I'm thinking about Writer here, but it could usefully be implemented in Calc too...

Please let me know if you need any further descriptions about what I mean. :-)

*** Bug 31508 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Requesting that importance be set to "highest", or at least "high". I know it's a difficult enhancement to implement, but it's a 10-years-old request (inherited from OOo), is the single most wanted feature and, along with the file association issue, is the only important disadvantage over other office suites.
Which skills are needed?

(In reply to comment #9)
> I have also started following this bug coming from OpenOffice, in hopes that it
> could be resolved in less than 10 years :); I also thought there would be some
> way to explicitly vote the bug, so count me with the users that desperately
> need this enhancement!

A bug feature enhancement request has now been created in bugzilla (against freedesktop.org):

"A bug-voting facility to express interest in features and bugs"
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39739

If you join onto that bug too, this might help express interest in having a voting facility and encourage the freedesktop.org webmasters to implement this feature.

BTW, while we can't vote, just add yourselfs to the CC: list. This would give an idea of bugs popularity. Less accurate than votes, but an idea.

*** Bug 34900 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

It is important that feature requests are clear, concise and concentrated on a -single- feature. I see several below. Is the request to be able to read -two-different- documents side-by-side ? if so - that is at least technically within the bounds of possibility; if the request is to have split panes and multiple views of the same document - that is much more difficult, due to the way writer is structured.

Either way - user input is fun & all that, but what is needed is someone to do the work, knock up a hackish prototype patch (so we can discuss it on the development list), and/or fund a hacker to do this.

(In reply to comment #16)
> It is important that feature requests are clear, concise and concentrated on a
> -single- feature.

MM, you are absolutely right about this and the goal of this issue has become muddled - I'm certainly guilty of being an accomplice to that. Sorry.

It was perhaps wrongly assumed that splitting a window for two independent views of a single document would be essentially the same as splitting a window for simultaneous views of two different documents ("proofreading mode"). The window-handling in writer was considered to likely be dependent on the same window handler in both cases.

If split windows for side-by-side viewing of two different documents is "at least technically within the bounds of possibility" and split panes for multiple views of the same document is not, then we need to not only open a separate issue for the latter, but, as you say, somehow get to work on it. 
 
> what is needed is someone to do the work, knock up a hackish prototype
> patch (so we can discuss it on the development list), and/or fund a hacker to 
> do this.

MM, since you seem knowledgeable enough to evaluate the differences and technical "bounds of possibility" between these two apparently closely related requests, perhaps you could elucidate in what way they differ so that we can move on at least one of these goals. Is this related to the implementation on sfx2 mentioned in the first "See Also" link id=102365?

Michael,

OK, let me re-state the request:

"In MS Office 2010, you can open 2 docs in the same window (each doc in a
separate pane). When you scroll through the doc in one pane, the doc in the
other pane scrolls an equivalent amount. 

This is called "proofreading mode".

Could you please implement this for LibO?

Having 2 docs open in separate windows (as you can at present) is not an
equivalent functionality (you get duplication of toolbars, lose valuable screen
real estate, etc.)"

Proofreading mode works like this: you have a document already open and you're working on it. You need to do a line-by-line comparison with another document. Maybe this document is not open and you need to browse to it and open it, or maybe it's already open and you need to be able to designate it as the "2nd file". Once the 2nd document has been chosen, you need to be able to designate 2 points in the 2 files (1 place in each file) as the points as from which to synchronize the simultaneous scrolling.

If you use any version of MS Office from 2003 onwards (possible earlier - I no longer remember), you have this feature.

Does this seem clearer? In any case, thanks to our devs for their time and work. :-)

