Tracking Changes
If you purchase editing services at Mill City Press, your editor will be marking up your manuscript using the Track Changes feature found in Microsoft Word. (If you don’t have Microsoft Word, you can download Open Office at www.openoffice.org. This is a free program that allows you to convert your text to a compatible format even if you don’t have Microsoft Word.) Track Changes will enable you to review any changes that were made during the editing process, including additions, deletions, and queries that your editor has recommended to ensure your manuscript is ready for its publication debut.
Understanding Your Tracked Changes
As this example illustrates, any text that has been deleted from your manuscript will be in balloons titled “Deleted” in the right-hand margin of your document.
Any formatting revisions, such as changes in font, font size, indentation, paragraph style, or line spacing will appear in balloons marked “Formatted” within this same margin.
Comments from your editor will be found in balloons marked “Comment.” These may include questions that your editor intends for you to address during the revision process, or specific suggestions for improvement.
If your editor suggested additional words or alternate spelling, these will appear within the text itself in a different color, rather than in a separate balloon. In the example above, this new text can be seen in green.
To read the manuscript as it would appear if all edits are implemented, click on the Review tab and choose the “Final” setting.
Accepting/Rejecting Your Edits
The revision process is your opportunity to either approve your editor’s suggestions or reject them. (When rejecting an edit, the text reverts back to your original copy.)
By right-clicking your mouse on either the colored in-text change or the balloons off to the margins, you will be presented with two options, as shown in the example above. In the case of an insertion or deletion, you can either accept or reject that change. Accepting that change will automatically incorporate that change into the manuscript; rejecting a change will take the material back to your original content. In the case of comments, once you have addressed your editor’s question or concern, you can delete the comment balloon by following this same method.
While accepting or rejecting the changes individually is ideal—it ensures you have reviewed each and every change to your work—you are also able to accept all tracked changes in the document in one step. *Please note this should only be done once you’ve gone through and rejected any changes you do not wish to incorporate into the final manuscript.*
To accept all changes in the document:
- Click on the Review Tab
- In the Changes menu, click the bottom half of the Accept button
- Choose Accept All Changes in Document
If you use an earlier version of Word (2002 or 2003):
- In the Reviewing toolbar, hover over the Accept Change button (the one with the blue tick)
- Click on the arrow you see to the right of the button
- Choose Accept All Changes in Document
You should now have a clean, polished manuscript ready to upload to the Author Center.
For troubleshooting, refer to the links below:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/track-changes-while-you-edit-HA001218690.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA010252067
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/sharing/howtrackchangesworks.html
