How do I compare two word documents in word for Mac?

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How do I compare two word documents in word for Mac?

Paula Arab 0

How Do I split screen in Word for Mac so I can compare two word documents?

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Answer recommended by moderator

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.7K

What AI doesn't seem to know is that Mac Word does not have a side-by-side option. You can use Window> Arrange All but that arranges the two windows vertically. The OS features which provide the type of arrangement you're looking for is in Window> Move & Resize.

Also, the Split feature displays the same document in 2 sections of the same window one above the other. It doesn't pertain to separate documents.

Peter Whalley-Thompson 0 Reputation points

2026-04-29T03:06:31.43+00:00

Thanks Bob, I thought I was going crazy looking for this function. I tried the horizontal split and 50% of my screen went black. I'll have a crack at resizing the windows and see if that helps. I need to extract the salient points from 26 pages of the transcript from a Teams call, and I certainly wasn't going to print the original for a side by side comparison.

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Peter Whalley-Thompson 0 Reputation points

2026-04-29T03:06:31.43+00:00

Thanks Bob, I thought I was going crazy looking for this function. I tried the horizontal split and 50% of my screen went black. I'll have a crack at resizing the windows and see if that helps. I need to extract the salient points from 26 pages of the transcript from a Teams call, and I certainly wasn't going to print the original for a side by side comparison.

Answer 1

To compare two Word documents on Word for Mac, you can use the following steps:

Open the Documents: Start by opening both documents you want to compare in Word for Mac.
Use the Compare Feature: Go to the Tools menu, then select Compare Documents. You will be prompted to select the original document and the revised document.
Review Changes: After the comparison is complete, Word will show you the differences between the two documents, highlighting the changes.

To split the screen in Word for Mac so you can view both documents side by side:

Open Both Documents: Ensure both documents are open in Word.
Arrange Windows: Go to the Window menu and select Arrange All. This will tile the documents so you can see them simultaneously.
Adjust the Split: You can manually resize the windows to your preference for better visibility.

This setup allows you to easily compare the two documents visually.

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How do I compare two word documents in word for Mac?

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