Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Resolving Revisions.

Resolving Revisions

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 20, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016

Excel allows you to easily track revisions made to your workbooks. At some time you will want to resolve your changes to get rid of the revision marks. This is typically done as you are finalizing a workbook, after you are sure that the changes are something you really want to keep. Excel allows you to automate much of the resolution process.

  1. Display the Review tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the Track Changes tool. Excel displays a submenu.
  3. Choose Accept/Reject Changes from the submenu. Excel displays the Select Changes to Accept or Reject dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Select Changes to Accept or Reject dialog box.

  4. If desired, use the controls in the dialog box to indicate the criteria by which you want to review changes: when changes were made, who made them, and where they were made in the workbook.
  5. Click on the OK button to begin the reviewing process. Excel highlights an edited cell with an animated cell border and information about the edit is displayed in the Accept or Reject Changes dialog box.
  6. Click your mouse on Accept or Reject, depending on whether you want Excel to accept or reject the proposed edit. Excel moves on to the next change in the workbook.
  7. Repeat step 6 for each remaining edited cell.

You will notice that when you are finished reviewing changes, Excel still shows edited cells with the tracking changes indicator (the blue triangle in the upper-left corner). The only way to get rid of these (after you have reviewed all the changes) is to turn off the revision marking.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8152) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Resolving Revisions.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting a Non-Breaking Hyphen

Non-breaking hyphens can come in handy for some types of writing. They force the words (or characters) on both sides of ...

Discover More

Choosing SUBSTITUTE or REPLACE

If you need to modify information in a text string, two common functions you can use are SUBSTITUTE and REPLACE. This tip ...

Discover More

Stopping Feet and Inches from Converting to Dates

When pasting information into a worksheet, Excel tries to helpfully convert that information. This can cause undesired ...

Discover More

Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Watching Cell Values

Want to know what is happening in certain cells in your worksheet? Using the Watch Window is a great way to keep an eye ...

Discover More

Finding the Analysis ToolPak Add-In

The Analysis ToolPak is used to add some very handy capabilities to Excel. If you don't have it installed, and you can't ...

Discover More

Counting with Subtotals

There are a variety of ways you can count information in different groupings. One convenient way is to use the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 + 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.