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Edit simply means to prepare a document either for publication or presentation, by correcting, revising, or adapting. Technical Editing can involve copy-editing
documents to verify technical content, to a disguised form of usability testing. As there can be mishaps in communications, and technical glitches, editing ensures
that all content - in the correct format - has made it to the final draft.

There are three levels of technical editing:

1. Editing the text for grammatical, spelling, and style errors.
2. Editing the organization of content, emphasis, appropriateness of content and adherence to standards and guidelines.
3. Editing for the accuracy of content, visual presentation, formatting issues, errors in the Table of Contents and Indexes that have not been updated.
Some of the areas which editing should involve are as follows:
I. Gather information about the document, such as:
• the end user
• purpose of the document
• conditions of use
• Available, pre-established document specifications or style sheet
II. Survey the document for suitability and placement of key features such
as:

• cover
• title page
• copyright page
• acknowledgments
• table of contents
• list of tables and/ or figures
• abstract or executive summary
• preface
• glossary
• page numbers
• Headers/ footers
• graphics
• section dividers, tabs
• electronic links
• appendices
• attachments
• references/ bibliography
• index

III.Evaluate the document to determine the extent of accomplishing its purposes, such as:
A. Content
• completeness
• appropriateness of information
• effectiveness in enhancing the meaning
• avoiding technical jargon
• consistent language across documents
• definitions that make sense when the same material is used in
• print and online
• adherence to standard guidelines
B. Organization
• order of information (logical, chronological, cause/effect, et al.)
• signals about the order (hierarchical structure, signposts,
• graphical markers, font size and style)
• flow of information

C. Visual Design
• appropriate basic unit of design
• graphic selection, preparation, and placement
• font type, style, and size
• header and footer consistency and placement
• chunking of paragraphs
• indentation and text justification
• appropriate use of columns
• form and placement of lists and tables
• tabs, section dividers
• sidebars, highlights, or summaries
• margins and white space
• paper size or screen display
• cover art and binding

D. Style
• adherence to style sheet or guide (if available)
• tone of the content
• efficiency of sentence structure
• concreteness and accuracy of words
• cultural, gender bias and localization
• use of active voice
• using the second person and the present tense
• use of appropriate point of view weaving of sentences to achieve
• cohesion
• avoiding words and phrases that are difficult to translate (no
• contractions, no obvious idioms)

E. Convention
• grammar
• review your phrasing
• check your writing for abstract subjects, particularly those you
• have combined with passive verbs
• use active verbs
• replace colloquialisms with fresh and more precise statements
• subject/ verb agreement
• pronoun reference/ agreement
• parallel structure
• capitalization, spelling and punctuation
• compound sentence commas and comma splices
• fragments and run-on sentences
• tenses and hyphens

IV. Edit headings, subheadings, illustrations, tables, and figures for:
• correctness
• consistency
• accuracy
• completeness
• readability
• Information value

Finally, if you do not have version control, it can lead to document
mismanagement. This can result in the wrong documents, with the wrong edits
making it into the final draft. Hence version control and code-tracking software
are recommended.
The whole purpose of editing is to give a concise, accurate, and comprehensive Document which ensures that the work meets market and audience goals.