Forum Discussion
Track Changes icon in Ribbon changed from switch to dropdown (with no update)
I am using Office 365 on a Mac, and use the Track Changes function in Word a lot. Yesterday, the Track Changes icon in the Ribbon changed from the usual green "switch" icon to a page-and-pen icon with a drop-down menu. The drop down options are "For Everyone" or "Just Me". There was no update of the software -- I just noticed that it had changed.
At same time, the Track Changes switch icon disappeared from the Quick Access toolbar, where I had placed it for convenience. Many of my ribbon settings were reset, too.
Does anyone know why/how this might have happened, and how I can restore the switch icon for Track Changes (and get it back in the Quick Access toolbar too)? Thank you.
10 Replies
This is yet another of those not-user-friendly changes that can't be changed back. As an editor, the green toggle switch was incredibly useful largely because it was so obvious visually. I am constantly toggling Track Changes on or off (with keyboard shortcut) and could instantly see the status. Now with the grayed or not grayed icon, it's not so immediately obvious, and throughout the day it slows me down a lot.
I at least managed, after an hour, to get the Track Changes icon to show on the far left of the ribbon. AND to turn off that ridiculous Editor and revert to the old Spelling function. But sheesh, Microsoft, people are working here and you don't always make it easier.
PLEASE bring back the green switch.
David_E_16 I just discovered the same thing and it's driving me crazy. Have you found an answer?
- This change is INFURIATING:
As a proofreader you need to know that the changes are being tracked. The green slider button did just that, although crazily even that was greyed out with one change to the ribbon.
PLEASE PLEASE restore the button.
EDITOR is also a terrible change.
Everything functioned fine before.
Terrible time-wasting changes.- This change is, UTTERLY INFURIATING. "For everyone" or "only me" is completely irrelevant for people who are not 'collaborating' on shared documents EVER. As a professional editor, I need to maintain unitary control of a working version/master document. I also need to be able to toggle track changes on and off, because sometimes I want the changes tracked so client can see them, and sometimes, I don't (for example, closing up extra space).. Now, when I turn off track changes from the top ribbon, it also changes View, so all THE CHANGES I MADE ARE NO LONGER VISIBLE. So now turning it off is a worthless feature. Instead I have to keep tracked changes on, and then highlight and accept each change I don't want the client to see or deal with, as I go. This adds several steps and time to a process that was working PERFECTLY FINE BEFORE. When this first happened I thought something was corrupted in my Word program and I spent hours on the phone with Microsoft technicians who didn't know about this change either, and didn't get why it would be made, and ultimately thought there was something wrong with Word and that I should uninstall and reinstall it, and/or my Mac user profile was corrupted, so then I spent tons of time creating a new user profile only to find out that this was the 'new Word' and actually intentional. Meanwhile you add this patronizing 'Editor' button to grade me on my 'concision' and 'grammar' as if your algorithm, functions better than my brain, on a skill I've cultivated for 35 years. In fact often these automated 'grammar' things are ridiculously wrong which was annoying enough when limited to spellcheck. WhY do you keep 'fixing' what isn't broken? This program is becoming less and less useful for editing professionals. Shouldn't that be a signal that something is wrong with these "improvements"?
