Split Document

After I’ve edited a long document, such as a book, I sometimes split it up into smaller files by chapter, since I know that typesetters prefer working with smaller files in QuarkXPress. The Split Document program makes this easy to do.

Before running the program, make sure that your pages are unlocked, since the program will split the document at existing manual page breaks, and if your pages are still locked, you may have hundreds of these.

Once you’re sure that your pages are unlocked, insert manual page breaks (Ctrl + Enter) into your document at every point you want your document to be split. Do not, however, put a break at the top or bottom of your document.

Once you’ve marked the splits, click the Editor’s ToolKit menu, then “Split Document.” The program will copy each section into a new document and give the document a name that begins with the first four characters of the original document name followed by four digits, starting with 0001. For example, if your original document is named CHAPTERS, the split-off documents will have names like this:

CHAP0001

CHAP0002

CHAP0003

And so on.

The new documents will be saved in the same folder that holds your original document.

If you have QuarkConverter, you can then prepare the individual documents for typesetting.

Access:

• Editor’s ToolKit menu, Split Document