when I use track changes the colors do not change by author.

[Guest]

They either all turn the same color if I choose a color, or if I use "by
author" they are also all the same color as the person who sent it to me. I
need my comments in a different color. Choosing a different color, however,
makes everyone's edits that color.

 

[Dawn Crosier, Word MVP]

The "By Author" mode of tracked changes uses the information in the User
Name field of your version of Word. In Word 2007 - Office button, Word
Options, Popular.
In earlier versions - Tools, Options, User Information (Name: field)

In 2002 and 2003 - there is a security setting on the Security tab ~
"Remove personal information from file properties on save" which will
change the tracked changes edits to all be made by "Author" which will
convert them all to the same color.

--
Dawn Crosier
Microsoft MVP
"Education Lasts a Lifetime"
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions
to the newsgroup so that others can learn as well.


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.14.8/1063 - Release Date:
10/11/2007 9:11 AM

 

[Guest]

That's a great tip to know! Thanks....but...didn't solve the problem...We
are using v2003, but that box isn't checked on either of the 2 people who
don't get different colors. Well one gets different colors, and I do. But
when we send to the 3rd party he doesn't. It all changes to the same color
no matter what he choses (by color or by author). And the user names are
definitely different on each machine.

 

[Guest]

As you can tell Teresa, Track Changes can get quite confusing. Having studied
this feature over the past few months, I may have some insight for you.

#1 Version matters - It sounds like your organization is using Word 2003. Is
the 3rd party?

#2 Colors are random - When you use the "By Author" Track Change setting,
our testing has shown that the colors you see will not necessarily be the
same colors that another user sees. In other words, the colors chosen by Word
for the "By Author" setting are random. As you experienced, when you change
the Track Change setting to a specific color, everything changes to that
color (as you just told Word to change, for example comments, to be that
color).

#3 Beware of the Remove Personal Information setting - As Dawn pointed out,
this setting is under Tools | Options and while most of these settings are
application settings, this setting is a document setting. In other words, if
it is turned on for a document, it is not necessarily turned on for other
documents. Tricky little setting and worse, it is slightly flawed.

#4 Scrubbing software - Is anyone using any third party utility to remove
metadata?

#5 User information - Worth double checking if it is in fact different as in
our past project, we had conflicting feedback (and it definitely impacts how
Word tracks changes).

Hope this helps. If not, screen shots would be the next best step to
understand your situation. Take care and have a blessed day.

Regards, Giorgio DiPaolo, CtCS

*******************************************************

 

[A K G]

Hi, I just noticed I have the same problem [described by Teresa] in
Word 2K7.
Also noticed the change is instant!
I'm tracking changes that i'm putting in on a doc.
I make the changes, hit save and the changes I've just made have
turned into the same colour as all the other tracked changes in the
doc.
Also, the doc doesn't differentiate between authors. All authors are
shown as 'A' instead of their initials.

 

[Guest]

And yes AKG, this is the way the Security setting "Remove personal
information from file properties on save" works. Upon you saving, it makes
all the changes appear to be from the same author (i.e., the same color) and
gives all the author's the same name (i.e., the A). If you don't want to
remove this personal information, turn off the setting "Remove personal
information from file properties on save" for all documents (as this is a
document specific setting).

Giorgio DiPaolo, CtCS

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the detail. We've done everything you say and on everyone's
machine except one man we all see various colors for the different editors.
But one man only gets it with one color - all edits from everyone. and if he
tries to choose a color for his edits or lets it choose by author it changes
everyone's edits to whatever color his are also. No differentiation. Only
on that one machine.

Yes, we are all on the same version of Word, also (v2003). It's a total
mystery but the poor man needs it fixed.

 

[Guest]

Tough to tell what is going on with this person's computer without seeing
what is going on and running some tests. Sorry.

If you would like to discuss offline support, please email me at
(e-mail address removed) (as it should take me about 30 minutes to see
what is going on).

Giorgio DiPaolo, CtCS

 

[Guest]

Well, no one here where I work can figure it out either. We think maybe one
of the men had that Remove Personal Information setting on at one time,
making all of the edits up to that point one color but the strange thing is
when you hover your mouse over the edits it DOES show different user names so
that wouldn't make sense either. Very strange. Thanks for all of you!

Teresa

 

[Guest]

Sorry Teresa as what I am saying is that I can't solve your problem via this
discussion group format (i.e., need to see your documents). If your group
would like to figure it out (which is possible), we can talk offline about it
([email protected]) and then post our findings back to this
discussion site for others to benefit from.

Giorgio DiPaolo, CtCS

 

[Beth Melton]

What happens if you select the "By Author" option (makes sure this is done
for each track change type you want to color code), save and close the
document, exit Word, restart Word and then reopen the document?

Also, does the same occur on all documents or just on a specific document?

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/