Passive/Active voice - how would you rewrite this sentence?

using active words or word phrases.

Thanks Ragman, but I was hoping for a more concrete example than that - I thought my post made it fairly clear that I understood the general meaning of the highlighted problem

Paths are not being updated that utilise those existing alerts.

It's still a pretty bad sentence. You might also try

When you use the existing alerts, the paths using them are not being updated.

Still passive, no?

It is. The idea being gotten across is - I think - that if you do x, you aren't updating y, which is causing the z pathways to not update. I believe more information is necessary in order to figure out how to effectively convert it to active.

Alerts that utilize these paths are not updated.

Or

Alerts that utilize these paths were not updated.

Yeah, the problematic verb for Word is "are being."

My version, using active voice constrcution, is :
Those responsible for updating the existing alerts of "named paths" are not doing it.

Get your arse in gear and update the paths the existing alerts need to utilise, you muppet.

There is a myth that you should never use the passive voice in good writing, and this is why MS-Word complains. Many grammar and language experts have described Word's grammar advice as flawed or even useless. Despite the admonitions of grammar checkers, the passive construction has a legitimate function. When you want to emphasize results, use the passive. In any case, the question of whether to use active or passive is a matter of style, not grammar, and should be left to the writer. Personally, I think that the text which Word is complaining about is perfectly fine, and needs no alteration. It is the most effective way of getting the message across. Ask yourself - who is writing this material, me, here, now, or the folks who put together the Word grammar and style checker?

Exactly. These grammar police, especially the phony one's who aint knowwin no kinda good grammar in the first damn place, can kiss my ass.

Just leave me be, cheese-eaters.

Also, this sounds like some kind of corporate or business communication, and these can often be best phrased in the passive voice, especially where an active phrasing could suggest finger-pointing or witch-hunting. Consider:

The monthly finance reports are not being correctly filed.

Someone (or some people) are not filing the monthly finance reports correctly.

You don't want to start a blame game or get people arguing. You just want the reports to be correctly filed.

Grammar and style checkers have the same weaknesses, in some ways, as sat-navs. You are driving the car, not the device. Consider its suggestions, but make up your own mind. Anyhow, you can go into Word's settings and select "grammar and style", or just "grammar", or turn off the checking altogether, or just the things you don't want it to whine about.

I don't see why I got thumbed-down there. If the person was not a coward, they would have posted why they disagreed.

I posted you back up.

Maybe it's the phantom down thumber busy playing with his fingers.

Thank, Osso. I have reciprocated.

He thought it was my post, that's all