Try the example, then check the result.
Download the fictional material and follow the steps below. The video uses English illustrative diagrams; it does not present a live app recording. Product controls may vary by version.
Check the answer before applying the method to your own data. How we review guides ↗
Watch the complete lesson.
The video uses English illustrative diagrams; it does not present a live app recording. English captions. Product menus may differ in your account.
Quick answer. In Word for the web, distinguish two causes: switch to Reviewing before making a new test edit if it needs tracking; for revisions that already exist, change a hidden markup display such as No Markup to a display that shows revisions. Turning tracking on now cannot recreate an earlier untracked edit.
Use the fictional practice file and independent answer check. Work in a permitted practice copy.
Before you start. The downloadable fictional note starts clean and intentionally has no tracked revisions. Upload or open a disposable copy in Word for the web. Make a new controlled edit only after selecting Reviewing. That newly tracked edit can also be the known revision for a hide-and-reveal check if your Word version offers markup display choices. The clean source DOCX does not arrive with a redline.
1. Check which kind of missing change you have
Ask whether the edit was ever tracked. An ordinary edit made in Editing mode may simply replace text, leaving no revision to reveal. An edit that was tracked can be present but hidden by the current markup display. These two cases need different fixes, so inspect the mode before changing any content or accepting revisions.
Checkpoint: You know whether you are testing a new edit or revealing an existing revision.
2. Switch to Reviewing before a new test edit
Open a disposable copy of the fictional note in Word for the web. Inspect the mode control and select Reviewing before changing the phrase Draft schedule to Final schedule. Microsoft describes Reviewing as the mode for tracking proposed changes. Do not use a real shared document or assume that switching modes recreates earlier edits.
Checkpoint: The test edit is made after Reviewing is selected.
3. Inspect the new revision
After the controlled edit, inspect whether Word displays the inserted and deleted text as a tracked change. Compare the changed phrase with the original. If the revision is not visible, inspect the current review display and confirm you are still in Reviewing. The authored DOCX by itself is only a clean starting state; the tracked revision must be created in the application.
Checkpoint: The new test edit is represented as a revision in the practice copy.
4. Reveal already tracked revisions
Use the tracked replacement you just made as the known revision. If your Word version offers No Markup, select it, then return to a view that shows changes, such as All Markup where available. The same revision should hide and reappear without being accepted or rejected. If these display choices are unavailable in your Word web session, mark this display check unavailable and try it in a Word version that exposes them; the first Reviewing check still stands. Changing display never creates a missing revision.
Checkpoint: The same existing revision reappears without accepting or rejecting it.
5. Avoid destructive fixes
Do not accept or reject revisions merely to fix visibility. Those actions change the review history rather than the display. If the earlier edit was made in ordinary Editing mode and no revision exists, you cannot reveal it retroactively; use version history if you need to compare older text, and make future proposed edits in Reviewing mode.
Checkpoint: No revision is accepted or rejected during diagnosis.
Verify the result
On a disposable practice copy, a change from Draft schedule to Final schedule made after selecting Reviewing should appear as a new tracked revision in a display that shows markup. Where No Markup and a markup-visible view are offered, toggle between them and confirm that this same revision hides and reappears without changing its status. If those views are absent, record the display branch as unavailable rather than claiming it passed. Confirm the actual result in your own Word session.
If it still does not work
If the new edit is not tracked, verify Reviewing was selected before the edit and that you are editing the intended copy. If an old edit remains invisible, confirm the document actually contains a tracked revision; switching markup display cannot invent one. Do not accept or reject changes as a visibility test.
Official sources
- Track Changes modes in Word for the web (checked 1 November 2026).
- Review and display tracked changes in Word (checked 1 November 2026).
The branded video panels are illustrative diagrams unless a panel is explicitly marked as an actual app capture. The current controls and result must be checked in your own account; an illustration is not proof of an observed live result.
Practice downloads.
The exercise files contain invented information. Save a local copy before editing.