Removing a Subdocument from a Master Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 20, 2025)

As you are working with master and subdocuments, there may come a time when you want to remove a subdocument from a master. You can do this very easily in Word by following these steps:

Open the master document and make sure that all your subdocuments are displayed.
Switch to Outline view or, if you are using Word 97, choose Master Document from the View menu. Word displays the subdocuments (or links to the subdocuments) with a box around it and an icon at the top-left of the box.
Click on the icon for the subdocument you want to remove. This selects the entire subdocument.
Press the Del key.

The subdocument is removed from the master. Note that this does not delete the actual subdocument, it only removes it from the master document. If you want to use the subdocument in another document or as a standalone document, you can still do so.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1741) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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...

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