Word - Turn Off Track Changes so it doesn't keep coming back on

Created by Chris Sandu, Modified on Wed, 19 Feb, 2025 at 4:05 PM by Chris Sandu

MIS Department Policy & Procedure

Document Name:	Turn off track changes	Document Type:
Written by:		Date/Revision Date:

I've had a few calls about this and I've experienced it myself. It's very frustrating. You've worked with Track Changes in Word and you think you've wrapped it all up and turned it off, but every time you open the document Track Changes is back on. Here's the solution I found:

Microsoft Office Word 2016

Click File, then choose Options (at the very bottom of the list)

In the left pane, click Trust Center, and then click Trust Center Settings (on the right)

In the left pane, click Privacy Options (last option), and then click to clear the Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving check box.

Click OK two times.

Note If you save the file with the Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving option cleared, another user will see the markup text immediately when he or she opens the document. The other user must also clear the Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving option.

This is because when you open a document that contains tracked changes, the document appears in the Final Showing Markup view to indicate that the document contains tracked changes. This behavior is by default.