Why Word’s ‘Combine Documents’ Loses Specific Reviewer Attributions

When you use Word’s Combine Documents feature to merge tracked changes from multiple reviewers, you may notice that some reviewer names, initials, or color assignments disappear or become reassigned to a generic author. This problem typically occurs because the Combine feature merges changes based on document location and timestamp, not by preserving the original reviewer identity from the source files. This article explains the technical root cause of lost attributions, provides step-by-step instructions to preserve reviewer information, and covers related failure patterns when merging revisions.

Why Combine Documents Reassigns or Loses Reviewer Attributions

The Combine Documents feature in Word (Review > Compare > Combine) is designed to merge two versions of a document into one. It compares the documents at the paragraph and character level and inserts tracked changes to show what was added, deleted, or moved. However, the feature does not always carry over the original reviewer name from each source document.

The root cause is how Word stores author information. Each tracked change is tagged with an author name and initials, but these tags are tied to the user account that created the change in that specific document. When you combine two documents, Word attempts to reconcile conflicting changes. If the author names in the source documents do not match exactly—for example, “John Smith” in one and “J. Smith” in another—Word may treat them as different authors and assign a new generic label, such as “Author1” or “Reviewer1”.

Another cause is the Remove personal information from file properties on save setting. If either source document has this privacy option enabled, Word strips the reviewer names before the Combine process runs. The merged result then shows no author attribution for those changes.

Language and regional settings also play a role. When the source documents were created in different language versions of Word, the internal author metadata may be stored in incompatible formats. The Combine feature cannot map these correctly, so it falls back to a default author label.

Steps to Preserve Reviewer Attributions When Combining Documents

Before you combine documents, verify that the source files have consistent author metadata and that privacy settings do not strip reviewer names. Follow these steps in order.

Step 1: Check and Standardize Author Names in Source Documents

1. Open the first source document
   Go to File > Info. Under Related People, look at the Author field. If it shows multiple authors or a generic name, you need to standardize it.
2. Change the author name for all tracked changes
   Press Alt+F11 to open the VBA editor. Press Ctrl+G to open the Immediate window. Type the following and press Enter:
   ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Author") = "John Smith"
   Replace “John Smith” with the correct reviewer name. This updates the document-level author property but does not change individual tracked changes.
3. Update author names on existing tracked changes using a macro
   In the VBA editor, go to Insert > Module and paste this macro:

   Sub ChangeAllTrackedChangesAuthor()
       Dim rev As Revision
       For Each rev In ActiveDocument.Revisions
           rev.Author = "John Smith"
           rev.Initial = "JS"
       Next rev
   End Sub

   Run the macro (F5). This changes every tracked change in the document to the same author name.

4. Repeat for the second source document
   Open the other document and run the same macro, using the same author name and initials. Both documents must use identical author strings for the Combine feature to preserve them.

Step 2: Disable Privacy Options That Strip Reviewer Names

1. Open each source document
   Go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings.
2. Select Privacy Options
   Under Privacy Options, uncheck Remove personal information from file properties on save. Click OK.
3. Save the document
   Press Ctrl+S. This ensures Word does not strip author metadata when you later combine the documents.

Step 3: Combine the Documents With Correct Settings

1. Open a blank document
   In Word, create a new blank document. This will be the target for the combined result.
2. Start the Combine command
   Go to Review > Compare > Combine. The Combine Documents dialog box opens.
3. Select the original document
   Under Original document, click the folder icon and choose the first source document.
4. Select the revised document
   Under Revised document, choose the second source document. In the Label changes with field, type the correct reviewer name (e.g., “John Smith”). This label applies to all changes from the revised document.
5. Click More
   Expand the dialog box. Under Show changes in, select New document. This creates a fresh document with the merged changes. Click OK.

If Word Still Has Issues With Reviewer Attributions After the Main Fix

Combined Document Shows “Author1” or “Reviewer1” Instead of Real Names

This happens when the source documents have inconsistent author metadata or when the Combine feature cannot match names. To fix this after combining, use the macro from Step 1 to rename all tracked changes in the combined document to the correct author name. Alternatively, go to Review > Show Markup > Specific People and select All Reviewers to see if the names are simply hidden. If they are missing entirely, you must rename them using the macro.

Some Reviewer Colors Change After Combining

Word assigns each reviewer a color automatically. When Combine cannot preserve the original author, it may reassign a different color to those changes. This is cosmetic—the content is correct. To fix color assignment, ensure all tracked changes in the source documents use the same author name before combining. After combining, you cannot manually assign colors to individual reviewers; Word controls this automatically.

Tracked Changes From One Reviewer Appear Under a Different Reviewer Name After Combine

This occurs when the source documents have conflicting author metadata that Word resolves by merging authors. For example, if one document has “Jane Doe” and the other has “JD”, Word may treat them as the same person and consolidate changes under one name. To avoid this, standardize author names in both source documents to the exact same string before combining.

Combine Documents vs Compare Documents: Reviewer Attribution Behavior Differences

Item	Combine Documents	Compare Documents
Purpose	Merges two versions of a document, typically from different reviewers, into one document with tracked changes	Shows differences between two documents as tracked changes but does not merge them into a single document
Reviewer attribution behavior	May lose or reassign reviewer names if source documents have inconsistent author metadata or privacy settings enabled	Preserves the original reviewer names from the source documents because it does not attempt to merge metadata
Label changes with option	Available in the Combine dialog; applies a single label to all changes from the revised document	Not available; changes retain their original author names
Best for	Collaborative editing where multiple people have made changes to separate copies of the same document	Showing a single difference between two versions without merging
Risk of lost attributions	High if author names are not standardized beforehand	Low; attributions remain as they were in the source documents

Use Combine Documents when you need a single merged document with all changes. Use Compare Documents when you only need to view differences and you want to preserve the exact reviewer attributions from each source file.

You can now combine documents while keeping reviewer names intact by standardizing author metadata in the source files before merging. Next time you prepare documents for combining, run the macro to rename all tracked changes to a consistent author name and disable the privacy option that strips personal information. For advanced scenarios, consider using the Compare Documents feature instead if preserving original attributions is more important than having a single merged document.