Cascading Document Windows

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 20, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Nathan noted that in Word, unlike in PowerPoint, there is no cascade functionality on the View tab of the ribbon and that arranging document windows by using the Arrange All tool can be clumsy if several documents are open. He wonders if there is a cascade tool for Word that he is missing somewhere.

Actually, the tool was dropped from Word because it is superfluous—you can cascade document windows within Windows instead of Word. You can cascade your document windows by following these steps:

Make sure that the document windows you want to cascade are visible on the desktop.
Minimize all the windows you don't want to cascade. (They should still appear, albeit minimized, on the Task Bar.)
Right-click on an empty area of the Task Bar. Windows displays a Context menu.
Choose Cascade Windows from the Context menu.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7748) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting Text with a Macro

Need to have your macro insert a bit of text into your document? It's easy to do using the TypeText method.

Discover More

Making VLOOKUP Trigger a Macro

VLOOKUP is an oft-used worksheet function to lookup values in a data table. If the function cannot return a value, it ...

Discover More

Deleting Freezes Computer

Sometimes a strange object or text may appear in your document, as happened to Sharon. To complicate the situation, her ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Displaying the Full Ribbon

The ribbon, displayed at the top of the Word window, is very handy with all the tools it allows you to access, but it can ...

Discover More

Resetting Ribbons

Word allows you to customize the program's ribbon tabs so they more closely match the way you want to work. At some ...

Discover More

Adjusting Gridline Spacing

Word has a gridline feature that can be helpful for aligning objects in a document. If you want to adjust the spacing ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 3 + 7?

2022-10-04 13:29:13

Keith Gardner

Not true on Mac. The function was not at all superfluous and its removal is a hindrance to efficiency.

2021-04-01 16:54:46

Paul Clark

in windows 7 it was possible to go into task manager ... highlight documents and then cascade them -->

So, is it possible to cascade documents in windows 10 ? .................. not just applications! .......................

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.