Let's take your particular problem in order:

First, you have to make sure that the document you send out a) is not
tracking changes and b) does not contain any tracked changes. That means
accepting any changes already there, and making sure track changes is OFF on
your own machine when you edit and save the document.

If you keep finding track changes ON in new documents, you also need to turn
it OFF it in the template you are starting from.

Next, it would be nice if you could stop the departments turning track
changes on. But I'll bet they'll leave it they way you send it to them so
let's not worry about that.

Finally, if they do track changes, you don't want to see them in the 200
documents you get back. You can handle that by going to Tools Options
Security and unchecking the "Make hidden markup visible" checkbox. But when
you do that, be aware that any changes will still be in the files. Don't get
caught out tracking in your own documents and sending those changes out to
someone else. It would really be better just to Accept All (it's only one
click on the menu that drops down beside the Accept button - you don't have
to accept each change individually) and turn tracked changes off on any
document you receive that is showing revisions.

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



"deb" wrote in message
...
But do I have to do that to all 200 documents? That's what I'm trying to
get
rid of.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

Make sure that Track Changes is turned off. Then, on the Reviewing
toolbar,
click the arrow beside Accept Change and choose Accept All Changes in
Document. If there are comments, click beside Delete Comment and choose
Delete All Comments in Document.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"deb" wrote in message
...
Is there any way in Word 2003 to turn off tracking changes once and for
all.
I do NOT want to see the tracking changes in the document and do not
care
what changes are made. Can they be turned off? I have to send a
document
to
several different departments and do not want to have to deal with this
in
200+ documents when they send them back.