Split a Word document into separate files

Cut a long .docx into chapters at each heading, at its page breaks or into parts of equal length. Every part is a complete Word file with the original styles, headers and footers.

Free, no sign up for your first files
Nothing to install
Works on phone, tablet and desktop

Smaller files, each one ready to use

Long documents are hard to share and review. A handbook where each team needs one chapter, a manuscript an editor wants chapter by chapter, a pack of letters typed one per page, a report too big for an email: all of these are easier as separate files.

Split Word copies the document once for each part and keeps only that part's content, so every file has the same styles, page setup, headers and footers as the original. Parts are named in order with the first words of their content, for example handbook-02-Leave-policy.docx, and delivered together in a zip.

Why split with DocsBat

At chapter headings

Start a new file at every Heading 1, or at every Heading 1 and Heading 2.

At page breaks

Split wherever the document has a manual page break, perfect for one letter or form per page.

Equal parts

Divide a document into 2 to 50 parts of roughly the same length.

Formatting kept

Each part keeps the original styles, lists, pictures, headers and footers.

Named and zipped

Parts are numbered and named after their first words, then zipped together.

How it works

1
Choose a Word file
Drop a .docx onto the page or pick it from Drive. Password protected files ask for the password.
2
Pick how to split
Set Split to At each heading, At page breaks or Into parts of equal length, then the heading level or number of parts.
3
Download the parts
Get a zip of separate .docx files. It is also saved to your Drive.

Split options explained

At each heading: The default. A new part starts at each heading. Choose Heading level: Heading 1 for chapters, or Heading 1 and 2 to split at sections too. Headings are found from Word's heading styles and outline levels.
At page breaks: A new part starts after each manual page break or at a paragraph set to start on a new page. Page breaks created only by text running onto the next page do not count.
Into parts of equal length: Set Number of parts from 2 to 50. DocsBat divides the content by amount of text, cutting between paragraphs and tables, never in the middle of one.
No blank last pages: A page break left at the end of a part is removed, so parts do not end with an empty page.
Clear messages: If a document has no headings or no page breaks to split at, DocsBat tells you and suggests another mode.

Tips

Splitting at headings needs real Word heading styles. If chapters are only bold text, use At page breaks or Into parts of equal length instead.
Want one PDF per chapter? Split here, then convert the parts with Word to PDF.
Joined the wrong files? Merge Word puts parts back together.
Old .doc files must be saved as .docx first.