13.1 ⁑Change Markup

There are many entries listed on the editorial topic that allow you to mark changes in a document. Some of these are for LaTeX2.09, Plain TeX, ConTeXt or LuaTeX, but even discounting these, there are still too many to describe, so I'm just going to describe the changes package [44], which is available on both TeX Live and MiKTeX. The changes package provides a way for the user to manually markup changes, such as additions, deletions or replacements.

The changes package provides an anonymous author that's used by default, but if you want to track the changes according to a particular author, you need to define each tracked author using:

\definechangesauthor [⟨options⟩]{⟨id⟩}

where ⟨options⟩ is a key=value list of options and ⟨id⟩ is a label identifying the author. Available options:

name: The author's name.
color: The colour to use when marking up this author's changes. (Defaults to black.)

Example:

\definechangesauthor[name={Mabel Canary},color=cyan]{MC}

To markup changes you can use:

\added [⟨options⟩]{⟨text⟩}

to indicate that ⟨text⟩ has been added,

\deleted [⟨options⟩]{⟨text⟩}

to indicate that ⟨text⟩ has been deleted, and

\replaced [⟨options⟩]{⟨new text⟩}{⟨old text⟩}

to indicate that ⟨old text⟩ has been replaced by ⟨new text⟩. Each of these commands has an optional argument that's a key=value list where the following keys are available:

id: The author's ID (as provided in \definechangesauthor).
remark: A remark about the change.

You can create a list or summary of the changes using

\listofchanges [⟨options⟩]

The optional argument is again a key=value list, but there is currently only one key available: style, which may have the value list or summary. The default value is list. As with commands such as \tableofcontents and \listoffigures, this command requires two LaTeX runs to produce the list. The default extension for the summary of changes file is .soc, but this can be changed using

\setsocextension {⟨extension⟩}

You can suppress the change markup using the final package option:

\usepackage[final]{changes}

The draft option enables the markup. The other package options are ⟨key⟩=⟨value⟩ options, where the following keys are available:

markup=⟨value⟩ sets the markup style. The ⟨value⟩ may be one of:

default
Colour markup for added text, strike out for deleted text.

underlined
Added text is underlined, deleted text is struck out.

bfit
Bold for added text and italic for deleted text.

nocolor
As underlined but without colour.
addedmarkup=⟨value⟩ and deletedmarkup=⟨value⟩ set the markup style for added and deleted text. The ⟨value⟩ may be one of:

none
No markup.
uline
Underlined text ().
uuline
Double underlined text ().
uwave
Wavy underlined text ().
dashuline
Dashed underlined text ().
dotuline
Dotted underlined text ().
sout
Struck out text ().
xout
Crossed out text ().
bf
Bold text.
it
Italic text.
sl
Slanted text.
em
Emphasized text.
authormarkup=⟨value⟩ sets the style of the author identification. The ⟨value⟩ may be one of:

superscript
Superscript author's name or ID.
subscript
Subscript author's name or ID.
brackets
Author's name or ID in parentheses.
footnote
Author's name or ID in a footnote.
none
No author identification.
authormarkupposition=⟨value⟩ sets which side of the change to place the author's ID. The ⟨value⟩ may be right or left.
authormarkuptext=⟨value⟩ sets whether to use the author's ID or name in the change markup. The ⟨value⟩ may be either id (default) or name.

There are also commands to provide custom markup. See the changes documentation [44] for further details.

The changes package automatically loads the ulem [2] and xcolor packages. You can pass options to these packages using the ulem and xcolor keys. For example

\usepackage[ulem={normalem,normalbf}]{changes}

The changes package also provides

\textsubscript{⟨text⟩}

which is analogous to LaTeX's \textsuperscript kernel command.

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You can't markup floats, such as figures or tables. Paragraph breaks within the markup text can also cause a problem. See the changes documentation [44] for further details.

Example 65. Recording Changes (changes package)

This example document has been edited by three authors: Mabel Canary, Fred Canary and Prof Important Person:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage[ulem={normalem,normalbf}]{changes}

\definechangesauthor[name={Mabel Canary},color=violet]{MC}
\definechangesauthor[name={Fred Canary},color=blue]{FC}
\definechangesauthor[name={Prof Important Person},color=teal]{IP}

\begin{document}
\section{About the Lab}

The Secret Lab of Experimental Stuff is a
\replaced[id=MC]{top-secret}{sinister} laboratory
whose existence is highly classified so don't tell 
anyone about it \added[id=FC]{or we'll get really cross with you}.

The \added[id=IP]{world-renown} University of Somewhere denies all
knowledge of the Secret Lab of Experimental Stuff, except on Open
Days where members of the public may visit the facility and ask
questions as long as they consent to a memory wipe when they leave.
The memory wipe is \deleted[id=MC,remark={no it isn't}]{completely}
harmless and your memory of the visit will be replaced by a
\added[id=MC]{pleasant} recollection of spending the day feeding the
\replaced[id=FC,remark={what geese?}]{ducks}{geese}
\added[id=MC,remark={they're the weird-looking ducks}]{and geese} in
the nearby pond.

\end{document}

The changes are colour-coded according to the author who made the edit. Any remarks are added as footnotes, as shown in Figure 13.1. You can download or view this example.

**Figure 13.1:** Recording Changes
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This book is also available as A4 PDF or 12.8cm x 9.6cm PDF or paperback (ISBN 978-1-909440-07-4).

13.1 ⁑Change Markup

1 About the Lab