How to Manage Multiple Reviewers in Word

When several colleagues or clients review the same Word document, the comments and tracked changes can quickly become overwhelming. You see a mix of insertions, deletions, formatting marks, and comment bubbles from different people, making it hard to identify who suggested what. Word includes built-in tools to filter, sort, and review changes by individual reviewer. This article explains how to show or hide specific reviewers, filter tracked changes by author, and manage comments from multiple people without losing any input.

How Word Tracks Multiple Reviewers and Why It Gets Confusing

When you turn on Track Changes, Word assigns each reviewer a unique color for insertions and deletions. This color coding helps identify who made each change at a glance. However, if five or more people edit the same document, the balloon comments and colored marks can overlap and clutter the page. Word stores each change with the reviewer’s name and timestamp. The Review tab provides filters that let you isolate one reviewer’s contributions without permanently deleting anyone else’s work. Before you start filtering, ensure Track Changes is enabled and the document contains changes from at least two people. You can verify this by looking at the Show Markup menu under the Review tab.

Prerequisites for Managing Multiple Reviewers

Your document must have tracked changes or comments from more than one person. If you are the only reviewer, the filtering options still work but will show only one name. To see multiple reviewers, ask each person to enable Track Changes before editing or to add comments with their own Microsoft 365 account. Word uses the user name set in File > Options > General > Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office.

Steps to Filter and Manage Changes by Reviewer

The following steps work in Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2021, Word 2019, and Word 2016. The menu names are identical across these versions. If you use Word for the web, some filtering options are limited to viewing only.

1. Open the Review tab and locate the Tracking group
   Click Review in the ribbon. Look for the Tracking section, which contains the Show Markup button. This is the central control for filtering reviewers.
2. Click Show Markup and select Specific People
   On the Review tab, click Show Markup. A dropdown menu appears. Hover over or click Specific People. A submenu lists all reviewers who have made changes or comments in the document. Each reviewer has a checkbox next to their name.
3. Uncheck reviewers you want to hide temporarily
   Uncheck the box next to any reviewer whose changes you want to hide. Word instantly removes their tracked changes and comments from view. The changes are not deleted; they are simply hidden. You can recheck the box later to bring them back.
4. Use All Reviewers to reset the filter
   To show all changes again, click Show Markup > Specific People > All Reviewers. This checks every reviewer box and restores the full view of tracked changes.
5. Filter by reviewer in the Reviewing Pane
   Click Reviewing Pane in the Tracking group. The pane opens on the left or bottom of the document. In the pane, you can see a list of all changes sorted by type. Click the column header for Author to sort changes alphabetically by reviewer name. This helps you scan one person’s changes without hiding others.
6. Accept or reject changes for a specific reviewer
   After filtering to show only one reviewer, you can accept or reject all their changes at once. In the Tracking group, click the arrow below Accept or Reject. Choose Accept All Changes Shown or Reject All Changes Shown. This action applies only to the currently visible reviewer’s changes.

Managing Comments from Multiple Reviewers

Comments are separate from tracked changes but are also filtered by the Specific People menu. When you uncheck a reviewer, both their tracked changes and their comments disappear. To delete all comments from one person without affecting others:

1. Click a comment from the reviewer you want to remove
   Click any comment bubble or comment in the Reviewing Pane that belongs to that person.
2. Use the Delete dropdown in the Comments group
   On the Review tab, in the Comments group, click the arrow below Delete. Choose Delete All Comments by This Reviewer. Word removes every comment from that person while leaving other reviewers’ comments intact.

When Filtering Does Not Work as Expected

Even with the correct filtering steps, you may encounter situations where the reviewer list does not update or changes remain visible. Below are the most common problems and how to resolve them.

Specific People Menu Shows Only One Reviewer

If the Specific People submenu lists only one name, the document likely contains changes from only one person. Ask other reviewers to enable Track Changes before editing. If they edited without Track Changes, you can compare versions using Review > Compare > Compare. This creates a new document showing differences as tracked changes from each author.

Filtered Changes Still Visible After Unchecking a Reviewer

This happens when the document contains multiple layers of changes or when formatting changes are set to show inline rather than in balloons. Click Show Markup and make sure Comments, Insertions and Deletions, and Formatting are all checked. Then reapply the filter. If the issue persists, close and reopen the document to refresh the reviewer list.

Reviewer Names Appear as Unknown or Generic

Word displays the name stored in the user’s Microsoft 365 account or local Office settings. If a reviewer used a shared computer without signing in, their changes may appear as Author or Unknown. To fix this, ask the reviewer to set their name in File > Options > General > User name before editing. For existing documents, you cannot retroactively rename an unknown reviewer.

Comparing Reviewer Workflows: Word Desktop vs Word for the Web

Item	Word Desktop (Microsoft 365 / 2021)	Word for the Web
Filter by reviewer	Full support via Show Markup > Specific People	View-only; cannot filter by individual reviewer
Accept/reject all changes from one reviewer	Yes, using Accept All Changes Shown	No; must accept or reject each change individually
Delete all comments by one reviewer	Yes, via Delete dropdown	No; must delete each comment manually
Combine documents from multiple reviewers	Yes, via Review > Compare > Combine	Not available
Reviewing Pane with author sort	Yes, vertical or horizontal pane	Not available

For heavy multi-reviewer workflows, use the Word desktop app. Word for the web is suitable for quick reviews but lacks the filtering and bulk actions needed to manage many contributors efficiently.

You can now filter tracked changes and comments by individual reviewer, accept or reject changes for one person at a time, and delete all comments from a specific author without affecting others. Next, try using the Combine feature under Review > Compare to merge feedback from two separate reviewers into one document. For documents with more than five reviewers, set up a shared review schedule so each person edits in a separate round, reducing the need for heavy filtering.