How to put two Word documents side by side on a Mac

Two Word documents next to each other for comparing or copying between them, plus Word's own compare tool when you need the differences marked.

Guide · Updated 13 October 2026

Open both documents, then tile them: on macOS Sequoia and later, click one and press Fn ⌃ ←, click the other and press Fn ⌃ →. On older versions, hover over the green button and choose Tile Window to Left of Screen.

When you need the differences marked

Use Review, Compare, Compare Documents. Pick the original and the revised version, and Word makes a new document with every change shown as tracked changes.

Two places in one document

  • Window, New Window opens a second window on the same document; tile the two to see two pages at once.
  • Window, Split (in versions that have it) splits one window into two panes.

Make them readable at half width

  • Use View, Web Layout or Draft so lines wrap to the window width.
  • Zoom to fit the page width with View, Zoom.

On a ClutterFreeMac strip, documents you work between can share a screen at half width each, with your sources in the columns beside them, one swipe away. See writers' window setup.

Questions

How do I compare two Word documents on a Mac?

Use Review, Compare, Compare Documents. To read them side by side instead, tile the two windows with Fn ⌃ ← and Fn ⌃ →.

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