diff --git a/services/track-changes/app/coffee/MongoManager.coffee b/services/track-changes/app/coffee/MongoManager.coffee
index 494ed04b6e..efcefe9286 100644
--- a/services/track-changes/app/coffee/MongoManager.coffee
+++ b/services/track-changes/app/coffee/MongoManager.coffee
@@ -53,25 +53,58 @@ module.exports = MongoManager =
 		# may need to roll over a pack here if we are inserting packs
 		db.docHistory.insert update, callback
 
+	# The following function implements a method like a mongo find, but
+	# which expands any documents containing a 'pack' field into
+	# multiple values
+	#
+	#  e.g.  a single update looks like
+	#
+	#   {
+	#     "doc_id" : 549dae9e0a2a615c0c7f0c98,
+	#     "project_id" : 549dae9c0a2a615c0c7f0c8c,
+	#     "op" : [ {"p" : 6981,	"d" : "?"	} ],
+	#     "meta" : {	"user_id" : 52933..., "start_ts" : 1422310693931,	"end_ts" : 1422310693931 },
+	#     "v" : 17082
+	#   }
+	#
+	#  and a pack looks like this
+	#
+	#   {
+	#     "doc_id" : 549dae9e0a2a615c0c7f0c98,
+	#     "project_id" : 549dae9c0a2a615c0c7f0c8c,
+	#     "pack" : [ D1, D2, D3, ....],
+	#     "meta" : {	"user_id" : 52933..., "start_ts" : 1422310693931,	"end_ts" : 1422310693931 },
+	#     "v" : 17082
+	#   }
+	#
+	#  where D1, D2, D3, .... are single updates stripped of their
+	#  doc_id and project_id fields (which are the same for all the
+	#  updates in the pack).  The meta and v fields of the pack itself
+	#  are those of the first entry in the pack D1 (this makes it
+	#  possible to treat packs and single updates in the same way).
+
 	_findResults: (param, query, limit, callback) ->
+		# param - the field used to select and sort ops within a range,
+		# either 'v' or 'meta.end_ts'
+		# query - the mongo query selector, includes both the doc_id/project_id and
+		# the range on v or meta.end_ts
+		# limit - the mongo limit, we need to apply it after unpacking any
+		# packs
+
 		sort = {}
 		sort[param] = -1;
 		cursor = db.docHistory
 			.find( query )
 			.sort( sort )
-
+		# if we have packs, we will trim the results more later after expanding them
 		if limit?
 			cursor.limit(limit)
 
+		# take the part of the query which selects the range over the parameter
 		rangeQuery = query[param]
-		extraQuery = _.clone(query)
-		if rangeQuery?['$gte']?
-			extraQuery[param] = {'$lt' : rangeQuery['$gte']}
-		else if rangeQuery?['$gt']
-			extraQuery[param] = {'$lte' : rangeQuery['$gt']}
-		else
-			delete extraQuery[param]
 
+		# helper function to check if an item from a pack is inside the
+		# desired range
 		filterFn = (item) ->
 			return false if rangeQuery?['$gte']? && item[param] < rangeQuery['$gte']
 			return false if rangeQuery?['$lte']? && item[param] > rangeQuery['$lte']
@@ -79,11 +112,28 @@ module.exports = MongoManager =
 			return false if rangeQuery?['$gt']? && item[param] <= rangeQuery['$gt']
 			return true
 
-		needMore = false
+		# create a query which can be used to select the entries BEFORE
+		# the range because we sometimes need to find extra ones (when the
+		# boundary falls in the middle of a pack)
+		extraQuery = _.clone(query)
+		# The pack uses its first entry for its metadata and v, so the
+		# only queries where we might not get all the packs are those for
+		# $gt and $gte (i.e. we need to find packs which start before our
+		# range but end in it)
+		if rangeQuery?['$gte']?
+			extraQuery[param] = {'$lt' : rangeQuery['$gte']}
+		else if rangeQuery?['$gt']
+			extraQuery[param] = {'$lte' : rangeQuery['$gt']}
+		else
+			delete extraQuery[param]
+
+		needMore = false  # keep track of whether we need to load more data
+		updates = [] # used to accumulate the set of results
 		cursor.toArray (err, result) ->
 			unpackedSet = MongoManager._unpackResults(result)
-			updates = unpackedSet.filter(filterFn)
-			updates = updates.slice(0, limit) if limit?
+			MongoManager._filterAndLimit(updates, unpackedSet, filterFn, limit)
+			# check if we need to retrieve more data, because there is a
+			# pack that crosses into our range
 			last = if unpackedSet.length then unpackedSet[unpackedSet.length-1] else null
 			if limit? && updates.length == limit
 				needMore = false
@@ -92,7 +142,7 @@ module.exports = MongoManager =
 			else if extraQuery[param]? && updates.length == 0
 				needMore = true
 			if needMore
-				# need an extra result set
+				# we do need an extra result set
 				extra = db.docHistory
 					.find(extraQuery)
 					.sort(sort)
@@ -101,9 +151,8 @@ module.exports = MongoManager =
 					if err?
 						return callback err, updates
 					else
-						extraSet = MongoManager._unpackResults(result2).filter(filterFn)
-						updates = updates.concat extraSet
-						updates = updates.slice(0, limit) if limit?
+						extraSet = MongoManager._unpackResults(result2)
+						MongoManager._filterAndLimit(updates, extraSet, filterFn, limit)
 						callback err, updates
 				return
 			if err?
@@ -112,9 +161,9 @@ module.exports = MongoManager =
 				callback err, updates
 
 	_unpackResults: (updates) ->
+		#	iterate over the updates, if there's a pack, expand it into ops and
+		# insert it into the array at that point
 		result = []
-		# iterate over the updates
-		# if it's a pack, expand it into ops and insert it into the array at that point
 		updates.forEach (item) ->
 			if item.pack?
 				all = MongoManager._explodePackToOps item
@@ -124,6 +173,7 @@ module.exports = MongoManager =
 		return result
 
 	_explodePackToOps: (packObj) ->
+		# convert a pack into an array of ops
 		doc_id = packObj.doc_id
 		project_id = packObj.project_id
 		result = packObj.pack.map (item) ->
@@ -132,6 +182,13 @@ module.exports = MongoManager =
 			item
 		return result.reverse()
 
+	_filterAndLimit: (results, extra, filterFn, limit)
+		# update results with extra docs, after filtering and limiting
+		filtered = extra.filter(filterFn)
+		newResults = results.concat filtered
+		newResults.slice(0, limit) if limit?
+		results = newResults
+
 	getDocUpdates:(doc_id, options = {}, callback = (error, updates) ->) ->
 		query = 
 			doc_id: ObjectId(doc_id.toString())