The option is turned on by default in Word 2003, in an attempt to prevent
people accidentally sending out documents containing tracked changes (after
a few high-profile embarrassments). Actually it just seems to ensure that
changes left by unsuspecting 2002 users are seen by 2003 recipients!

Turning off the option would prevent the mark-up being instantly visible,
but wouldn't it make more sense to remove the tracked changes before you
send out the documents? (Save as a separate copy if you need to track
changes for your own use.) Note that it is not enough to turn off track
changes - you must also use the dropdown beside the Accept button to Accept
All.

--
Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP
Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org


"Jack" wrote in message
...
We have Franchises opening up some of our documents
complaining that the documents are filled with mark-ups.
These are not forwarded for collaboration or saved with
track changes enabled in any way.

We isolated the problem to the ToolsOptionsSecurityMake
Hidden Markup Visible when opening or saving check box
being enabled. Our question is: Is this value turned on by
default? And if it is, anyone know why? We thought about
writing macros into the template to turn the value off.
But then in order to run the macro, the user would have to
change the default Macro Setting from High to Med to get
the prompt to enable macros. Which most Franchises buy
Office in a retail outlet, bring back and install it out
of the box selecting all normal installation options.

Just curious if this setting is by default or are a lot of
our franchises selecting it without knowing what it does.

Thanks

Jack