BlogOffice

Revisionist Theory

I have used revision marks since way back in the stone age of Word for Windows. As long as it's been around, I've been using it. So why was I surprised yesterday when I'd accepted all changes and then tried to redisplay the Original view of the document? Duh. It's all gone, Kathy.

Tracking changes (choose Tools > Track Changes, or press Ctrll+Shift+E) is absolutely great when you need to keep a record of what's changed as you work. You can use the Display for Review list (in the far left side of the Reviewing toolbar) to choose the version of the document you're seeing on the screen. You can use Final Showing Markup as you work, to see how the document is shaping up and still keep an eye on your changes. If you want to see what the document looked like when you first got it, you can choose Original view. If you want to see how it will look when all the changes are added in, choose Final.

So, in a rush to finish a chapter, I clicked Accept All Changes in the Document (a tool in the Reviewing toolbar). Word did it's thing and incorporated all the edits into one nice, clean document. Ahhh. "Oops," I thought. "I should check the format of that listing before I send this in," and I tried to select Original view, just for a quick look. Unh-uh. No go. The past is gone, and Final is all there is.

The moral? Make a backup copy of your document just before you accept all changes, just in case you get a bit nostalgic for some of your original work. :) k