The Track Changes feature turns off unexpectedly in a Word 2003 document

When you open a Word 2003 document that has one of the following conditions

• The Word 2003 document is using the Protection for Track Changes feature.
• You click Protect document on the Tools menu, click to select the Allow only this type of editing in the document check box on the Protection pane, click Track Changes, and then click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.

you experience one of the following symptoms:

• If you use F9 to update a field in a change-tracking comment balloon, the Track Changes feature turns off unexpectedly.
• If you click Insert voice on the Reviewing toolbar, and then insert a voice comment in the Word 2003 document that is using the Protection for Track Changes feature, an EMBED field that automatically updates and turns off the Track Changes feature is created.

Follow these steps to turn the Track Changes feature back on:

1. On the Tools menu, click Protect document.
2. On the Protect Document pane, click Stop Protection.
3. Enter the password if you are requested to do so, and then click OK.
4. On the Tools menu, click Track Changes.

This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest Office 2003 service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.

Service pack information

This problem is corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 2.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Office 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the Word 2003 post-Service Pack 1 Hotfix Package that is dated September 3, 2004. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
This problem was first corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 2.

Protection for Track Changes is a new feature in Word 2003 that prevents the document from being changed without those changes being tracked by the Track Changes feature.

For more information about about the Protection for Track Changes feature, click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type protect for track changes in the Search for box in the Assistance pane, and then click Start searching to view the topic.