How to track changes in Apple Pages on Mac

Pages Mac Comments and Changes Pane Connect

If you and your coworker are collaborating on a document in Pages, using the feature to track changes can be helpful. This will display the text from each person adding or changing the document in a different color. So, you can easily see who does what.

In addition, you can see comments, replies, and changes in a handy sidebar and accept or reject individual or all changes to the document. If you’re using this feature for the first time, we want to help. Here’s how to track changes in Pages on your Mac.

Track changes in Pages on Mac

Enable track changes

To turn on the track changes option, open your Pages document and click Edit > Track Changes from the menu bar.

You’ll then see a Review Toolbar appear at the top of the document. You should familiarize yourself with this toolbar so that you can use it effectively while tracking your changes and those of others.

Pages Mac Review Toolbar

Select your markup type

Before you start tracking changes, you’ll want to choose the type of markup to use. You can do this by clicking the button (gear icon) on the far right of the Review Toolbar.

Markup: Shows deletions with a strikethrough and surrounding text in a different color.

Markup Without Deletions: Hides deletions and shows only new surrounding text in a different color.

Final: Hides deletions and shows text without markup.

Pages Mac Select Markup

Add comments and make changes

You can add, delete, and edit text like any other Pages document. These changes will be tracked in your author color and display in the Comments & Changes Pane (below) for others to view.

To change your author color, click the button (gear icon) on the right of the Review Toolbar, go to Author Color, and choose a color.

Pages Mac Change Author Color

To add a comment or highlight text, use the plus sign or pencil icon in the Review Toolbar.

Pages Mac Add Comment

View the Comments & Changes Pane

Every comment added and change made is tracked and easily viewable. Click the button (square icon) on the far left of the Review Toolbar. This will open the Comments & Changes Pane on the left.

Here you can see all comments and changes as well as sort the pane.

Click View Options at the top of the pane to choose the sort order, filter by author, or hide either comments or changes.

Pages Mac Comments and Changes Pane

You’ll notice that if you click a comment or change in either the pane or the text, a line will connect between the two. This will also occur if you use the arrows in the Review Toolbar to move through comments and changes. This is very helpful if your document has a lot of comments or changes.

Pages Mac Comments and Changes Pane Connect

Accept or reject changes

You can accept or reject specific changes or those for the entire document.

For individual changes, open the Comments & Changes Pane and click Accept or Reject for that item.

Pages Mac Accept Reject Individual Change

For all changes to selected text, click the Accept or Reject button in the Review Toolbar.

For all changes in the document, click the button (gear icon) on the right and make your choice.

Pages Mac Accept Reject All Changes

Pause or disable track changes

You have a convenient toggle in the Review Toolbar to pause and resume the track changes feature at any time.

If you prefer to turn off the track changes features, you’ll need to either accept or reject all changes first.

Click the button (gear icon) on the right of the Review Toolbar, choose Turn Off Tracking, and then Accept or Reject the changes to turn it off.

Pages Mac Turn Off and Accept Reject All Changes

Wrapping it up

Tracking changes in your Pages document can make collaboration easier. And if you have several others working on it, seeing all comments and changes by author color is certainly a helpful feature.

Are you going to turn on track changes the next time you work on a Pages document with someone else? Let us know below or hit us up on Twitter to share your experience.