When I’m undertaking major edits, I find it helpful at times to be able to have two parts of my document on the screen at one time.

Microsoft Word gives you the option to make a split pane so that you can view two sections of a work simultaneously. It’s simple to do. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll find yourself using it again and again.

When would you use Split Pane?

Maybe you want to compare the beginning of a story with the ending. Rather than printing out both parts to compare, or scrolling back and forth, you can use Split Pane to see both at the same time on your screen.

If you’re writing a long work–a report, a dissertation or a novel–Split Pane will save you countless headaches as you edit. For example, you may want to move a section of your manuscript to another location.

You split the window into two panes. Then scroll down in each pane until:

Pane 1 displays the material you want to move and

Pane 2 displays the point in your manuscript where you want to move it.

To move the material, all you do is select it, then drag it across the ’split’ to its new location. How easy compared to copying or cutting, then scrolling through page after page to get to the point where you want to paste it.

How to make the Split Pane

Open Word.

At the top right-hand corner of the vertical scroll bar, you’ll see a split box. It has an upward arrowhead in the lower section, and is blank in the upper section.

Position the cursor on the vertical tool bar. The cursor image becomes an arrow. Then move your mouse, moving the cursor up to the split box’s horizontal line. The cursor will turn into a horizontal line.

Keeping your finger down on the mouse control, select and drag the horizontal line down, then release it. You now have a split screen.

• You can select the horizontal line again and drag it up or down to change the size of the second screen.
• To return to a single window, double-click the split bar, or select and drag it back up to the top.

Track Changes is one of those can’t-live-without functions in Microsoft Word. I do much of my editing online, revising my own work and commenting on others’ writing. Track Changes provides an efficient way to edit electronically.

How does it work?

After you select Track Changes, any change you make to online material is highlighted.

• Anything you ADD is shown in a different colour and style of type, e.g. boldface.
• Anything you DELETE is also shown, e.g., strike-through.

Here’s an example, where I used Track Changes to show my changes and comments, which come up on the screen as BLUE BOLD.

Original Draft

‘No one told me how much energy it takes, shifting into the unknown. All those TV shows about people moving to a new country, where their biggest worry seems to be getting the right colour of wood for a stairway. But it’s not like that. First,’ she ticks off on her fingers as she talks, ‘the pressure of learning a new job, where everything’s done differently than you’re used to. Plus, unpacking everything and fixing up a new place. And then learning all the practical things, like finding the best butcher, and where to get good bread, and who to have clean your teeth.’

Draft with Track Changes

‘No one told me how much energy it takes, shifting into the unknown. All On thoseTV shows where people moving move to a new country, where their biggest worry seems to be getting the right colour of wood for a stairway. But it’s not like that. First,’ she ticks off on her fingers as she talks, ‘the pressure of learning a new job, where everything’s done differently than you’re used to. Plus, unpacking everything and fixing up a new place. And then learning all the practical things, like finding the best butcher, and where to get good bread, and who to have clean your teeth.’ How is this paragraph helping move the story forward? How is this paragraph helping move the story forward? Perhaps more about how she feels?

When would you use Track Changes?

• When editing or commenting on someone’s work. The beauty of Track Changes is that I can insert comments or proposed changes in a particular spot. No more scribbling in the margins or at the end of the page on hard copy. It is also easy to review my comments and recast or remove some if I have second thoughts before sending them.

• When commenting on a work at a distance. When I worked for a large, multi-site organisation, I used Track Changes to comment from a distance on colleagues’ material. It enabled quick turn-arounds on material while also giving everyone a chance to comment. Using Track Changes was less tedious than scheduling a face-to-face editing meeting. And it was more efficient than trying to identify problems via email or telephone, e.g., Now go to page 4, and count to the 20^th line down.

• When getting comments from multiple editors/reviewers. Track Changes assigns a different editing colour to each person who makes proposed changes to your work.

• When trying out variations in your own work. I sometimes use Track Changes when I want to try something out. Because my changes show up on the screen in a different colour, I can easily see if I like the change or not. Returning to the original is simple.
  It’s also useful when you’re on a near-final edit, making stylistic changes. Once you’ve finished this edit, you can then re-read your work with all your changes highlighted and decide for each change whether you want to keep it or not. Maybe you decide to keep only three of your changes. Saving these via Track Changes is more convenient than having to copy and paste each change into your previous draft.

Any drawbacks?

I can think of two.

1. It takes getting used to. The best way to try it is to play around with it when time isn’t critical. Some people like to use it for commenting on others’ work but not their own. They find it too distracting seeing different print colours in their own work.
2. A bigger drawback is overusing it, especially when you’ve been asked to comment, rather than edit or proofread. Because it’s so easy to use, you may be tempted to fix everything, from the major to the minor. Restrain yourself! Keep in mind the usual guidelines for commenting on others’ work:
   • Add positive comments as well as suggestions for change.
   • Give reasons for any of your suggested changes.
   • Don’t rewrite the material to suit your own writing style.
   • Don’t sweat the small stuff. Keep to the major elements unless you’re invited to do a close edit.

How to make changes

The following information is for Word 2002. Details about Track Changes generally and how to use it for Word versions other than 2002 can be found on Shauna Kelly’s website.

1. Go to the TOOLS menu, in the top toolbar of Microsoft Word screen.
2. Select the TRACK CHANGES options.
   If you look at the toobar BELOW your screen, you should see a small box with TRK highlighted. This tells you that Track Changes is on and now anything you type will come up as an EDITING CHANGE.
3. When you want to leave Track Changes, select it again to turn it off.

How to accept or reject changes

1. Open your document, then go to the VIEW menu, in the top toolbar of the Microsoft Word screen.
2. Select TOOLBAR, then REVIEWING.
   The Reviewing Toolbar (at top of your screen) will display some small icons. If you run your mouse over them, you’ll see they provide options for accepting of deleting each change.

Changing the Track Changes options

Go to the TOOLS menu and select OPTIONS.
Click on the downward arrowhead at the right of each box to choose the following::

1. How you want to show your insertions to the original document. You can choose colour only, boldface, italics, underline, etc. Changing a font style (e.g. double underline) is better than using only a colour, especially if the changed document is going to be printed out on a non-colour printer.

2. Show deletions as a ‘balloon’ in the margin.

3. Include a vertical line in margin to identify lines where changes have been made. This option helps readers find any small changes, such as inserting a comma.

If you want more information, there’s a number of websites that provide details about how to use Track Changes. Here’s one set of  guidelines, developed for the legal profession but helpful to anyone wanting to learn the basics and advanced techniques with Track Changes.