Understanding Formatly's Tracked Changes Feature
Every formatting change Formatly makes arrives as a tracked change you can accept or reject in Word. Here is how to review efficiently.
Academic integrity and peer review standards demand complete transparency when software modifies a scholarly manuscript. Generating standard Microsoft Word tracked changes for every margin adjustment, heading reclassification, and reference indent ensures authors maintain total editorial oversight and prevent unexpected manual formatting errors.
Automation you can audit, edit by edit
Handing your paper to software and receiving a changed document back is only acceptable if you can see exactly what changed. Formatly writes every modification as a standard Word tracked change — the same accept-or-reject mechanism you already use with co-authors and advisors.
This guide covers what the tracked output contains and how to review a fully formatted document without drowning in edits.
What Arrives as a Tracked Change
| Category | Typical Edits |
|---|---|
| Page geometry | Margins corrected to the style’s requirement; page number and header placement fixed. |
| Heading hierarchy | Heading styles reclassified to the correct level, alignment, and weight. |
| Spacing and indents | Line spacing normalized; first-line and hanging indents applied consistently. |
| Citations and references | Citation punctuation and layout aligned to the style; reference entries reformatted. |
Let Formatly apply these rules for you
Upload your document and get a correctly formatted APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard document in seconds — with full tracked changes.
Reviewing the Output in Word
Open the Review tab and step through the changes with Next and Previous. Formatting edits are consistent by nature — once you have verified one heading level change, the rest of that category follows the same rule — so sample each category, then use Accept All for the ones you have verified.
Two checks deserve a slower look: citation punctuation, where a style’s comma placement varies by context, and reference list entries, where italics and ordering are per-source. The compliance rules behind them are in the five most common APA formatting mistakes.
Expert Tip: Rejecting a tracked change is safe and local — it reverts exactly that edit and nothing else. If you disagree with one heading treatment or citation layout, reject it rather than hand-editing around it.
Why Tracked Changes Beat a Silent Black Box
The alternative — software that returns a silently rewritten document — shifts all verification burden onto your memory of the original. With a tracked record, the diff is the review, your advisor sees what the tool did, and the file doubles as evidence of diligence. The wider case for visible edits is in why tracked changes matter for academic writing.
Eliminate Formatting Stress with Formatly
Spending hours adjusting indents, citation punctuation, and margin settings pulls focus away from your actual research and arguments. Formatly automates your paper’s layout to ensure 100% compliance with official style guides before you submit.
Ready to save time and eliminate grading penalties? Upload your document to Formatly to generate a perfectly formatted paper with tracked changes instantly.
Format your manuscript in seconds
Stop fighting with margins, headings, and lists. Upload your document and let our engine instantly apply APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard standards — with full tracked changes.