Track Changes allow you to see a list of individual changes made to a spreadsheet. As a Document Owner, you can enable Track Changes for the entire spreadsheet. Section Owners are able to activate Track Changes for specific sections (sheets).
Enable spreadsheet or section track changes
To enable Track Changes:
- Open the Review toolbar
- Toggle Track Changes on
- Check the specific sections (sheets) you want to enable track changes on. To enable track changes for the full spreadsheet, select Entire File.
Note: Document Owners can manage track changes for the entire spreadsheet, and Section Owners can only manage sections in which they have Owner permissions. Section Owners can't modify the track changes settings for their sections if the Document Owner enables Track Changes for the whole file.
- Click Apply to enable track changes for the entire file or the sections that were selected
To learn if Track Changes is enabled or disabled for the current section you're in, you can view the Track Changes toggle under the Review tab in the spreadsheet. You can also click the Track Changes toggle too see a global view of the enablement status for all sections in the Manage Track Changes window.
View tracked changes
After you enable track changes, you’ll see changes marked accordingly.
- Removals are marked with a red pin.
- Changes (locations where text has been both added and removed) are noted with a purple pin.
- Additions are in blue with an underline and a blue pin.
To see removed text within your spreadsheet, you can change your View Mode. From the Review toolbar, select an icon to change your view. Show pins shows deletions as a red pin, while Show all changes shows the removed text.
If you’d like to see your spreadsheet with changes accepted, select the Hide changes mode.
You can jump between changes by clicking the Previous or Next buttons in the Review toolbar, or by opening the Track Changes panel. Clicking a change in the panel highlights the change in the spreadsheet.
Note: Changes to the outline, links, text formatting, and deleted rows/columns are not tracked.
A blue vertical line to the left of a sheet in the document outline indicates that section contains tracked changes.
Manage approval permissions
Document Owners can choose which collaborators are able to approve tracked changes. By default, only Owners can approve changes. Editors can only approve changes if the Owner adjusts the permissions setting.
To give Editors approval permissions:
- From the Review toolbar, click Approval and select Permissions.
- In the Permissions section, select Editors and Owners from the Can Approve Track Changes drop-down.
- Click Save Changes.
Both Owners and Editors can now approve tracked changes.
Approve or reject individual changes
A collaborator's ability to reject or approve tracked changes depends on their role and document permission settings:
- Owners can approve and reject any tracked changes
- Editors can reject any tracked changes
- Editors can only approve tracked changes if they have approval permissions
To approve or reject an individual change:
- Open the Track Changes panel.
- Select a change.
- Click the Approve or Reject buttons.
You can also approve or reject changes by right-clicking a change in the document and choosing Approve or Reject from the menu. Once approved or rejected, the change indicators disappear.
Approve or reject all changes
You can approve or reject changes at the section or document level via the Approval icon in the toolbar. When you approve or reject all tracked changes at once, you can’t undo this action.
Exporting documents with track changes to .xlsx or .csv display as if all track changes are approved. This does not approve all changes in your document.