Redline a long Word document with real tracked changes
Idea + starter prompt, not run by us yet
For: Lawyers and contract managers who edit long documents in Word
Stephen Smith, a lawyer, added Anthropic's Claude for Word add-in, then ran it over a 30-page document with edits shown as suggestions. Claude reworked two sections and answered a thread of comments by changing the passage each one pointed to, with a note explaining why. He reviewed it all in Word's review pane and finished within a morning.
Steps
- Check that your plan includes the add-in. It is a beta.
- Work on a copy of the document, in suggested-edits mode, so every change shows as a tracked revision.
- Give Claude one section or comment thread at a time, with a short instruction on tone and scope.
- Review each change in Word's review pane and reject what you dislike.
- Do not use documents from untrusted sources. The vendor warns about hidden instructions in outside files.
Starter prompt
Trial first: copy the document to [TEST copy] and do the first pass on one paragraph of section [number] only. Never work in the original file. This is a copy of a [type of document] that I am reviewing. Work in suggested-edits mode so every change is a tracked revision. After the trial paragraph is checked, start with section [number] and rewrite it to [goal, e.g. tighten the language and make the deadline clear]. Keep the meaning of every obligation unchanged and tell me if a change could alter it. Then go through the comments on section [number] one at a time. Edit the anchored text and reply in the comment thread to explain. Stop and wait for my yes before moving on to each next section. Do not accept any changes, and do not send or share the file. I will review every change myself.
Original post: smithstephen.com · found via agentusecases.ai. Written up in our own words. We haven't run it, so test it on made-up data first.