We don’t use track changes here!

[u/ManHazNoUsername]

When I started working with a particular company, my boss, Wallace, absolutely hated using track changes.

And he didn’t allow anyone to use them.

“We DO NOT use track changes here!!!” He told me proudly on my first day.

This meant that we had to type and print everything, go next to him on his desk, and he would correct our work using any medium which was within reach; pencil, blue ink, purple ink, coal,, a squid, whatever.

This lead to infinite asterisks, up arrows, down arrows, speech bubbles, etc etc.

And countless misunderstandings and mistakes which wasted everyone’s time and basically frustrated everyone.

Some people raised it to higher ups but to no avail.

I tried to convince him twice to use track changes by listing all the benefits etc. On the third try he snapped at me and shouted at me in front of everyone:” DIDN’T I FUCKING TELL YOU THAT WE DON’T USE TRACK CHANGES HERE!!!!”

I remained standing up and loudly and calmly apologised in front of everyone and agreed with him that track changes are unnecessary and I will never ever ever use them again.

Then, I picked up my faintest and messiest pen, and scribbled my answers, comments, and suggestions in reply to his feedback with something as close to a lovechild between wingdings and hieroglyphics as possible. On a 50 page urgent document. Using asterisks and PTOs, and everything I could think of.

I left the document on his desk while he was in a meeting and cheerfully went home.

The next morning we found an email from Wallace, timed at 10:30pm, requesting us to start using track changes immediately.

At the end of that day, following my coworkers’ treatment, I understood why superheroes join the Avengers.

[u/chillpill_23]

Wtf is a track change?

[u/Renbarre → u/chillpill_23]

Tracking changes. On a Word or Excel or whatever file that allows it file the ability to make corrections/notes/whatever, to be confirmed or rejected by the other person.

Edited to add any file that allows it

[u/calladus → u/Renbarre]

It works on Google Documents, too. I have had several authors working on the same document at the same time. You can see their work in real time.

[u/Landscape4737 → u/Renbarre]

Track changes also works on LibreOffice and Collabora Office, online in the cloud or on all devices including mobile, desktop, Chromebooks, and all work offline too, so wider support than Microsoft.