Chapter 24
Multiple Documents, Windows, and File Formats
In This Chapter
Working with more than one document at a time
Comparing documents side by side
Seeing one document in two windows
Splitting the screen
Opening a non-Word document
Converting older Word documents
You need not limit your word processor usage to toiling with one document in a single window. Oh, no! You can open multiple documents, working on the lot and moving from window to window at your whim. You could even split a single document into two views in a single window, or open one document in two windows. Word does it all, plus it lets you work with documents in strange and alien non-Word formats.
Multiple Document Mania
It’s not a question of whether Word can work on more than one document at a time. No, it’s a question of how you open those documents. Let me count the ways:
- Just keep using the Open command to open documents. (See Chapter 8.) No official limit exists on the number of documents Word can have open, though I would avoid having more than nine or so open because they slow down your computer.
- In the Open dialog box, select multiple documents to open. Press and hold down the Ctrl key as you click to select documents. Click the Open button, and all the documents open, each in its own window.
- From any folder window, select multiple Word document icons. Lasso them with the mouse, or Ctrl+click to select multiple documents. Press the Enter key to open the lot.
Each document dwells in its own Word program window. To switch between them, click a window or choose a window by clicking the Word icon on the Windows taskbar.
To switch windows in Word, follow these steps:
- Click the View tab.
- In the Window group, click the Switch Windows button.
- Choose a document from the menu.
If you’re insane enough to have more than nine documents open at a time, the last command on the Switch Windows menu is More Windows. Choose this item to view the Activate dialog box, which lists all open document windows. Select a document from the window and click OK to switch to it.
Should you spy any document in the list named Document1, Document2, or similar, immediate switch to that window! Save the document before it’s too late! Refer to Chapter 8.
Arranging open document windows
To see two or more documents displayed on the screen at the same time, select the View tab and click the Arrange All button. Immediately, Word organizes all its windows. They’re arranged like the pieces of fabric in a quilt.
- The Arrange All command works best when only a few documents are open. Otherwise, the document windows are too small to be useful.
- Word doesn't arrange minimized windows.
- Although you can see more than one document at a time, you can work on only one at a time. The document with the highlighted title bar is the one “on top.”
Comparing two documents side by side
A quick and handy way to review two documents is to arrange them side by side. Both documents are visible on the screen and their scrolling is locked so that you can peruse both in parallel. Here's how to accomplish this trick:
- Open both documents.
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On the View tab, in the Window group, click the View Side by Side button.
Word instantly arranges both documents in vertical windows, with the current document on the left and the other on the right.
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Scroll either document.
Scrolling one document also scrolls the other. In this mode, you can compare two different or similar documents.
You can disable synchronous scrolling by clicking the Synchronous Scrolling button, found in the Window group. - When you're done, choose View Side by Side again.
Also see Chapter 26, which covers reviewing changes made to a document.
Viewing one document in multiple windows
A handy document-viewing trick — especially for long documents — is to open a single document in two windows. This trick makes writing and editing easier than hopping back and forth within the same document window and potentially losing your place.
To open a second window on a single document, obey these steps:
- Click the View tab.
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In the Window group, click the New Window button.
A second window opens, showing the current document.
To confirm that the same document is open in two windows, check the title bar: The first window's filename is followed by :1, and the second window's filename is followed by :2.
When you no longer need the second window, simply close it. You can close either window :1 or :2; it doesn't matter. Closing the second window merely removes that view. The document is still open and available for editing in the other window.
Even though two windows are open, you’re still working on only one document. The changes you make in one window are updated in the second.
- This feature is useful for cutting and pasting text or graphics between sections of a long document.
- You can even open a third window by choosing the New Window command again, but that’s just nuts.
Using the old split-screen trick
Splitting the screen allows you to view two parts of your document in the same window. No need to bother with extra windows here: The top part of the window shows one part of the document; the bottom part, another. Each half of the screen scrolls individually, so you can peruse different parts of the same document without switching windows.
To split a window, heed these directions:
- Click the View tab.
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In the Window group, click the Split Window button.
A line bisects the document, splitting it from side to side, as shown in Figure 24-1. If the ruler is visible, a second copy appears below the line, as shown in the figure.
Figure 24-1: Splitting a document window.
You can scroll the top or bottom part of your document independently. That way, you can peruse or edit different parts of the document in the same window.
To undo the split, choose the Remote Split command from the Window group. Or you can double-click the line separating the document.
The line splitting your document is adjustable. To change the size of the top or bottom part of the split, drag the line up or down.
