Turn off Track Changes by clicking the button in the Review tab

To stop tracking changes in Word, open the Review tab at the top of the window and click the Track Changes button. The button toggles on and off — when it is highlighted or shows as active, tracking is on. Click it once to turn tracking off. After you click, the button will no longer appear pressed, and Word will stop recording any edits you make.

If you are working in a document where someone else turned on tracking, you will see the Track Changes button highlighted in the Review tab. This tells you that any changes you make right now are being recorded. Clicking the button stops the recording immediately, but it does not delete the changes that were already tracked — those remain in the document until you accept or reject them.

The quickest keyboard shortcut to toggle tracking on and off is Ctrl + Shift + E on Windows or Cmd + Shift + E on Mac. If you use this shortcut often, it can be faster than navigating to the Review tab each time.

Key Takeaways

  • Click the Track Changes button in the Review tab to turn off tracking; the button will no longer appear highlighted when tracking is off.
  • Turning off tracking stops Word from recording new changes, but does not remove changes that were already tracked in the document.
  • Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + E (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + E (Mac) to toggle tracking on and off without opening the Review tab.
  • If you are sharing a document with others, tell them you have turned off tracking so they know changes are no longer being recorded.

What happens to changes already in the document

When you turn off Track Changes, the edits that Word already recorded stay in the document. They appear as red strikethroughs for deletions and red underlines or balloons for additions, depending on your display settings. You will still see all those marked changes in the margin or inline until you deal with them.

To remove the tracked changes from view, you have two choices: accept them or reject them. Accepting a change makes it permanent and removes the red markup. Rejecting a change removes the edit and restores the original text. You can accept or reject changes one at a time by right-clicking on each one, or you can use the buttons in the Review tab to accept or reject all changes at once.

Turning off tracking before you start editing

If you open a document and see that Track Changes is already on, you can turn it off before you make any new edits. This prevents Word from marking your changes. However, if the document was shared with you specifically so that your edits would be tracked, turning it off without telling the other person may cause confusion — they may expect to see your changes marked.

Check with anyone who sent you the document before you turn off tracking. If they want to see your changes marked, leave tracking on. If they only want you to edit the content and do not need to see a record of what you changed, turning it off is fine.

Hiding tracked changes without turning off tracking

If you want to see what the document looks like with all changes accepted, but you do not want to actually accept them yet, you can hide the tracked changes instead of turning off tracking. In the Review tab, click the Display for Review dropdown and select Final. This shows you the document as it would look if all changes were accepted, but the changes remain in the document and tracking stays on.

To see the tracked changes again, go back to the Display for Review dropdown and select All Markup. The red strikethroughs and underlines will reappear. This is useful when you want to review the overall look of the document without the visual clutter of markup, but you are not ready to commit to accepting the changes.

Preventing accidental tracking in shared documents

If you work in a shared document or one stored on OneDrive or SharePoint, Word may turn on Track Changes automatically when you open it. This is a safety feature to prevent unmarked changes. If you do not want changes tracked, turn off Track Changes as soon as you open the document. Check the Review tab each time you open a shared file to see whether tracking is on.

Some organizations set up Word documents so that tracking cannot be turned off without a password. If you see the Track Changes button is grayed out or does not respond when you click it, the document owner has locked tracking. You will need to contact them to unlock it or to turn off tracking for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does turning off Track Changes delete the changes that are already marked?

No. Turning off tracking stops Word from recording new changes, but all the changes that were already tracked remain in the document. You must accept or reject them separately to remove them from the document.

Can I turn off tracking for just my own edits and keep it on for others?

No. Track Changes is a document-wide setting. When you turn it off, it stops tracking for everyone who opens that document. If you want only your changes tracked, you would need a separate copy of the document with tracking on.

What if I turn off tracking by mistake?

If you turned off tracking and made changes that did not get recorded, you can undo those changes with Ctrl + Z (Windows) or Cmd + Z (Mac), turn tracking back on, and then redo the changes. Word will then record them as tracked edits.

Why is the Track Changes button grayed out?

The button is grayed out when the document owner has locked tracking with a password. You cannot turn tracking off without the password. Contact the person who shared the document with you and ask them to unlock it or turn off tracking themselves.