Revise
Revise the Word file itself.Hand it back with tracked changes.
@ a .docx in the conversation and say what should change — tighten it, fix the terminology, answer the reviewer’s points. MindMax reads the whole document, brings the edits back in groups with a reason for each, and writes the ones you accept into the same file as Word tracked changes. Styles, numbering, headers and comments stay exactly as they were.
- Works on
- Word (.docx) in place · PDF via a Markdown copy
- Writes
- Word tracked changes, or a direct edit
- Runs on
- macOS (Apple silicon) · Windows
- Price
- Free app · AI plans from $10/mo, or your own key
- AI
- Included, or your own API key
The same Word file, revised two ways
Most of what goes wrong between AI and Word happens in the copy and paste: the AI sees plain text, you get plain text back, and the formatting is yours to rebuild.
- Copy the document out of Word, or upload it, and explain what to change.
- Get back a rewritten version, with changes you did not ask for mixed in.
- Compare it with the original by eye to find what moved.
- Paste the good parts back into Word and repair the styles, numbering and spacing the paste broke.
- Send it on with no record of what changed — or turn on Track Changes and retype the edits by hand.
- @ the .docx in the conversation and say the change once.
- It reads the whole document and works out which paragraphs the request reaches.
- The edits come back in groups, each with a title and a reason, marked on the document’s text.
- Accept the ones you agree with. They are written into the same file; the formatting around them is not touched.
- Open it in Word: every edit is a tracked change your reader can accept or reject.
Back in Word, every edit is a tracked change
What you accepted in MindMax arrives in the same file as Word’s own revision marks — the review your reader already knows how to do.
- “Write as Word tracked changes” is ticked by default when you apply. Each accepted edit becomes an insertion or deletion in the .docx, signed with your name.
- Whoever opens it in Word steps through the edits and accepts or rejects each one there, without MindMax.
- Want a clean file instead? Untick the option and the text is changed directly — the formatting is kept either way.
- Use one term for the service“Platform” and “solution” name the same thing in §2 and §4.Accepted
- Cut the repeated openingSection 3 restates the summary almost word for word.Accepted
- Soften the delivery dateThe schedule in §5 does not support a firm date.Rejected
What stays exactly as it was
Only the text of the paragraphs that change is rewritten. Everything else in the file is carried over untouched.
Styles and fonts
A changed paragraph keeps its paragraph style, and new words take the formatting of the words they replace.
Headings and numbering
Heading styles and automatic list numbering stay Word’s own, so 2.1 is still 2.1 after the edit.
Header, footer and footnotes
Left as they are. They sit outside the part of the document the AI revises.
Images, fields and page numbers
Pictures, footnote references, page numbers, the table of contents and cross-references are kept as they are, never flattened into plain text.
Comments and bookmarks
Comments colleagues left, and the words they are attached to, stay where they were.
Tables
Text in cells can be revised; the table’s shape — its columns and merged cells — stays as it is.
One round, from request to Word
Nothing reaches the file until you have seen every change.
@ the Word file and say what to change
In the assistant, @ the .docx and describe the change once: shorten the summary, use the client’s terminology throughout, answer the reviewer’s three points.
Read what it intends
A short summary of the whole revision, then the groups of changes, each with a title and a reason, marked on the document’s own text.
Keep what you agree with
Accept or reject group by group, or all at once. Reject everything and the file is exactly as it was.
Apply into the same file
“Write as Word tracked changes” is ticked by default, so each edit becomes a revision mark signed with your name. Untick it to change the text directly.
Send it on
Whoever opens it in Word sees each edit as a tracked change, ready to accept or reject one by one — the review they already know how to do.
Run the next round
When it comes back with their changes, accept or reject them all in MindMax, or go through them in Word, then ask for the next revision on top.
A PDF: revise its text, leave the PDF alone
A PDF is a printed page, not text that can be safely rewritten in place. So the revision lands in a Markdown copy beside it, and the PDF stays exactly as it was.
- @ the PDF and ask for the change the same way. The edits come back in groups for you to review on the PDF’s own text.
- Nothing is created until you apply. Then a Markdown file with the same name appears next to the PDF, holding its text with the edits you kept. Reject everything and the folder is as it was.
- Export the copy to PDF or Word when it has to be a file again — a clean new document in MindMax’s layout, not the original’s columns and fonts.
