Tracking changes in Word

[bintarab]

Does anyone here use "track changes" in Microsoft Word? I only started using it yesterday because I'm now on version 11 of the zombie story, and since I'm hacking away at it (now down to less than 2300 words), I was afraid I might delete something and then change my mind. But it's proving to be a pain, and I realize I may not be using it in the most effective manner. If anyone here has suggestions (even if you don't use the function), I'd like to hear them.

~bint

[Ed]

TBH, there are a lot of features in MS Word that I'm not familiar with and would probably be worth learning, but what I do with multiple edits is open the file and then immediately 'save as' 'story_title[edit2].doc and do the same again for each subsequent edit.

BTW, there's a really good site that deals with Word and other MS Office bits and bobs, here - http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/FlyoutOverview.mspx#13

Ah... hang on, that's the microsoft site. The one I meant to post is this one - http://word.mvps.org/index.html

[bintarab]

Sure, Ed, I save new versions when I have one that's significantly different from the last (and now version 11 is so different from version 1 you'd hardly guess they were written by the same person). But I don't 'save as' under a new version number as I go along, just when I have to make major changes to the story. I want to check that site out ...

~bint

[bintarab]

P.S. Microsoft Word tells me that I am writing this on a fourth grade reading level.

~bint

[JonP]

I really hate editing stuff with track changes switched on, because it's hard to see the wood for the trees (although it's better with balloon deletion rather than strikeout). What I tend to do is save version 1 as is, then edit a new copy as version 2, then compare and merge versions 1 and 2. That way, I get a clean version to work on whilst I'm editing, as well as getting full details of all the changes once they've been made. But I'm probably being perverse doing that.