Using the Reviewing Toolbar

If you do quite a bit of work using either the comments feature of Word or the track changes feature, you may appreciate the use of the Reviewing toolbar. This toolbar is great for quickly locating and editing comments, or for processing marked changes in your document.

To display the Reviewing toolbar, select Toolbars from the View menu and then make sure Reviewing is selected. The toolbar normally appears at the top of the Word document, just above the Ruler. In Word 97 and Word 2000, the tools included on the toolbar are divided into four major categories:

• Comments. These are the first five tools. They allow you to add, edit, and delete comments, as well as quickly jump forward or backward through the comments.
• Track Changes. These are the next five tools. They allow you to turn on tracking, locate previous or next changes, and accept or reject the selected change.
• Highlighting. The highlight tool is included on the Reviewing toolbar. It is the same highlight tool included on the Formatting toolbar.
• Miscellaneous. This final group of three tools allows you to create an Outlook task, save a document version, and e-mail your document.

Microsoft changed the appearance of the Reviewing toolbar in Word 2002, but its purpose is essentially the same as in earlier versions. In Word 2002 and Word 2003 the Reviewing toolbar includes tools in the following categories:

• Display. These are the first two tools; both are drop-down lists. These tools control what types of changes you see displayed in the Word document.
• Track Changes. These are the next four tools. They allow you, in turn, to locate, accept, and delete changes already in your document.
• Comments. This category consists of a single tool that is used to control comments in your document. The default is to insert a comment, but you can choose what is done with comments by clicking on the down-arrow beside the tool.
• Track Changes Control. This single-tool category allows you to turn Word's Track Changes feature on and off entirely.
• Reviewing Pane. This final single-tool category allows you to display or hide the Reviewing pane at the bottom of the screen. This pane lets you know additional information about each change tracked by Word.

In Word 2007 Microsoft (in their infinite wisdom) did away with the traditional toolbars, including the Reviewing toolbar. Instead, the tools that were previously on the Reviewing toolbar can be accessed through the Review tab of the ribbon. Most of the tools are in two groups: Comments and Tracking.