During a normal business day, attorneys receive many documents from sources outside their office. Some come from the courthouse, some come from the clerk's office, some come from governmental agencies, and some come from opposing counsel. Many of these documents are in electronic format, and these documents are often forwarded to another person connected with the case — a paralegal, a filing clerk, perhaps another attorney in your firm.

However, before you forward a document, you should remember that documents can contain hidden text, comments, and tracked changes (revisions) that don't normally appear on your screen. You may not want the next reader to be able to see the comments, insertions, and deletions made to the document, and you may not want them to know who reviewed the document before sending it out. A prudent legal professional should check for all these possibilities before sending a document to someone else. Here's how to make sure you only send what you intend to send.

Displaying hidden text

To display hidden text:

1. Open the document in Microsoft Word.
2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
3. On the View tab, under Formatting marks, select the Hidden text check box and then click OK.

Displaying comments and tracked changes

In Word 2002 and later, you can view all markup (comments and tracked changes such as insertions, deletions, and formatting changes) in your document, or you can limit the kind of change that's displayed. For example, you can use the Show menu on the Reviewing toolbar to hide formatting changes and comments so that you can concentrate on insertions and deletions. Or, you can display comments and changes for a specific reviewer.

 Note   To display the Reviewing toolbar, click Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Reviewing.

"Display for Review" options

You can also change how Microsoft Word displays markup by clicking one of the Display for Review settings on the Reviewing toolbar. By changing this setting, you can preview a document with changes before you actually accept or reject those changes.

There are four Display for Review options:

• Final allows you to see how the document would look if you accepted all changes.
• Final Showing Markup shows deleted text in balloons in the margin of the document, while inserted text and formatting changes are shown inline.
• Original shows the original, unchanged document so that you can see how the document would look if you rejected all changes.
• Original Showing Markup shows the inserted text and formatting changes in balloons, while the deleted text remains inline.

More information

• About tracked changes and comments
• In Word 2000, see "About adding comments and keeping track of changes" in Word Help.