I recently received a price quote, in Word, and noticed that Track Changes was enabled. I was looking at the final version of the document. I went back to look at the original version of the document and got to see a complete price quote that was sent to another institution. I could see every change that was made when that price quote was modified for us. The company didn't want me to see that, I am sure.
In order to make sure this never happens to you, consider having the "Remove Hidden Data" tool added to Office XP. (NORMAL DISCLAIMER: If someone else manages your computer, contact them to find out whether they think this should be done.) The "Remove Hidden Data" tool not only removes all the changes and comments that might have been added, but also removes the personal identification information that is normally attached to an Office document.
The tool is available from Microsoft on the http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=144E54ED-D43E-42CA-BC7B-5446D34E5360&displaylang=en web page. If that link doesn't work because it is too long, use my http://www.snurl.com/9wb3 shortcut. Once installed it adds the "Remove Hidden Data..." command to the File menu in Word. It saves a "clean" copy of your document.
Microsoft has an article that discusses some of this on the http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010983881033.aspx web page, although the only solution mentioned there is to accept each of the changes.
Finally, if you want to spend a little time learning to use the track changes features, go to Google and search for "track changes tutorial" to find some learning materials.
By the way, the company should have send a PDF file, not a Word file, since they did not want me to edit it. When you are sending out proposals or papers that you want other people to work on, you will be sending the Word document. Remove Hidden Data can be useful in that case.
Bill Vilberg
Instructional Advancement Center
