Doing the Splits in Word

Years ago, editing long documents gave me a splitting headache. Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Jumping between sections. Saving portions as separate documents to have open at the same time. Using a hard copy of the notes or the bibliography or another section so I could see it side-by-side with the text I was checking it against. And then I saw another editor do a magic trick that—voilà!—allowed her to simultaneously access two parts of the same document. Word calls this a split window or a split screen. And it’s one of my favorite editing tips and techniques. 

In any version of Word, you can horizontally split your screen and work in different parts of the same document by selecting and dragging the small separator bar (which looks like an en dash to this editor’s eyes) found at the top of the vertical scroll bar. In Word 2003 and earlier versions, you can access the “Split” option in the “Window” menu. In 2007 and 2010, you can choose “Split” in the “Window” section of the “View” ribbon.

All of these options turn your mouse cursor into a window splitter. Drag it halfway down the window and click; then position the appropriate parts of your manuscript in the separate panes of the window.

By splitting your window, you can check the text against the references, check the headings against the table of contents, etc., without giving yourself a splitting headache.