Track Changes records every edit made to a document so nothing is silently rewritten. It lives on the Review tab, works on the standard .docx revision model, and pairs with comments to form the full review loop in RixDocs.
Turn tracking on and make edits
- Open the Review tab and click Track Changes. The button shows an active state while recording.
- Edit the document normally. Insertions appear underlined, deletions are struck through, and formatting changes are noted.
- Keep writing. Every keystroke lands as a revision until you switch tracking off.
While tracking is on, think of the document as containing two layers: the visible text and the recorded history of how it got there. Readers can see both.
Accept and reject
The heart of the feature is the decision loop on the Review tab:
| Command | Effect |
|---|---|
| Accept | Makes the change permanent and removes its markup |
| Reject | Restores the original text and removes the markup |
| Accept All | Confirms every outstanding change at once |
| Reject All | Restores the document to its pre-tracking state |
Walking a long document edit by edit is deliberate and safe: each accept or reject jumps to the next change. When a co-author's pass is broadly fine with a few objections, Accept All followed by targeted fixes is faster; when a version is contested, reject-all is the clean reset button.
A two-pass review habit
- Pass one — structure. Accept or reject the big changes: moved sections, rewritten paragraphs, deleted blocks.
- Pass two — details. Sweep for wording, typos and formatting marks.
Sorting big decisions first prevents wasted deliberation on sentence-level polish inside a paragraph that might be deleted anyway.
Display modes
Display modes control how markup is shown, without touching the edits themselves:
- Inline markup — insertions and deletions shown directly in the text, the most precise view for editing.
- Final-focused views — the text reads clean, with changes flagged in the margin, which is easier for reading long stretches.
Switch modes from the Review tab as you work: inline while deciding edits, the cleaner view while re-reading flow. The revisions underneath are identical either way.
How revisions travel
Revisions are part of the .docx revision model, which has practical consequences:
- A file tracked in RixDocs opens in Microsoft Word with the same markup, and Word can accept or reject there too — the collaboration does not lock anyone into one editor.
- Turning tracking off does not clear pending revisions; they stay until decided.
- Before sending a final version, resolve everything: accept or reject all, and confirm no markup remains. See the pre-flight checklist in comments and collaboration.
When versions have already diverged
Tracking only works from the moment it is switched on. If two people edited copies of the same document without tracking, their changes are invisible in either file — that is the job of Compare documents, which diffs two versions at paragraph level and produces a third document showing the differences. Track Changes going forward, Compare after the fact.
Lock the review down
For formal review rounds where editors must not alter body text, combine tracking with Restrict Editing: reviewers can add comments and tracked suggestions while the underlying document stays protected behind a password.
What to explore next
- Comments and collaboration for the discussion side of review.
- Compare documents to reconcile untracked versions.
- AI Editor proofing for a final polish pass before sign-off.