Can´t keep track of changes done to a table in word.

Question

I try to keep track of all changes to a document using "Track changes", but when I try to delete a column on a table I get the following message:

"this action won't be marked as a change".

Then, you have 2 options: 

1) "Accept" and the column disappears, but there is no track of that action.

2) "Cancel", and nothing happens.

It's as if Word isn't able to keep track of those changes, but I have a document, done by someone else, that keeps track of those kinds of changes.

I simply can not find a way around this.

I´m trying to work on this using both Office 2016 and 2010 (Using older version to see if it was also a limitation back then).

Other people had tried using other versions and the same happens.

Just create a new blank document, insert a table with more than 2 columns, activate track changes and try to delete one of the columns and keep track of it. I bet you won't be able to, at least on the first try.

If you find a solution, I´ll be eager to listen to it!

Here is a screenshot of the file were someone else was able to keep track of those changes:

[

](https://filestore.community.support.microsoft.com/api/images/75c37170-8e1c-4882-8ced-1b3979616887?upload=true)

In case you may want to see the file where someone was able to do it, here you have a Dropbox link with a sample:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/17imqtcqbz8wxpq8lkeqi/Analysisa.docx?dl=0&rlkey=sf256l9r34j9r7w2r9v7yq25m

In that file you can see 3 tables:

Original version, final version and the one with track changes.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Answer 1

Hi,

I had the same issue and I found that if I first unmerged two cells that were previously merged in my table I was able to see the deletion of the table as tracked. After merging them again the deletion would not mark as tracked again.

I don't know why this worked but it did. These two cells had no content. I had other merged cells with content that I was able to leave merged.

Hope this helps someone.

Answer 2

There are some known limitations to Track Changes in tables in Word. The inability to track a deleted column is one of those limitations.

MVP Jay Freedman has provided a possible explanation in the following thread in the Microsoft Community forum:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/how-to-get-a-this-action-wont-be-marked-as-a/480d9aec-fd11-404e-ba9c-17e0f557ba91

Answer 3

From my experience, you can delete the table row by row, more tedious but that way, the change would be tracked on the document.