New to editing

Just doing some editing (volunteer) for some stories to go on this site, and am very new to this side of writing.
I understand the things to look for when editing, but confused on how best to report the items found back to the writer.
To date it is copying the relevant part of the story into the story; make the changes, comment or query; and highlight this with standout colour.
I have also tried, on a previous editing attempt, to use the comment function in the program. Changes, comment or query go into the comment balloon.
Also have tried using the online document sharing in google docs; and alternatively emailing the marked up story to the writer.
Is there a time tested method that experienced editors use?
Any help appreciated.

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First thing to do is go over it with the author. If you both use Word, that's great because you can edit in Track Changes and the author can see what you are doing and then approve the changes.

If the author's word processing system isn't compatible then it's more complicated.

A piece of advice: ask the author to deliver a story that is in what the author considers pristine, final form. Otherwise, you spend a lot of unnecessary time correcting punctuation and spelling mistakes that the author should have eliminated first.

Once upon a time I would print the story out, mark the changes on the paper copy, scan and return. If nothing else, it forced the author to actually consider each of the changes and, perhaps, learn from them. Of course, it helped that I had a high speed scanner. I think that's still the best way to go, but it's horribly inconvenient these days so I use track changes as Simon suggests.

As an author, I won’t even contact volunteer editors that don’t have MS Word. Yes, I’m eliminating even more names from an already sparse list, but the editing process (from the author’s standpoint) is an intense exercise, fraught with many issues. It’s taxing enough even when using Track Changes, so that’s where I draw the line.

I agree that some author/editor commentary lends itself better to an accompanying email, but I use the Comments feature heavily, mainly to explain why I didn’t accept a particular change the VE had made. After all, he/she is doing a lot of work for free, and diplomacy is needed when ignoring their edits. Having said that, I usually accept most of the edits, depending on the editor, the time frame, and the length of the story.

One point re VEs using Google Docs or other simulations of MS Word – converting back and forth is a minor nuisance, but I’ve had comments and their replies get screwed up in the process. I always clarify whether the VE is going to use authentic MS Word or some supposedly equivalent program. Even then, as was stated above, you could have issues between older and newer versions of MS Word.

Thanks for the help. You have given me some useful info.