Related Terms • Scroll Bars • Ruler • Document

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Sometimes you want to be able to view two different parts of your document simultaneously. It is particularly helpful to view different sections when you are cutting and pasting in or when you are making reference to an earlier part of a long document. Microsoft anticipated this need, and incorporated a feature that allows you to split the document area of the window. Just above the vertical scroll bar there is a small gray control that allows you to split the window:



If you position the mouse over it and double click in rapid succession, it will separate the document area into two different panes through which you can scroll and navigate independently of one another. Also, if you want one area larger than the other, you can simply click and drag on the control until you have the division in the desired place.

Once the document area is split, you can cut, paste, enter text, or do anything you would normally do in the document area of the window. Since only one copy of the document is open, you don’t have to worry about merging your changes. The only thing you need to worry about is remembering to select the pane you want to work in before you try to make any changes. To do this, click anywhere with the mouse in the document area of the desired pane.

To unify the document area again, you can either double click on the bottom of the top pane (the line between the scroll bar and the ruler bar), or you can click and drag on the bottom of the top pane.




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