Use Advanced Word Features
Review and collaboration
Track Changes records insertions, deletions, and formatting. The Reviewing Pane lists markup, and Display for Review changes only what you see, not what exists. Lock Tracking, optionally password protected, prevents others from switching tracking off. Compare generates a redline between two files; Combine merges revisions from multiple reviewers into one document. Comments support replies, resolution, and filtering.
Protection and forms
Restrict Editing combines formatting restrictions with editing restrictions: tracked changes, comments, filling in forms, or read-only, with optional exceptions for individuals and groups. Legacy form fields require the document to be protected before users can fill them in; most content controls do not.
Macros and automation
Record Macro stores VBA, which requires saving as .docm or storing it in Normal.dotm or another template. Macro security is configured in Trust Center; macros signed by a trusted publisher run without prompting. A macro can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar for one-click access.
Mail merge
Four components: the main document, the data source, the merge fields, and rules. Data sources include Excel workbooks, Access tables, Outlook contacts, and delimited text files. Rules such as If...Then...Else, Next Record, Skip Record If, and Fill-in handle conditional text. Finish & Merge sends output to a new document, the printer, or email, which needs an email-address field and an Outlook profile. Filter and Sort in Edit Recipient List decide which records are produced.
Traps
Edit Individual Documents creates one combined file, not separate files per record. Compare and Combine are different commands. Show Markup filters hide revisions from view without accepting them.
Worked example
A greeting line leaves blanks for recipients with no first name. Insert an If...Then...Else rule that tests the field and supplies a generic greeting, or use the greeting line's option to skip records lacking a name.