# Iterating on a draft

Most of the value is in the second pass. Ask for a change to an existing document and the edits come back as tracked suggestions you accept or reject.

## Asking for a change

Open the document, describe what you want. It works on what is there rather than starting over, so the parts you liked survive.

Useful instructions are specific about the *problem*, not just the target:

- “The opening buries the point — lead with the failure it prevents.”
- “Cut this to about 600 words. Lose the history section, keep the examples.”
- “The API section assumes people know what a webhook is. They don’t.”
- “Too salesy from ‘Why teams choose us’ onwards. Make it factual.”

Vague instructions (“make it better”, “improve the flow”) produce vague edits.

## Reviewing what comes back

Changes arrive as suggestions: added text underlined, removed text struck through, attributed. Nothing is applied until you accept.

Accept or reject individually — this is usually right, because a revision is rarely wholly good or wholly bad — or take everything at once from the review bar.

Rejecting everything costs nothing. The document is untouched, so a revision that misses is a dead end rather than damage.

## Changing part of a document

Select a paragraph or section first and the revision is scoped to it. Better for a targeted fix: the model has less room to “improve” things you did not ask about, and the diff is small enough to actually read.

## When to start over instead

If two rounds have not moved it, the brief was wrong rather than the draft. Go back to [the brief](/docs/writing-a-good-brief) and restate the audience and the outcome — that is usually what was missing.

## Publishing

You cannot publish while suggestions are unresolved. The WP panel says so, and the reason is worth stating: publishing would put the tracked changes — including the text marked for removal — on your live site. Accept or reject first.

## Related

- [Writing a good brief](/docs/writing-a-good-brief)
- [Comments and suggestions](/docs/comments-and-suggestions)
- [Version history](/docs/version-history)