Many, Many Document Types
Word begrudgingly recognizes that it’s not the only word processor and that its documents are not the only type of document file. As such, the program condescends to allow for the accommodation of lesser, mortal document formats. This feature allows you to read and edit non-Word documents as well as share your documents with non-Word users, who will be blessed with Word’s beneficence.
Understanding document formats
When you save a document, Word places the document's text, formatting, and other information in a file. To keep the information organized, Word uses a specific file format. The file format makes a Word document unique and different from other types of files languishing on your computer’s storage system.
Although Word’s document format is popular, it's not the only word-processing document format available. Other word processors, as well as document utilities such as Adobe Acrobat, use their own formats. Word permits you to open documents saved in those formats as well as save your Word documents in the alien formats. I’m not certain whether the software is pleased to do so, but it’s capable.
- Basic document opening and saving information is found in Chapter 8.
- The best way to save a file in another format is to use the Export command, discussed in Chapter 9.
The standard Word document format uses the docx filename extension. This extension is applied automatically to all Word documents you save, although it may not be visible when viewing files in a folder. The older Word document format used the doc filename extension. See the section, “Updating an older Word document.”
Opening a non-Word document
Word can magically open and display a host of weird, non-Word documents. Here’s how it works:
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Press Ctrl+F12 to summon the traditional Open dialog box.
It’s possible, but not simple, to display the Open dialog box by using the Open screen. When you must open a non-Word document, it makes more sense to use the weirdo Ctrl+F12 keyboard shortcut and call it good.
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Choose a file format from the menu button.
The menu button has no label, though it might say All Word Documents, as shown in Figure 24-2.
When you choose a specific file format, Word narrows the number of files displayed in the Open dialog box; only files matching the specific file format are shown.
If you don’t know the format, choose All Files from the drop-down list. Word then makes its best guess. -
Click to select the file.
Or work the controls in the dialog box to find another storage media or folder that contains the file.
- Click the Open button.
Figure 24-2: Change file types in the Open dialog box.
The alien file appears onscreen, ready for editing, just like any other Word document — or not. Word tries its best to open other file formats, but it may not get everything 100 percent okeydoke.
- For some document types, Word displays a file-conversion dialog box. Use the controls to preview the document, although clicking the OK button is usually your best bet.
- The Recover Text from Any File option is useful for peering into unknown files, especially from antique and obscure word-processing file formats.
- Word remembers the file type! When you use the Open dialog box again, the same file type is already chosen from the Files of Type drop-down list. That means your regular Word document may be opened as a plain text document, which looks truly ugly. Remember to check the Files of Type drop-down list if such a thing happens to you.
- Accordingly, when you want to open a Word document after opening an HTML document, or especially when using the Recover Text from Any File option, you must choose Word Documents from the list. Otherwise, Word may open documents in a manner that seems strange to you.
- You may see a warning when opening a document downloaded from the Internet. Word is just being safe; the document is placed into Protected View. You can preview the document, but to edit it, you need to click the Enable Editing button.
- Don’t blame yourself when Word is unable to open a document. Many, many file formats are unknown to Word. When someone is sending you this type of document, ask the person to resend it using a common file format, such as HTML or RTF.
Updating an older Word document
Microsoft Word has been around for ages. It’s used the same doc file format since the early days, back when Word ran on steam-powered computers that took three people to hoist onto a table.
In 2007, Word changed its document file format. Gone was the doc format, replaced by the docx format. Because a lot of people still use older versions of Word, and given the abundance of older doc files still used and available, it became necessary to work with and convert those older documents.
Working with an older Word document is cinchy: Simply open the document. You see the text [Compatibility Mode] after the filename at the top of the window. This text is a big clue that you’re using an older Word document. Another clue is that a lot of Word’s features, such as the capability to preview format changes and document themes, don’t work when you edit an older document.
To update an older document, follow these steps:
- Click the File tab.
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On the Info screen, click the Convert button.
A descriptive dialog box appears. If not, skip to Step 5.
- In the Microsoft Word dialog box, click to place a check mark by the item Do Not Ask Me Again about Converting Documents.
- Click the OK button.
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Click the Save button to save your document.
Use the Save As dialog box as covered in Chapter 8. If you’re paying attention, you’ll see that the chosen file format is Word Document (*.docx).
The document is updated.
The older document isn’t removed when you follow these steps. It lingers, although you can freely delete it.
See Chapter 8 if you desire to save a current document in the older Word file format.