How to lock and unlock Track Changes

Word 365
When you send a document for review or simply for approval, you need to know all the reviewer's changes. Some reviewers forget or ignore to turn on Tracking Changes. You can compare the original document and the reviewed version to see the differences, but it is more easily block the ability to change the document without Tracking Changes.

To prevent someone else from turning Track Changes off, just lock Track Changes on with a password. Do the following:

   1.   On the Review tab, in the Tracking group, click the Track Changes button:

Track Changes in Word 365

   2.   In the Track Changes list, click Lock Tracking:

Lock Tracking in Word 365

   3.   In the Lock Tracking dialog box, type a password, and then type it again in the Reenter to confirm field:

Lock Tracking password in Word 365

Note: This is not a security feature, but you still need to remember the password to unlock Track Changes for future use.

   4.   Click OK.

While tracked changes are locked, it is impossible to turn off change tracking, and you can't accept or reject the changes:

Turn off change tracking, not accept or reject changes in Word 365

To stop locking, in the Track Changes list, click Lock Tracking again. Word prompts you to type the password with that you have locked Track Changes. After you type your password and click OK, Track Changes is still turned on, but you can turn it off, accept and reject changes.

Please, disable AdBlock and reload the page to continue

Today, 30% of our visitors use Ad-Block to block ads.We understand your pain with ads, but without ads, we won't be able to provide you with free content soon. If you need our content for work or study, please support our efforts and disable AdBlock for our site. As you will see, we have a lot of helpful information to share.