Default settings

[Jack]

We have Franchises opening up some of our documents
complaining that the documents are filled with mark-ups.
These are not forwarded for collaboration or saved with
track changes enabled in any way.

We isolated the problem to the Tools>Options>Security>Make
Hidden Markup Visible when opening or saving check box
being enabled. Our question is: Is this value turned on by
default? And if it is, anyone know why? We thought about
writing macros into the template to turn the value off.
But then in order to run the macro, the user would have to
change the default Macro Setting from High to Med to get
the prompt to enable macros. Which most Franchises buy
Office in a retail outlet, bring back and install it out
of the box selecting all normal installation options.

Just curious if this setting is by default or are a lot of
our franchises selecting it without knowing what it does.

Thanks

Jack

 

[Margaret Aldis]

The option is turned on by default in Word 2003, in an attempt to prevent
people accidentally sending out documents containing tracked changes (after
a few high-profile embarrassments). Actually it just seems to ensure that
changes left by unsuspecting 2002 users are seen by 2003 recipients!

Turning off the option would prevent the mark-up being instantly visible,
but wouldn't it make more sense to remove the tracked changes before you
send out the documents? (Save as a separate copy if you need to track
changes for your own use.) Note that it is not enough to turn off track
changes - you must also use the dropdown beside the Accept button to Accept
All.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To reiterate what Margaret is telling you, the "Make hidden markup visible"
setting is not your problem. The problem is that there is markup still there
to be made visible. Turning Track Changes off is not enough; you must also
Accept All Changes in Document and Delete All Comments in Document.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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all may benefit.

 

[Jack]

Thanks Suzanne/Margaret..
I didn't mean to offend any one by asking why it is a
defaulted value (you both explained the reason very
precisely). I have heard about those embarassing events
but since the personal information recorded by Word wasn't
defaulted to off, I had no idea that was the reason for
this defaulted value.

"Remove personal or hidden information
Show All
Hide All
Before you give others a copy of the document, it's a good
idea to review personal and hidden information, and decide
whether it's appropriate to include. You may want to
remove some information from the document and from the
document file properties before you share the document
with others."

I learned something new each day (none of this was in my
certification training). Thanks for sharing.