Tips for Navigating Track Changes in Your Manuscript (Part One)

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​If you’ve been through the editing process, you’re probably familiar with Track Changes. If you are new to editing and publishing, or if you’re just looking for some tips to make using Track Changes easier, you’ve come to the right place.

Track Changes is a great tool and arguably the most popular in the editing industry. It provides a system of tracking changes in the document, color codes different types of changes, and allows you to accept or reject your editors’ suggestions without compromising the original story.

However, if you are new to it, Track Changes can be a bit overwhelming. Let’s start by breaking down the types of Tracked Changes you might see. Grab a comfy chair and a warm beverage. Let’s get started!

The Type of Book Edit Matters
To start, it is important to understand that the type of edit you are receiving (developmental, copyedit, line edit, proofread) will impact which edits you see when your manuscript is returned.

For example, if you are working with a developmental editor, you may see lines of text moved from one paragraph to another. This inserted text will show up in your manuscript in a different color (whatever has been preselected). The alternate color makes it easy to distinguish what lines were moved and where.

However, if you are receiving a copyedit or a proofread, you will rarely see this type of edit.

Insertions, Deletions, and Comments Oh My!
The main types of Tracked Changes you will come across in your edited manuscript will be insertions, deletions, and comments. So, let’s look at each one.

Insertions
This will be any text added to your manuscript. If an editor recommends moving text, as previously mentioned, or if clarity can be improved with further description, you may see inserted text in your manuscript. The inserted text will be a different color from the original text.

Deletions
This is exactly what it sounds like—text deleted for wordiness, improved clarity, misspellings, incorrect grammar, etc. Deletions have a line through the text indicating that it has been deleted from the manuscript.

Comments
Comments are listed along the side of the manuscript. They provide more detail about recommended edits. When I provide a developmental edit, this is the main tool I use to avoid cluttering up the manuscript with too many Tracked Changes. Comments can be deleted or cleared once you are finished with them.

Changes You Won’t Find in a Manuscript
It’s also important to note that there are some changes that editors make without tracking them. This is called blind editing. These changes include removing double spaces or extra spaces after punctuation, changing hyphens to en dashes in number ranges, or deleting extra lines. These are changes that don’t require the authors’ approval as they are standard in the editing industry.

The Benefits of Blind Edits
There are a few benefits to editing without Tracked Changes on. Understanding the benefits will help you make choices with your editor that ease your revision process later on. Let’s take a look at them now.

Reducing Chaos and Overwhelm
All those individually tracked changes have to be accepted or rejected. Every single one.

I have seen authors who were trying to manage every edit themselves. Not only did it take them months to finish, but in some cases, they became completely overwhelmed and stopped working on it altogether. This is easily avoidable by using blind edits for things that authors don’t need to review.

I have also worked through Tracked Changes on both sides, as the author and as the editor, and I can say from experience that when changes such as double quotes or extra spaces are taken off the table, focusing on the changes that really matter becomes much more manageable.

To this end, I provide my clients with an “All Edits” manuscript and an “Author Edits” manuscript. The first contains all my Tracked Changes, and the second only shows those edits that the author needs to review. The author still has access to all the changes I made in the book should a question arise, but using the Author Version makes the process of reviewing much less chaotic and overwhelming.

Controlling What You Can Control
There are also house style guides that authors have to consider.

If you are publishing your book through a publisher rather than publishing independently, you will likely have to adhere to a house style guide.

Each publisher has preferences on capitalization of deity pronouns or number format, etc., and these preferences are generally nonnegotiable. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for an editor to track each of these changes because a publisher isn’t going to let you change them back. Why not save your focus for structural changes that can really enhance your book?

Overcoming Microsoft Word Constraints
Microsoft Word is constantly updating, but as it stands now, there are some conditional changes that must be made with Tracked Changes turned off. Things like changing hyphens to en dashes in number ranges. If an editor wanted to change all hyphens to en dashes, that could be done with Tracked Changes turned on. But if an editor only wants to change the hyphens in number ranges, it won’t work correctly with Tracked Changes turned on.

And back to the previous point, why would you want to review tens or hundreds of hyphen-to-en-dash changes when you can’t change them back even if you want to? Trust me. You have much better things to do with your time.

Eliminating Expansive Files
Finally, tracking every single change in a manuscript increases the file size, making it more difficult to open, edit, and send. And I don’t have to tell you that the larger the file, the greater the chance of stalling or corruption when Word struggles to properly open or save the updated manuscript. This can be avoided using blind edits.

Conclusion: Understanding Tracked Changes to Edit Your Manuscript
We’ve covered the types of changes you may see using Tracked Changes, the types of edits that impact each change, and the benefit of blind edits. Check out the next post to learn how to navigate Tracked Changes.

When you overcome the learning curve, Track Changes can be a helpful tool, allowing you to communicate effectively with your editor as you enhance your manuscript and turn it into the book of your dreams.

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