When you’re revising a document that has already been revised and approved at least once before, please accept any previous changes and only then start tracking the current set of revisions. Making sure the previously approved changes no longer show as “new” will help the IRB discern what, exactly, you’re changing in this round of revisions.
Note that if your document is not yet approved, and you’re responding to either prereview or review contingencies, you typically WON’T accept all changes before responding to contingencies. The IRB will usually want to have all the of the changes made during a single contingency round marked. The IRB will try to remember to ask you to accept all documents before making further changes, if that’s the reviewer(s)’ preference.
We do also ask that you delete any marginal comments left in your document. Sometimes these comments raise important issues, and we are left to wonder whether the document we’re reviewing addressed those issues. Did we get the final version to review, or is this one still in progress and sent to us prematurely?