--- title: How to Redline a Contract In Word description: Microsoft Word is one of the most common tools legal teams use to redline their contracts. Learn how to redline in word, and more, in this blog post. image: https://blog.linksquares.com/hubfs/Copy%20of%20Legal%20Best%20Practices_Thumbnail-Mar-15-2023-02-03-54-0602-PM.png --- [Skip to content](https://blog.linksquares.com/how-to-redline-in-word#main-content) [LinkSquares](https://blog.linksquares.com/) Open Mobile Menu [LinkSquares](https://linksquares.com/) Close Mobile Menu [Why LinkSquares](https://linksquares.com/why-linksquares/) [Products](https://linksquares.com/products/) --- [The LinkSquares Cloud One platform for all your in-house legal needs](https://linksquares.com/products/linksquares-cloud/) --- Contract Lifecycle Management Create, review, manage and sign contracts Legal Project Management Centralize your work and keep projects moving Cross-product capabilities Get scalability, efficiency and connectivity LinkSquares Onboarding Experience A step by step guide to get started today --- [Solutions](https://linksquares.com/solutions/) [Customer Stories](https://linksquares.com/customers/) Resources Content [LinkSquares+ Content curated for in-house leaders](https://linksquares.com/plus/) [The Library](https://linksquares.com/library/) In the studio [Demo Library](https://linksquares.com/demo-library/) Community & Events [Customer Stories](https://linksquares.com/customers/) [Events & Webinars](https://linksquares.com/events/) Learning [Blog](https://blog.linksquares.com/) [In-House Insights](https://linksquares.com/inhouse-insights/) [Knowledge Base](https://help.linksquares.com/) [Events](https://linksquares.com/events/) [About Us](https://linksquares.com/about-us/) [Careers](https://linksquares.com/careers/) [Press](https://blog.linksquares.com/tag/linksquares-news-press) [Pricing](https://linksquares.com/pricing/) [Request a demo](https://linksquares.com/demo-request/) Back Close Mobile Menu [Contract Lifecycle Management](https://linksquares.com/products/) [Finalize Streamline your contract creation process](https://linksquares.com/products/finalize/) [Sign Get your contracts executed faster](https://linksquares.com/products/sign/) [Analyze Your post-signature analytics & repository](https://linksquares.com/products/analyze/) [CLM Suite One platform to rule them all](https://linksquares.com/products/) [Request a demo](https://linksquares.com/demo-request/) Back Close Mobile Menu [Legal Project Management](https://linksquares.com/products/) [Prioritize Manage, track, and report on legal work in one place](https://linksquares.com/products/prioritize/) [Request a demo](https://linksquares.com/demo-request/) Back Close Mobile Menu [Cross-product capabilities](https://linksquares.com/products/) [LinkAI Predictive and generative AI](https://linksquares.com/products/analyze/features/ai/) [Integrations Connect the tools you love](https://linksquares.com/integrations/) [Reporting Improve your teams efficiency with KPIs](https://linksquares.com/products/analyze/features/dashboard/) [API Integrate with any third-party app](https://linksquares.com/integrations/linksquares-api/) [Request a demo](https://linksquares.com/demo-request/) Back Close Mobile Menu [Cross-product capabilities](https://linksquares.com/products/) [Onboarding We're here for you from day one](https://linksquares.com/onboarding-services/) [Services Short on time? 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Microsoft Word is one of the [most common](https://go.linksquares.com/the-truth-about-cloud-based-editors) tools legal teams use to redline their contracts. Word has a lot of redline-friendly capabilities, making it easy for even the least tech-savvy teams to make and share contract edits with co-collaborators.  ## What Makes Word Redline-Friendly? Microsoft Word is a top choice for drafting, editing, and reviewing contracts. It allows you to track changes and keep an eye on who made what changes and suggestions, and compare the suggested edits against the original text.  You can also make in-line edits, which are color-coded to indicate that it’s an edit. And best of all, all changes render as suggestions, allowing your team to accept and reject changes as you see fit.  ## How to Redline in Microsoft Word Using Track Changes A best practice for redlining in Word is to use the “track changes” feature. While you can manually strikethrough and change the color of edited text, that manual effort adds more time to an already time-consuming process. To redline contracts in Word using track changes, follow these steps: - Navigate to the top menu and click “Review.” - In the Review toolbar below, click “Tracking.” - Toggle the “Track Changes” button to on. This will render all new changes in a new color and show deleted text in a textbox to the right. - To comment, highlight the text you want to comment on, right click, and select “New Comment.” Alternatively, you can click the “Comment” button in the toolbar. - To accept changes, click on the edited text, then navigate to the Review toolbar and select “Accept.” Here, you have the option to accept just one or all changes. - To reject changes, navigate to the Review toolbar and select “Reject.” - To resolve comments, right click on the comment box then select “Resolve comment.” Protip: For the sake of transparency, it’s better to resolve than delete comments so all parties can keep track of activity in the document. [![How to Redline ](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/6934676/0974835b-fbb9-4a38-958a-9411f5afef58.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/6934676/0974835b-fbb9-4a38-958a-9411f5afef58) ## Things to Keep in Mind About Redlining in Word While Word is a common tool for redlining contracts, it does have some shortcomings to be aware of. Word is on-premises software, which means each version lives on your personal device and so updates can’t be tracked in real-time.  