Open Word.
2. Select Help > About Microsoft Office Word.
3. A dialog box will open that displays the version in use.

PROBLEM
If Track Changes has been used in a document, the changes are automatically revealed when being displayed on a computer using Word 2003. This occurs even if the changes have been previously hidden.

SOLUTION 1
Accept or reject all changes, and remove comments and highlighting.

1. Verify that the Reviewing Toolbar is turned on. (View > Toolbars > Reviewing) If the toolbar is on, a checkmark will appear to the left of the toolbar name.
2. Set the display option to Final Showing Markup.
3. To remove Tracking: Select the Accept Change dropdown menu and choose Accept Change or Accept All Changes. Or, if you wish to Reject Changes, choose the Reject Change/Delete Comment dropdown menu and choose Reject Change or Reject All Changes.
4. To remove Comments: Select the Reject Changes/ Delete Comment dropdown menu and choose Delete Comment or Delete All Comments. [Note: Last I checked, these steps can also be performed by placing your cursor on the particular change or comment and right clicking your mouse. You’ll see similar dropdown menus.]
5. To remove Highlighting: Select the highlighted text, click the Highlight dropdown menu and choose None.
6. You will now be able to safely email your document.

SOLUTION 2

1. Locate or turn on the Reviewing Toolbar. (See Step 1a above.)
2. Set the display option to Final. This hides BUT DOES NOT REMOVE changes or comments in a document. This view will still display highlighting.
3. Convert your document to PDF before sending out by email. (Note: If you do not have a full version of Adobe Acrobat you may need to install a Print to PDF feature. This allows you to select File > Print > Print to PDF and will generate a PDF of your document.) [Note from Lisa: Google “Print to PDF” and you’ll find many free applications to download that perform this function.]

IMPORTANT SECURITY SETTINGS
If you do not choose to convert your document to a PDF, the following settings should be applied to ensure that you do not send out a document containing tracked changes:

1. Select Tools > Options > Security.
• Verify that the box is checked next to “Warn before printing, sending or saving a file that contains tracked changes.”
• Verify that the box is checked next to “Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving”. (Note: This feature is on by default in Word 2003, which is what causes tracked changes to appear. Because you do not have control of the options other users have set, you must remove the changes before sending out your document.)
2. Once you have accepted or rejected changes and deleted comments or highlighting you are ready to email the document.
• Select File > Send to >

  Selecting Mail Recipient will put the document in the body of your email.

  Selecting as Attachment will attach the document as a separate file.

  Selecting for Review will force Track Changes to turn on when the user opens the document.

• If there are changes in your document you will be notified that the document contains tracked changes and you may choose to cancel or send with changes. If you are not prompted then your document does not contain any changes or comments. This feature will not prompt you if you have highlighting within the document.

You’re welcome. Still confused? Get even more confused, courtesy of Microsoft.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 11:20 pm and is filed under The Book Business, Web & Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.