Professional proofreading question

I am a professional copywriter, and I have been assigned a proofreading project with a new client. While my copywriting clients have always accepted my writing work as a word or pages document, I am wondering what the format is for proofreading. Is tracking changes expected? Does it matter whether I am working in word or pages? Is there another program that I should be working in? Any other information I should know in order to appear expert enough in this situation? Thanks in advance for any advice.

In my work I attach Word doc playbacks in both marked up (track changes) and clean versions.

I also sometimes work in Google Docs, which is OK for teamwork, and in a proprietary word processing program that is too cumbersome to go into here. It works well for collaboration but also allows an editor to put a doc out of reach of a writer.

j r, that last comment made me laugh. I think I am in trouble because I do not know what 'playbacks' means. I will reach for my trusty google. Doughchaluvachallenge

We're all on the same team!

Playbacks are used for discussion while editing -- the writer can see, check and dispute any changes in the track changes version. Sometimes with heavy editing, the clean version is easier to read.

If you expect a lot of back and forth, a version history is a useful feature to have.

I also use the track-changes mode in Word for editing and proofreading. Great idea to also include a clean version, j_r, as sometimes even I'm scared by what an edited document looks like in track-changes mode. (Even the littlest change can look cumbersome when it's displayed that way.)

I think you would be proofreading in whatever the material is in; changing from Word to something else can also change punctuation. I edit professionally in Word. I keep a copy of the original and make a copy with a name indicating it’s been edited, then use track changes and send the author the copy with all the changes showing, Some people believe it is also helpful to include a cleaned-up copy, but in my experience it works better to have authors only deal with one version of a file at a time, and they really do need to see the tracking. If they also have a clean copy they are likely to overlook some of the edits. Similarly, they need to make sure their changes are tracked. Probably less an issue with proofing, when it is presumably just a matter of sending proofed file back to employer, with no give and take, but I haven’t done a proofreading as opposed to editing or copy editing job since the dawn of the computer age.

In Word, under "Review", there is a dropdown that lets you view either the "Simple Markup", "Full Markup", "No Markup", or "Original". With "No Markup", you see only the clean edited version. "Full Markup" you see the marked up version. (Not sure what "Simple Markup does, as I only use "Full..." or "No...").

As someone who has worked with a couple of editors, I was surprised when one that our team hired only sent us back the edited version without tracking changes. We had some technical pieces she misunderstood, and it was a pain to have two documents to refer to in order to get it as we needed it. Our team thought she should have asked us how we wanted it back instead of assuming that we wanted only her clean edited version returned.

You may want to ask your client... and if they want a marked up Word Document, you can inform them about the markup views (Note: The dropdown menu options in Word 2007 are a bit different than they are in Word 2010).

I used to send back a word document with the changes tracked and a clean copy. They could read the clean one easily, but see the thinking behind any changes I had made and accept or reject them as needed. If I made a complex change, I would use the notes to explain why I had done what I did. Usually it seemed to work.

sprout said:
In Word, under "Review", there is a dropdown that lets you view either the "Simple Markup", "Full Markup", "No Markup", or "Original". With "No Markup", you see only the clean edited version. "Full Markup" you see the marked up version. (Not sure what "Simple Markup does, as I only use "Full..." or "No...").
As someone who has worked with a couple of editors, I was surprised when one that our team hired only sent us back the edited version without tracking changes. We had some technical pieces she misunderstood, and it was a pain to have two documents to refer to in order to get it as we needed it. Our team thought she should have asked us how we wanted it back instead of assuming that we wanted only her clean edited version returned.
You may want to ask your client... and if they want a marked up Word Document, you can inform them about the markup views (Note: The dropdown menu options in Word 2007 are a bit different than they are in Word 2010).

I often have to "compare" documents to make sure the "final" changes--that were not run by me--mean what they are supposed to..

marylago said:

sprout said:
In Word, under "Review", there is a dropdown that lets you view either the "Simple Markup", "Full Markup", "No Markup", or "Original". With "No Markup", you see only the clean edited version. "Full Markup" you see the marked up version. (Not sure what "Simple Markup does, as I only use "Full..." or "No...").
As someone who has worked with a couple of editors, I was surprised when one that our team hired only sent us back the edited version without tracking changes. We had some technical pieces she misunderstood, and it was a pain to have two documents to refer to in order to get it as we needed it. Our team thought she should have asked us how we wanted it back instead of assuming that we wanted only her clean edited version returned.
You may want to ask your client... and if they want a marked up Word Document, you can inform them about the markup views (Note: The dropdown menu options in Word 2007 are a bit different than they are in Word 2010).

I often have to "compare" documents to make sure the "final" changes--that were not run by me--mean what they are supposed to..

That makes sense. I guess I do that within the "Full Markup" view, before I accept the changes. But I can see how with many changes, that could overburden some readers.

ETA: To reiterate, I would probably run the software and format by the client to let them provide input on what works best for them. I prefer one Word "tracked changes" file returned simply to avoid version control problems of additional similar files.

I would provide (as stated above) word of both tracked & clean versions.

thanks so much, I am in the middle of the project. I upgraded OS, installed microsoft word, and love it. Also enjoying the project because I am just this kind of obsessive. Appreciate all your suggestions!