How to retain review traces of Word documents and how to use review tools

Key points of this article

Keep the revision status open during the review phase, and every change will be made under revision, so that traces will remain in the file.
Each round of review is saved as a new version, and the file name is marked with the round and date, so historical versions can be traced back at any time.
Try to reply to comments instead of deleting them directly. The discussion process will be left in the file for easy checking later.
Check the number of revisions, author of comments, and format before sending to make sure there are no errors in acceptance or deletion.
Online collaboration and PDF comparison can supplement the review process, but make sure traces are still there before converting.

When multiple people take turns revising a contract, paper or tender document, the troublesome thing is that after the revision is completed, the revisions and comments disappear. Others cannot see what you have changed, nor can they find the previous discussions. Many people search for "how to retain traces of approval on documents", which actually means they want to solve this problem. This article is written for people who need to revise back and forth and have multiple people review the same Word document. It focuses on two things: how to keep revision traces and comments during the editing process, and how to choose tools and arrange the process during review.

After reading this article, you can set up the review environment, know how to save each round of revisions, and use several checks to confirm that the traces are complete before sending or finalizing. The operations in this article are based on the general review function of Word, supplemented by OmniDoc's editing tools for online collaboration and PDF version comparison.

How to retain traces of approval of documents? One sentence conclusion

As long as the revision function is always turned on during the review phase and every modification is made in the revision state, traces will remain in the file. The situation where it is really easy to lose traces is usually when someone saves the file after "accepting all revisions", or corrects the text by pasting it over, or sends the review version directly as the final draft.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
If you modify it yourself, you need to leave it to others to see.	Open revision status before modification and save as new version	The modification record is traceable and the other party can see every change.
Multiple people take turns reviewing	Each person saves it with a different file name and only edits it in the revised state.	Avoid overwriting each other, and it is clear who changed what
It is necessary to finalize the draft and preserve the history.	Save a separate copy of the final draft and archive the review version as it is.	History and final draft are separated and do not interfere with each other.
Only adjust the layout, do not change the text	First confirm whether the typesetting changes also require leaving traces.	Format changes will make the page marked a lot, which can easily cover up text modifications.
Documents to be converted to PDF or sent for translation	Check revision-marked versions first before converting	The display mode of traces after conversion may change and needs to be checked

Before you start: Confirm these points first

Taking a few minutes to confirm the following items before starting can save a lot of rework.

File Format: It is recommended to save files for review in .docx format. If the other party gives you an old-fashioned .doc file, save it as .docx before starting to avoid format changes during conversion.
Revisor Name: Set the user name in Word options. Revisions and comments will display the author's name. If the name is wrong, others will not be able to tell who made the changes.
Version Rules: Agree on file name rules in advance, such as "Contract_v1_0301" and "Contract_v2_0310". When there are no rules, it's easy to end up using the wrong version after a few rounds.
Whether typesetting changes leave traces: If you only adjust the font and paragraph spacing, it is recommended to agree with the other party whether to record it. All the traces will make the page very messy.
Privacy information: Check the document properties and author, contact information and other personal information in the text before sharing. This step is especially important when sending externally.

Steps to retain revisions and comments in Word

Before opening the document, make sure you have the original .docx file. Do not save it as an old format first.
Turn on the revision status in the review-related options of Word so that all subsequent additions, deletions and changes will be recorded.
Check whether the name of the reviser is correct. If it is not correct, modify it first and then start editing.
When modifying the text, use deletion and insertion methods. Do not paste directly to cover the entire content, otherwise the original revision record will be washed away.
For other people’s comments, try to discuss them in the form of replies instead of deleting them directly, so that the discussion process will remain in the file.
After each round of review, save it as a new version. The file name will be marked with the round and date, and the original review version will remain unchanged.
When online collaboration is required, you can use UniDoc web editor (app.unidoc.top) to open the docx file for Word-compatible editing, and download it back to your local computer after editing.
Before formal use, first take a small sample to test whether the revisions and comments are completely retained. After confirming that they are correct, process the formal document, and finally open it in Word to check it again.

How to choose an audit tool?

There are three common types of audit methods, each with its own suitable scenarios.

📊 Core comparison

Way	Suitable for the scene	Pay attention
Revisions and comments that come with Word	Many people take turns to change a document, and it is necessary to leave marks one by one.	The name of the reviser should be unified, and the accepted or rejected operations should be checked before the final draft.
UniDoc Page Editor collaboration	Need to edit online at the same time, or share links for others to view	After downloading it back to the local area, you still have to use Word to check whether the revision is complete.
PDF comparison of Desktop client	Find the difference between the two PDF versions, such as the modified version sent back by the other party	The comparison results need to be manually confirmed one by one and can not be used as a substitute for review.

If the document finally requires the other party to sign, you can also use the signature request function of OmniDoc to send the PDF to the other party for online signature. It is still necessary to make sure that the content has been finalized before signing, and changing it after signing will make the version mismatch.

# check item by item after completion

After getting the results of the review or the final draft, check it item by item according to the table below.

Check item	What do you think?	What if there's a problem?
Revised quantity	Open the review pane to see if the revision list is as expected	The quantity is obviously less, which means that it may be mistakenly accepted. Use the previous version to find it.
Annotation author	Check whether the author name of each comment is correct.	The name is wrong. After changing the setting, make a new round of annotations and indicate in the instructions.
Format and layout	Turn the page to view tables, formulas, pictures, and headers and footers	When the layout is out of order, use the previous version to go back, and then change only the necessary parts
file format	Confirm that the file is still .docx and has not been saved to another format	Re-export to .docx and check the file size and opening
Content that has been OCR or translated	Check the original paragraph by paragraph, focusing on numbers, proper nouns and terms	Manual correction, machine translation and OCR results need to be checked where in doubt.

# frequently asked questions (FAQ)

1. After accepting the amendment, can the traces of the amendment still be recovered?

Usually it cannot be retrieved directly from the current file, and the accepted changes have become the text. The safe way is to retrieve it from the previously saved review version, so save the version for each round of review.

2. What about the annotations and modifications of the scanned version of PDF?

The text in the scanned piece is a picture and cannot be modified directly. You can first use OCR to identify editable text, and then edit it, after recognition to check whether the text is wrong.

3. How do I compare the differences between two PDF versions?

You can use the comparison function of the OmniDoc desktop client to compare two PDF to find out the differences in the text. The result of comparison needs to be confirmed manually, and the important terms should be looked at one by one.

4. What should I look at when choosing a free document review tool?

It focuses on the file size limit, whether it is watermarked, how the privacy policy is written, and whether typesetting and revisions are retained after export. Testing with a sample document is more reliable than just looking at the promotional content.

# Summary

The key to retaining approval marks is to keep revisions open during review, save versions in each round, and check the completeness of revisions and comments before finalizing them. How to retain the approval trace of a document depends on the process rather than a button, so that multiple people can review it methodically.

Open OmniDoc to edit and export documents online