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editrix30-8476 avatar image
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editrix30-8476 asked StefanBlom-6438 edited

inconsistent behavior by track changes

I have a professionally formatted document in which Track Changes will track a change from roman type to italic but not a change from italic type to roman. The TC parameters are set correctly. Does anyone have any ideas that I could try to correct this? I have been using Word since 2003 and have never seen anything like this. I asked this in Microsoft Answers@microsoft.com yesterday, and was asked in an emailed reply if I could submit a sample document. I tried a couple of times to answer that question--no, I can't, I do not have permission to release any of this--through that email but although I could sign in with these credentials, "oops something went wrong" when I tried to submit that answer. Most frustrating. Any ideas? This a very real problem. Thanks.

office-word-itpro
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StefanBlom-6438 avatar image
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StefanBlom-6438 answered

The Microsoft Community site seems to be down at the moment. :-(

When you remove italic from a text range, you should see this marked as a change to "not italic." See attached screen shot.
77495-trackchangesexample.png

Can you reproduce the issue in a new, blank document? Or are just certain documents affected?



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$$ANON_USER$$ answered $$ANON_USER$$ edited
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editrix30-8476 avatar image
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editrix30-8476 answered StefanBlom-6438 edited

Stefan, good thought. Yes, the problem of TC not tracking roman-to-italic appears in a new document.

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Is this Word 2010? It is possible that there is/was a specific issue with that version. I'm afraid I do not have access to Office 2010 any more, so I can't do any testing specific to that version.

The fact that the issue is observed in new documents as well indicates that it isn't caused by the document at least.

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I suggest that you share the new, blank document which illustrates the issue.

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editrix30-8476 avatar image
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editrix30-8476 answered StefanBlom-6438 commented

Yes, it's Word 2010. I have been using this for 10 years, on documents professionally (publisher) formatted, documents formatted by highly organized nonprofits, and documents prepared by publishing amateurs, and I have never seen this before. MS isn't supporting W2010 any more but I'm sure I saw a Win7 update the other day; maybe I should uninstall that, although as it was a purely security-oriented update I don't want to.

I misled you slightly, I think, without meaning to. Open new document/copy and paste a sentence with italics from troublesome file/delete itals--not tracked, although the TC options were set to track formatting. Open new document/copy and paste a sentence with itals from a file where TC did track correctly/delete itals--tracked. I don't know how much formatting Word 2010 carries to a new file with a simple copy-and-paste but the sentence from the "bad" file is the one for which the change from italics to roman was not tracked.

Are you suggesting that Word 2010 and Word 2016 or 2019 (I don't know what the formatters are using) have weird incompatibilities of which this may be one? I know Office 2013 did not play well with others.

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In theory, Track Changes should work the same in Word 2010 as it does in more recent versions (although some of the display options have changed a bit).

Perhaps you could share a short example document where you are seeing the issue with italic/not italic being tracked properly? I believe you can attach a Word document in this forum.

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Unless I pick up text from a problematic file and insert it into a new document, TC seems to work okay--for example, with dummy text in a new document, it's fine. In every other document I have worked on in the past 10 years, from whatever source and through whatever versions of Word, TC has worked fine. There is something in these prepared, formatted files that was not correctly done. I am not the only person opening these files and seeing this effect.

No, I cannot pick up text from a problematic file, insert it into a new document, and post it. I do not have permission to release any of this.

As the file format hasn't changed since Word 2007 I would not expect real incompatibility between Word 2010 and later versions, no. I haven't seen any between W2010 and W2016.

I'll put a comment on text that I change to roman. This will be a nuisance down the line but I must get these files moving. Thank you for your time and for trying to help.

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So you are saying that you can't reproduce the issue in a newly created document? That might indicate a damaged document or template.

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erinding-msft answered

@editrix30-8476

Could you please give a simple screenshot of this issue?

Based on your description, I did a test in my Word 2010 but seemed not to reproduce your issue.
77669-image.png

77692-image.png

I found a related thread "Track Changes marks some formatting changes but not others", you may have a look at.


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editrix30-8476 answered

The problem only appears with some files that originated elsewhere. I have never seen it before in 10 years of using Word 2010. I thank you for trying to help but I am have a deadline and must just find a way around this.

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