This makes collaboration a little more strained and leaves room for error when tracking versions. As a result, it’s crucial that you update the title of each version to indicate recency. ## Takeaways Redlining in Word is fairly straightforward but not without its disadvantages. [Using a CLM](https://blog.linksquares.com/the-truth-about-cloud-based-editors) with a [Word integration](https://linksquares.com/integrations/microsoft-word/) is best for redlining your contracts. Not only does it keep track of contract versions, but it also provides real-time updates on the status of each agreement. See it in action — [request a demo](https://go.linksquares.com/demo-request) of LinkSquares today! For more redlining tips like these, check out our most popular eBook, [***How to Redline Contracts: Art & Etiquette for Better Back-and-Forth***](https://go.linksquares.com/how-to-redline-contracts).  ![avatar](https://blog.linksquares.com/hs-fs/hubfs/alyssa%20.jpeg?width=290&name=alyssa%20.jpeg) #### [Alyssa Verzino](https://blog.linksquares.com/author/alyssa-verzino) Alyssa Verzino is a Senior Content Marketing Manager at LinkSquares. ## Subscribe to the LinkSquares Blog Stay up to date on best practices for GCs and legal teams, current events, legal tech, and more. ## Related Articles ### [Alyssa Verzino Mar 17, 2023 8 min read How to Redline a PDF Contract Welcome back to our series on redlining, a crucial activity for in-house legal teams. Since contracts are central to all ... Start Reading](https://blog.linksquares.com/how-to-redline-a-pdf) ### [Alyssa Verzino Mar 16, 2023 6 min read How to Redline in Google Docs: Step-by-Step Contract Redlining Process What is Redlining? Redlining a contract is the process of proposing tracked edits to agreement language during negotiation so ... Start Reading](https://blog.linksquares.com/how-to-redline-contracts-in-google-docs) ### [Alyssa Verzino Jun 20, 2023 7 min read Tips for Contract Redlining to Close More Deals Welcome to How to Redline, presented by LinkSquares. Our goal here is simple: We want to help you close deals with ease with ... 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Learn how to redline in word, and more, in this blog post.", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Alyssa Verzino" }, "dateModified" : "2023-03-15T14:07:19Z", "datePublished" : "2023-03-15T14:07:19Z", "headline" : "How to Redline a Contract In Word", "image" : "https://6934676.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/6934676/Copy%20of%20Legal%20Best%20Practices_Thumbnail-Mar-15-2023-02-03-54-0602-PM.png", "inLanguage" : "en", "keywords" : "[In-house Best Practices]", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@type" : "WebPage" }, "name" : "How to Redline a Contract In Word", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://6934676.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/6934676/Navigation/logo_643dd1b1.svg" }, "name" : "LinkSquares" }, "text" : "Redlining, a central component of the contract negotiation process, is the process of making line edits or substantive changes to the content of a contract to reflect terms that each party is satisfied with. Microsoft Word is one of the most common tools legal teams use to redline their contracts. Word has a lot of redline-friendly capabilities, making it easy for even the least tech-savvy teams to make and share contract edits with co-collaborators. What Makes Word Redline-Friendly? Microsoft Word is a top choice for drafting, editing, and reviewing contracts. It allows you to track changes and keep an eye on who made what changes and suggestions, and compare the suggested edits against the original text. You can also make in-line edits, which are color-coded to indicate that it’s an edit. And best of all, all changes render as suggestions, allowing your team to accept and reject changes as you see fit. How to Redline in Microsoft Word Using Track Changes A best practice for redlining in Word is to use the “track changes” feature. While you can manually strikethrough and change the color of edited text, that manual effort adds more time to an already time-consuming process. To redline contracts in Word using track changes, follow these steps: Navigate to the top menu and click “Review.” In the Review toolbar below, click “Tracking.” Toggle the “Track Changes” button to on. This will render all new changes in a new color and show deleted text in a textbox to the right. To comment, highlight the text you want to comment on, right click, and select “New Comment.” Alternatively, you can click the “Comment” button in the toolbar. To accept changes, click on the edited text, then navigate to the Review toolbar and select “Accept.” Here, you have the option to accept just one or all changes. To reject changes, navigate to the Review toolbar and select “Reject.” To resolve comments, right click on the comment box then select “Resolve comment.” Protip: For the sake of transparency, it’s better to resolve than delete comments so all parties can keep track of activity in the document. Things to Keep in Mind About Redlining in Word While Word is a common tool for redlining contracts, it does have some shortcomings to be aware of. Word is on-premises software, which means each version lives on your personal device and so updates can’t be tracked in real-time. This makes collaboration a little more strained and leaves room for error when tracking versions. As a result, it’s crucial that you update the title of each version to indicate recency. Takeaways Redlining in Word is fairly straightforward but not without its disadvantages. Using a CLM with a Word integration is best for redlining your contracts. Not only does it keep track of contract versions, but it also provides real-time updates on the status of each agreement. See it in action — request a demo of LinkSquares today! For more redlining tips like these, check out our most popular eBook, How to Redline Contracts: Art & Etiquette for Better Back-and-Forth.", "url" : "https://blog.linksquares.com/how-to-redline-in-word", "wordCount" : "901" } ```