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How to remove tracked changes from a Word document before sending it

Updated 9 October 2026

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Tracked changes are one of the most common ways private drafting leaks out: a deleted price, an earlier version of a clause, or a colleague's blunt edit. The catch is that hiding them doesn't remove them.

Hiding is not removing

Setting the Review view to Simple Markup or No Markup only changes what you see on your screen. The changes are still in the file, and anyone who opens it can switch the view back with two clicks.

How to remove every tracked change

  1. Open the document and go to the Review tab.
  2. Set the view to All Markup so you can see what you're about to accept.
  3. Read through the changes. If any should not go into the final version, click the change and choose Reject.
  4. Click the small arrow under Accept and choose Accept All Changes and Stop Tracking.
  5. Check the Track Changes button is now off, so new edits aren't recorded.
  6. Delete the comments too: see how to delete all comments.
  7. Save, close and reopen the document, then check the Review tab shows nothing left to accept.

The steps are the same in Word for Windows and Mac.

Why it still pays to check

Tracked changes can sit in headers, footers, footnotes and text boxes, which are easy to miss when you're reading through. Running the Document Inspector afterwards (on Windows) is a good second check.

Or skip the checklist

Clean Retype reads your document the way a person would and types the visible words into a brand-new Word file. Metadata, comments, tracked changes, hidden text and invisible characters can't come along, because the original file is never copied.

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Headings, bold, italic, lists, tables and pictures come through. Exact fonts don't.

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