Quick answer
In Word, use the Review tab to accept or reject all tracked changes, then delete all comments. Switching to the No Markup view is not enough, because it only hides the changes. Doc Scrubber, on this page, does both from a .docx in your browser and then shows you what is left.
Microsoft’s page “Accept or reject tracked changes in Word” covers Word for Microsoft 365 and Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac, Word 2024 and 2021 (and their Mac versions), Word 2019 and Word 2016. In its Windows steps, on the Review tab go to Tracking, then in the Accept drop-down list select Accept All Changes, or in the Reject drop-down list select Reject All Changes. The page is blunt about hiding: “To remove tracked changes, you must accept or reject them. Choosing the No Markup view only temporarily hides changes. They will be visible again the next time someone opens the document.”
For comments, Microsoft’s “Delete comments” page, which covers Word for Microsoft 365, Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac and Word for the web, says to go to the Review tab, select the down arrow by Delete, and choose Delete all Comments in Document. To delete one comment from a thread, select More comment actions at the top right of the comment, then Delete comment.
What Word’s Document Inspector adds
Microsoft’s Document Inspector page (Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2021, 2019 and 2016) lists a check called Comments, Revisions, Versions, and Annotations that finds and removes comments, revision marks from tracked changes, document version information and ink annotations. To run it: save a copy, then in the copy select the File tab, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document, tick the types you want, select Inspect, then Remove All next to the results. Use a copy, because “it is not always possible to restore the data that the Document Inspector removes”. The tracked changes page itself suggests a final check: “To do a final check, run Document Inspector.”
Why names travel with these marks: Microsoft Learn’s pages, which quote the ISO/IEC 29500 standard, show a Word comment stored with an author name and initials, and a tracked change to paragraph properties stored with an author name and a date.
Clean the file with Doc Scrubber
- Keep your original file. Accepting or rejecting changes edits the text of the copy.
- Above the drop zone, leave Comments (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and annotations (PDF) ticked. For a Word file this removes the comments and the reviewer list.
- Under Tracked changes in Word files, choose Accept all changes or Reject all changes. Accept applies every edit to the text; reject discards every edit. The default is Leave them in the file.
- If you want to send a redline with the changes still visible, leave tracked changes alone and keep Replace author names on remaining Word comments and tracked changes with “Author” ticked. The marks stay and the names on them are replaced, but their dates stay.
- Leave Document properties and personal info and Revision ids in Word files ticked too. The author and last modified by fields are separate from comments and tracked changes, and are removed by the properties option.
- Drop your .docx on the drop zone or select Choose files. Old .doc files and password-protected files are not supported. Up to 5 files at a time are free, and no file is uploaded.
- Read the Found in your file table, select Download clean copy, then read Still in the clean copy, which is re-read from the new file. Open the copy in Word and read it through before sending.
What this does not remove
- Tracked changes you leave in. With the default setting they stay in the file, with author names replaced by “Author” and their dates kept.
- Accepted text. Accepted wording is ordinary body text. A name or note a reviewer typed into the text stays.
- Anything visible: names in headers, footers, signature blocks and watermarks, text inside images, and the file name.
- Hidden text in Word and document variables. The report lists them, but they are content, so you decide.
- Embedded files and objects, macros, and links to local file paths. They are left in the file; the report lists the links.
- Digital signatures. They stay in the file but stop validating, because cleaning changes the file. The report warns you first.
- Earlier copies. A version you already emailed or saved in a shared folder still has its comments and changes.
This is a practical checklist, not legal advice. Read the clean copy before it leaves.
Lawyers, consultants and HR teams sending a draft that went through internal review should check before it leaves. Related guides: removing hidden data from a Word document and removing the author name.