(In reply to comment #19)
> Michael,
> 
> OK, let me re-state the request:
> 
> "In MS Office 2010, you can open 2 docs in the same window (each doc in a
> separate pane). When you scroll through the doc in one pane, the doc in the
> other pane scrolls an equivalent amount. 
> 
> This is called "proofreading mode".
> 
> Could you please implement this for LibO?
> 
> Having 2 docs open in separate windows (as you can at present) is not an
> equivalent functionality (you get duplication of toolbars, lose valuable screen
> real estate, etc.)"
> 
> Proofreading mode works like this: you have a document already open and you're
> working on it. You need to do a line-by-line comparison with another document.
> Maybe this document is not open and you need to browse to it and open it, or
> maybe it's already open and you need to be able to designate it as the "2nd
> file". Once the 2nd document has been chosen, you need to be able to designate
> 2 points in the 2 files (1 place in each file) as the points as from which to
> synchronize the simultaneous scrolling.
> 
> If you use any version of MS Office from 2003 onwards (possible earlier - I no
> longer remember), you have this feature.
> 
> Does this seem clearer? In any case, thanks to our devs for their time and
> work. :-)

I think it will be better to simply implement some sort of 'Toggle scroll sync' button. It would work the following way: the user sets the necessary scroll positions in two panes, then presses the button. After that both panes will be scrolled simultaneously. But later the user can depress the 'toggle scroll sync' button to realign content between the two panes and then turn the sync back on.

Maybe the scroll locking could be another request, just as multiple panes or multiple views for the same document. Just for the sake of focusing the discussion.

I have create a new bug request "Split Windows for single document" - Bug 42428

@vitriol: I have created this bug in request of comment 16. I think that this bug and Bug 42428 are different.

Hi Vitriol,

I agree with Moreno that these are too different bugs. What most of us here need is the feature to view two or more different parts of a single document at the same time. Or at least, the title of this bug is misleading to say the least.

Btw, the feature should allow the user to split the window horizontally and/or vertically.

The title says "side-by-side reading of 2 docs", so I guess the bugs are different. Though both have similar audience and importance, but a bug should be single.

Yes, I would still very much like this function!  
I miss it regularly when checking translations or modified instructions. 
I just lost hope that a developer would sometime stoop to implementing a long wished for but unspectacular feature which is common in MS Office since more than a decade...  (Many source code editors have it,  too.)

Hans

I'm the original filer of this feature request. I confirm that I have been obliged to use Windows in a virtual machine on my Ubuntu and use MS Office because I frequently need to do side by side reading, and because I sometimes need to work on a same document with views in side by side or one-over-the-other windows. So I definitely still think this ticket needs putting on the top of the developers' priorities.

If anyone among the devs is unclear about what is needed, I can write and post a side by side comparison of LibreOffice and MS Office 2010 and show you what's lacking.

The interface of LibreOffice needs a design team study that TDF could usefully fund out of its yearly budget, because the suite is starting to look somewhat dated in comparison with other similar products on the market.

It's with great regret that I have to say that.

Just letting everyone know that this issue is filed on BountySource. It's a platform that allows people to assign bounties for resolution of issues.

I encourage anyone interested to visit the issue on BountySource and add a bounty:
https://www.bountysource.com/#issues/128387-rfe-split-pane-in-same-window-for-side-by-side-proof-reading-translating-of-2-different-files

Hopefully this would draw attention to the feature in question and prove that it's still very much needed.

I hope that this feature is getting developed. It is a great enhancement of productivity when 2 documents need to be compared. I frequently need to do so but the workaround with 2 Writer windows is not good at all. I don't want to reinstall Word just for this feature thus my plea to our devs to please pick this task up.

Triggered by an AskLibO question: http://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/30795/how-to-do-side-by-side-editing-of-2-different-files-in-writer/
I read through the long thread and would like to summarize a bit 

1 - Splitting 1  window to view 1 document:

In Calc you can split the window into 2 to look at different vertical parts of the sheet the same time. In Writer you cannot. 

Thus enabling a look at to different vertical parts of a Writer document would be a very helpful function. => enhancement 1

As far as I remember EXCEL you can look not only at different vertical parts in the split window, but you can also scroll each split window separately in horizontal direction. Such a feature for Calc would be a very helpful one to work on complex spreadsheets. => enhancement 2

2- Splitting 1 window to view 2 documents

This is what Nelson asked for in 2010! He asked only for Writer.

2  Writer documents should be open beside each other. Each document has the same width automatically. 
Default:  For both documents the top part is to be seen and scrolling should move both documents in the same steps down or up.
Next feature: Scroll both documents separately 
Next feature: Lock the vertical position of both documents to each other and scroll both document in the same steps down or up.
If there are notes attached to one or both documents there visibility and accessibility should be selectable. Visibility on the right side of each documents or at the bottom with a clear indication on where in the visible text the notes are. 
=> enhancement 3

This is an excellent feature in Word which I do miss in Writer. It allows an excellent comparison and editing of  2 different documents.