- A long PDF or a scanned one gets a heads-up first: a long one takes longer and spends more credits, and a scan’s recognised text may hold misread words to check.
Where it earns its place
Any document whose final form is a Word file someone else will open.
A proposal going back to a client
Tighten it, align it with their brief, and send it back with every change visible — they review the tracked changes, not your summary of them.
A thesis chapter in Word
Your supervisor reads in Word. Revise against their notes and hand back a file that shows exactly what moved since the last draft.
A report on the company template
Styles, numbering, the logo in the header: the template stays the template, and only the words improve.
The fifth version of an application
Grant proposals, CVs, cover letters. Say the change once — cut it to two pages, lead with the results — and judge it group by group.
A document colleagues have marked up
Accept or reject their pending tracked changes in one go, then revise on top, so your new edits are not mixed in with theirs.
A paper that only exists as a PDF
Revise its text into an editable copy and export a clean new version, instead of retyping it from the page.
Safe to point at the original
This edits the file you would otherwise be careful with, so it checks before it writes.
Checked before it writes
The edited file is read back and compared with what you accepted before it replaces the original. If the check fails, the original is left untouched and you are told why.
Told what it left out
A change it cannot make safely — inside a page-number field or a content control, or one that would add a table column — is left out and listed, not forced in.
Never writes over a moving file
If the document is open in Word, it asks you to close it first. If the file changed after the edits were suggested, it offers to regenerate them instead of applying stale ones.
The version before is kept
The file as it was before the revision is saved in its history in MindMax, so an edit you regret is one step back.
Where it gets hard
- The body of the document, not everything in it
Headers, footers, footnotes and text boxes are kept but not revised. A change asked for there will not be made.
- Word comments are not instructions
Comments left in a Word file are kept, but not read as requests. Say the change in the conversation instead. Revising from comments you leave in MindMax works on Markdown documents.
- A table keeps its shape
Text in cells can change. Adding or removing columns, or new text in a merged cell, is left out and listed.
- Some pending changes need Word
If the document already holds tracked changes MindMax cannot resolve — inserted, deleted or merged table cells — accept or reject those in Word, or revise with them left in place.
- Made for Word’s own format
Only .docx files; an old .doc file needs saving as .docx first. Tracked changes are written the way Word stores them; how WPS, Pages or Google Docs display them has not been checked.
- A PDF does not keep its layout
The revised copy is text. Columns, fonts and page design are not carried over, and images may not come along. Exporting gives you a new PDF in MindMax’s layout.
Common questions
Can AI edit a Word document with tracked changes?
Yes. In MindMax, @ the .docx in the assistant and say what should change. The edits come back in groups, each with a reason, for you to accept or reject, and the accepted ones are written into the same file as Word tracked changes, so anyone who opens it in Word can review each edit. Untick the option before applying to change the text directly instead.
Will it break the formatting of my Word document?
No. It changes text, not layout. Only the paragraphs that change are rewritten, each keeping its style, and new words take the formatting of the words they replace. Headers, footers, images, fields, comments and numbering are carried over as they are, and the edited file is checked before it replaces the original.
Whose name is on the tracked changes?
Yours. The author name comes from your MindMax account or your computer’s user name, and you can set a different one in Settings.
What if the Word file already has tracked changes in it?
MindMax shows how many there are and who made them, with Accept all, Reject all and Open in Word. Before it revises, it suggests accepting the old ones first, so its edits are not mixed in with them; you can also keep them and revise anyway.
Can MindMax edit a PDF?
It revises the PDF’s text, not the PDF itself. When you apply, the edits are saved in a Markdown file with the same name next to the PDF, which stays untouched; export that copy to PDF or Word for a clean new version. A scanned PDF needs its text recognised first.
How is this different from pasting the document into a chat assistant?
A chat assistant usually hands back rewritten text or a new file, and finding what changed is up to you. Here the edits are reviewed in groups on your own text, and only the ones you accept are written — into the original .docx, as tracked changes, with its formatting intact.
See also
How to ask for a revision round — one request for the whole draft, or comments on the passages.
The review every AI edit goes through, in Markdown and Word alike.
The other direction: a draft written here, handed over as a Word file.
Ask a folder of Word files, PDFs and slides a question, with quotes back to the page.
The review panel, conflicts, and what to do when a revision will not start.