Track Changes User Changes Lost

[amb]

In Word 2007, I have a document with tracked changes by one user that is not
defined specifically but shows up as "Author". When a second defined User
makes changes they appear in a different color; however, when the document is
subsequently saved, the 2nd User's changes appear as the first User's. How
can I prevent this from happening. I am not sure what causes this.

 

[John Karlto]

In Word 2003 in Tools > Options > Security, there is/was a setting: "Remove
personal information from file properties on save" - this changes the user
name property from Your-Name to the generic name "Author" - in Track Changes
this would have the effect of turning each reviewer into one reviewer named
Author (but not until saving the document and giving you a surprise)...

In Word 2007 this feature is Office Button > Word Options > Trust Center >
Trust Center Settings... button > Privacy Options = but this is where things
get to be fun... this feature is only available if the document is a Word
2003 or prior document... If it is a 2007 document you use the Document
Inspector button to run the inspector and selectively remove Metadata - in
this case Document Properties and Personal Information...

I suspect (if the documents are all Word 2007 and not documents running in
Compatibility Mode) that the Metadata (the user name property) is being
cleaned.
You misght also want to check the User Name property to see if it isn't set
to "Author" = Office Button > Word Options > Popular

I hope this made some kind of sense...
John

 

[PamC via OfficeKB.com]

Some of this is also explained here
http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_office_word/archive/2008/06/13/who-is-author.aspx

 

[amb]

This is exactly the correct answer for my problem. Thanks!

 

[Stefan Blom]

Indeed, it is a very useful article.