2 Calc files should open beside each other with the same functionality as in Writer but not only in vertical but also in horizontal direction.
=> enhancement 4

This seems to me to be the case with highest complexity. I don't recall how Excel can deal with this. Too long time ago....

My personal opinion on the priorities of the enhancements:

Prio 1 = enhancement 3 (2 Witer docs side by side in 1 window)
Prio 2 = enhancement 1 (vertical splitting of 1 Writer window) I could imagine that this is automatically included in enhancement 3
Prio 3 = enhancement 2 (1 Calc document in 1 window vertical and horizontal splitting with independent scrolling in each "sub window")
Prio 4 = enhancement 4 (2 Calc files side by side in 1 window  with independent scrolling of each "sub-window"

I am aware that the rule is 1 request per entry here and I agree to that. The discussion just led to the 4 enhancement requests I tried to summarize.

I fully understand and appreciate if someone with enough inside into the development channels splits the 4 enhancement requests up. However a link between all 4 would be great. I don't have enough expertise and inside to do it myself.

I would be nice if someone who understands the Writer related requests and access to Word could add some screen shots to illustrate the situation. 

I hope this clarifies a the long discussion and we get development manpower to tackle these features.

4 year history of the bug and still no answer from developers. Maybe it is impossible to implement for all platforms because of technical problems?

Hi Yan Pashkovsky,

This feature is found not only in MS Word, but also in Star Office 5.1, which is more than 10 years old. It is technically possible, just for some strange reasons it is never given its due attention.

Yes, the feature still isn't there

PS. Using Libreoffice 4.3.2.2 on Ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04

Yes, the feature still isn't there. Using LO 4.3.0.1 on Windows XP and Windows 7.

Confirming that "Split pane" is still missing in version 4.3.1.2 in windows 7.

I know there are good people just doing it for the community, but instead of doing something that is not so wanted (like "Sheet tabs (Calc) and layer tabs (Draw) were moved to an independent row and are no longer displayed next to the horizontal scrollbar" in new 4.4 version) maybe good programmers should think about doing something that is really wanted for writer. I think this "bug" falls in that category 
Thank you very much

(In reply to Dmitry Pashkevich from comment #17)
> The title of this bug says about 'reading of 2 docs' but I mostly want to be
> able to edit two parts of the same doc via split view. I miss this feature a
> lot in LibreOffice.

What you're interested in is reported as Bug 42428 (which someone wrongly marked as duplicate of this). There you'll also read about an existing feature that serves (though not so elegantly) your purpose.

(In reply to Kumāra from comment #58)
> (In reply to Dmitry Pashkevich from comment #17)
> > The title of this bug says about 'reading of 2 docs' but I mostly want to be
> > able to edit two parts of the same doc via split view. I miss this feature a
> > lot in LibreOffice.
> 
> What you're interested in is reported as Bug 42428 (which someone wrongly
> marked as duplicate of this). There you'll also read about an existing
> feature that serves (though not so elegantly) your purpose.

As I described at Bug 42428 this is practically the same feature as we can change through "Window" menu the documents we are viewing. So we can view one or more documents. In programming this makes no sense to create the feature, which actually already in Calc exist. But it seems that currently in Calc the split function does not allow switch between documents.

I just would propose the scrolling feature of window splitting would be configurable - so people can decide whether they they would lock the scrolling or not - both of them would be needed, that's for sure.

But if there would be diff like we know it in programming - then there would be two different features and point to create separate feature requests.

If the functionality is planned not to allow change documents in split view - then these can be two different bugs. But I would propose to expand the split window functionality and allow also change documents in split view.

Yes, this is an essential feature lacking from LibreOffice 4.4. Since it existed in StarOffice, fail to understand why it was dropped. Please prioritize it highly.

I agree. Being able to view two documents side by side, either as a vertical or a horizontal align, is a must for many professionals, including translators, editors, lawyers and physicians. 

