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How to View Two Word Documents Side by Side

Follow these steps in order to compare two documents on one screen.

  1. Open both documents you want to compare

    Launch the two Word files you want to view side by side.

  2. Open the "View" tab

    Click the "View" tab on the ribbon.

  3. Click "View Side by Side"

    In the "Window" group, click the "View Side by Side" button.

  4. Turn on Synchronous Scrolling

    With "Synchronous Scrolling" enabled, scrolling one document moves the other along with it, making comparisons much easier.

  5. Why it is useful

    It is especially handy when you need to visually compare what changed between two versions of the same document.

Compare two versions without switching windows

When comparing a document before and after edits, or two different versions of a contract, constantly alt-tabbing between windows is slow. View Side by Side lets you check both at once on a single screen, which is far more efficient.

Check your margins while you are at it

If the two documents also look mismatched in layout, verifying page margins on each one can help explain why text wraps differently between them β€” worth a quick check whenever spacing looks off during a side-by-side review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I compare three or more documents side by side?

View Side by Side is designed around two windows, but you can manually resize and arrange several document windows on screen to view more than two at once.

How do I turn off side-by-side view?

Click the "View Side by Side" button again on the "View" tab to return to the normal single-window view.