To remove Track Changes in Word, you need to do two things: turn off tracking and then accept or reject all the edits so they disappear from the document.

Quick Scoop

Here’s the simple way to get a clean, “no red/blue marks” copy of your document in modern versions of Word (Word 2016, 2019, 2021, Microsoft 365).

1. Turn off Track Changes

First, stop Word from tracking new edits.

  1. Open your document in Word.
  2. Go to the Review tab on the ribbon.
  1. Click Track Changes so it is no longer highlighted (this turns tracking off).

Now Word will stop marking up anything you type or delete.

2. Remove existing tracked changes (clean the document)

Turning tracking off doesn’t remove existing red/blue markup—you must accept or reject the changes.

Option A – Remove changes one by one

Use this if you want full control over every edit.

  1. On the Review tab, look for the Changes group.
  1. Click Next to jump to the next change.
  1. For each change, choose:
    • Accept to keep the edit.
    • Reject to remove the edit.
  1. Word will automatically move you to the next change; repeat until there are none left.

Once you’ve accepted or rejected all changes, the colored markup disappears.

Option B – Remove all tracked changes at once

Use this when you’re ready to finalize and trust the current version of the text.

  1. Go to Review > Accept (small arrow under the button).
  1. Choose Accept All Changes or Accept All Changes and Stop Tracking.
 * This instantly bakes every change into the document and removes the markup.
  1. Alternatively, if you want to discard edits instead:
    • Use the arrow under Reject and select Reject All Changes (or Reject All Changes and Stop Tracking).

Now your document text will look normal again—no strike‑throughs, no colored underlines.

3. Get a clean “final” copy

If you want a clearly labeled clean version (for clients, submissions, etc.):

  1. After accepting/rejecting all changes, make sure Track Changes is off.
  1. Press File > Save As.
  2. Save with a new name, such as Report_clean.docx.

You’ll have one version with history (if you kept it) and one completely clean version to share.

4. Why you still see red lines or balloons

If you’re still seeing colored lines or balloons in the margin, it usually means either:

  • There are still unresolved tracked changes in the document, or
  • You’re just viewing markup even though tracking is off.

To fix the second case:

  1. On the Review tab, look for the Tracking group.
  1. In the Display for Review drop‑down (it might say Simple Markup or All Markup), change it to No Markup to hide the red lines.

Note: No Markup only hides changes—it doesn’t remove them. You still need to accept or reject them to actually clear the history.

5. Extra: Very old Word versions (like Word 2003)

If you’re on an older system with Word 2003, the idea is the same, but the buttons look different.

  • Show the Reviewing toolbar via View > Toolbars > Reviewing.
  • Use Accept Change > Accept All Changes in Document or Reject Change > Reject All Changes in Document , then save.

Mini‑takeaway:
To truly remove Track Changes from a Word document, you must (1) turn off tracking and (2) accept or reject every change—individually or all at once—then save a new “clean” copy.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.