MS Word track changes and comments

By PaulMartz, 20 July, 2023

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi all. I'm considering a Microsoft 365 subscription, primarily to run MS Word on my Mac. I will make heavy use of track changes and comments. Does anyone have experience with these features? How accessible are they? I've been unable to find any articles that cover using these features with VoiceOver on a Mac, either on AppleVis or elsewhere.

I've already ruled out Pages exporting to Word document files. When I've used this workflow before, the presence of Pages-based comments introduces unacceptable formatting issues during export to Word. I've also encountered unacceptable alterations to smart quotes.

I'm considering a couple of other options, in the event that MS Word on Mac isn't a solution.

Plan B would be to blow the dust off my old Windows7 laptop and use my ancient copy of Word 2012.

Plan C would be to import the Word file to Google Docs, use suggested edits and comments, then export back to Word. I've used this before. I know how to use Docs accessibly, and Docs is better than Pages at Word export.

But, back to my main question. Please provide experience and pointers to resources regarding accessibility of track changes and comments in Word with VoiceOver. Getting this to work would be my preferred solution. Thanks!

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