The loss of its good old MDI (multiple document interface) was one of those improvements for the worse that make the discerning LibreOffice user facepalm. An SDI might be easier to understand for some users, but honestly, having MDI as an option didn’t harm anyone.

Still unavailable on Cinnamon Mint 17.2 in version 5.0.2.2 Build ID: 37b43f919e4de5eeaca9b9755ed688758a8251fe Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8)

Still missing in 5.1.2.2.0+ / Linux!  

I would really wish that the LO team would spend time on fixing all those annoying year-old known bugs or wishes instead of just ignoring them and instead unnecessarily adding gimmicks or changing the UI…  

It's over a decade now and still a major missing feature. 
I'd like to remind that there is a bounty open for it (I participated): 
https://www.bountysource.com/#issues/128387-rfe-split-pane-in-same-window-for-side-by-side-proof-reading-translating-of-2-different-files 

If you really want LO not to be laughed at by all those MS Office users, please do give care and attention to the details.  I'm a strong advocate for FOSS, but I've ceased recommending LO to people using MS Office.

I strongly agree with that what #64 comment ( HansPL 2016-05-17 12:17:38 UTC) said.

Absolutely agree,  thoroughly frustrated.

(In reply to john.bartley from comment #69)
> Why is the status still NEW after having demonstrated it is not?

NEW here means 'confirmed, but not assigned to anyone' (which is indeed unfortunate).
NEEDINFO means that information is needed whether the bug/request is still valid, or some pieces of information are missing to proceed with fixing the bug / implementing the request.
Setting this back to NEW.

I added myself to backers for bounty attached to this feature request. The bounty can be found here: 
https://www.bountysource.com/#issues/128387-rfe-split-pane-in-same-window-for-side-by-side-proof-reading-translating-of-2-different-files

Need split pane in Writer for 'same' file as well, vertical primarily, horizontal if possible

I agree - splitting same file horizontally and vertically would be very much expected. One more improvement idea to be better than MS Office - offer a splitting line which angle can be changed just by dragging with mouse in order to choose the splitting edge. There could be buttons 'horizontally' and 'vertically' also for easier to choose common values.
It would be good also to choose the splitting location - it has not to be symmetrical - sometimes users would like to split unequally windows. I hope this ability would also be included.
Yet another idea - offer also the number of splitting parts just like there are table cell splitting dialog in Writer. Sometimes people would like to split even into more parts than just two. Also give each part unequal width or height or angle and zoom factor. Also there would be needed different directions at the same time - to split screen vertically into 2 parts and e.g. right part in turn into 2 parts horizontally - in that way I can edit the file at vertical side and look two other locations in the same file at another, horizontally splitted side of screen.

A friend of mine is stuck in Dreamweaver - some proprietary program from a few years back now. This feature would go a long way to making it easier to bring in such folks from the cold proprietary world :)

See also bug #101772

This is now a decade old wish (including OOo) of many users…  
I'd really be grateful if someone would look into it.   
Currently 90 $ in https://www.bountysource.com/issues/128387-rfe-split-pane-in-same-window-for-side-by-side-proof-reading-translating-of-2-different-files .

*** Bug 121803 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Changing enhancement priority back to 'high' since the number of people in CC is higher than 20

Please make this a priority. The ability to split a single screen has been a feature in MS Word since at least the Office 97 days. Looking at the history of the request here, it has been a persistent request going back to 2003 -- why has there been no movement on this? Is it too hard to implement, or is there just no desire to take this forward?

absolutely necessary! Please give us this basic feature (already present in calc)

*** Bug 154483 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

(In reply to Edmund Laugasson from comment #59)
> ...
> As I described at Bug 42428 this is practically the same feature 

It is astonishing how devastating can lack of attention can be. The feature request "for side-by-side proof reading" was filed, then re-confirmed in comment 19; a developer has stated explicitly that the request to have two views into the same document in Writer is *definitely* a different feature, and *must not* be confused with side-by-side proofreading (comment 16); a dedicated bug 42428 was created by those who can read and comprehend - but there are so many people who don't care to read, and are OK to bury the important pieces with heaps of off-topic, especially sad that that offtopic is mainly a useless "me too" kind ...

*** Bug 165975 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***