Tag Archives: macros

How Much Did the Manuscript Change?

In a recent proofread, authors told me that they made “a few additional changes” as they uploaded content to the ebook system.

“OK,” I thought, “there’s always a few lingering typos, and looking at it in a new way (as happens when uploading) can reveal them.”

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Remove Time Stamps from Changes and Comments

a map "locator pin" styled as the MS Word logo
Learn more about creating and running macros in Part 4 (Sections 28–31) of the book.

Did you work in the wee hours? Did you scramble to finish right before deadline? Do your tracked changes and comments reveal more than you feel is professional about your work habits? If clients can’t let this go or it’s bothering you too much, try this tiny macro that Samantha Pico commissioned that will go into the background coding and remove the time stamps, and only the time stamps from all tracked changes, leaving your beautifully branded user tag in place.

Macro that erases time stamps in Word

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Delete Resolved Comments Only

Grey checkmark icon on a Comment balloon icon.
Resolved comment marks go grey in the margin of a Word document.

Resolved Comments go quiet in Word, but they don’t go away. It’s important to delete them when finalizing a document so they don’t inadvertently travel into the wild with the document, or get (much worse!) printed!

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Shrink Files by Deleting Unused Styles

Word files can get bloated, taking up far more MB than they should. If you’re dealing with a book-length manuscript full of tracked changes and comments, that bloat can bog down the computer and lead to failures, glitches, and basic Office malfeasance.

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