Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 11, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Once you turn on revision marking, Excel starts tracking your changes. You can still make changes to your workbooks as you normally do, the only difference is that Excel pays a bit closer attention to what you are doing. When you edit a cell, Excel outlines the cell in blue and places a blue triangle indicator in the upper-left corner of the cell. When you position the mouse pointer over the changed cell, Excel displays a comment indicating what change was made to the cell.
You should note that as you are tracking your revisions, Excel only keeps track of the last edit made. This can cause problems if you want to see a complete history of changes. In that case, you should instruct Excel to keep a complete tracking history on a separate worksheet using the List Changes On a New Sheet check box, at the bottom of the Highlight Changes dialog box. This check box causes Excel to track your changes on a revisions worksheet, instead of the actual worksheet you are changing. This option is available only if you have saved your workbook as a shared file.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2250) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Making Revisions.
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