Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Combining Word Documents.
Word provides a very easy way to combine documents, without the typical cut-and-paste routine. This is great for boilerplate text in your document. All you need to do is use the INCLUDETEXT field within a document. Follow these steps:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: 
{ INCLUDETEXT "MyFile.Doc" }
At the point, the specified file should appear within your document. If it doesn't (for instance, if you get an error message), then make sure you typed the document name correctly, and that you included a full path name. (You must include the full path name if the document is in a directory different from the one in which the current document is located.)
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (598) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Combining Word Documents.
Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!
Need a series of documents that include an individual's name or a company name? Here's a handy little macro that will ...
Discover MoreNeed to force users to save their work? It may be as simple as implementing a couple of macros that get a bit more ...
Discover MoreWord includes a command-line syntax that you can use to open files and do other operations. If you want to load a text ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2019-11-21 14:55:45
Jessica Davis
Wanted to post the answer to my own question. Removing MERGEFORMAT from the field fixed the issue I had encountered (described in the comment from 2019-11-21 13:47:30).
When I inserted from the insert field dialog, I checked the preserve formatting control, expecting this control to preserve the formatting of the source document. That checkbox adds MERGEFORMAT to the field.
Given that the styles are exactly the same between my source and destination, I'm not sure why this happened. I found it especially strange that the content was fine upon insertion, but corrupted on update.
2019-11-21 13:47:30
Jessica Demian Davis
When I press F9 to update the field, my style application goes nutty. I have the same styles in the source and destination docs, so I'm not sure why this is happening. In one case, I have instructional content where the steps are one style and I use another style to hold the inline screen shots. Everything looks good when I first insert the field. When I press F9, all the screenshots suddenly get numbered and style applied to those paragraph changes to the my step style. Any ideas on how to prevent this from occurring?
2019-03-15 14:12:57
Robert Petraglia
I'm getting the dreaded "Fields are nested too deeply" message. I have a series of "IF" statements, but they are not nested. They are each separate & individual statements. Each if statement is ended before the next one starts. It is true that I have more than 20 "IF" statements in sequence, but as I said they are not nested!
I tried to copy and paste a few of them here, but it doesn't seem to copy the statements to the clipboard.
they look something like this {IF{MERGEFIELD LTYP} ="CD" "{INCLUDETEXT Remit.doc}" ""}{IF{MERGEFIELD LTYP} ="CD" "{INCLUDETEXT Remit.doc}" ""} {IF{MERGEFIELD LTYP} ="CD" "{INCLUDETEXT Remit.doc}" ""} etc.
I'm using MS Office Word 2003 SP3 O/S is Windows server 2008 R2 standard.
Anybody know a way of getting these consecutive "IF" statements to work without getting the "nested" error message?
Alan, thanks for the INCLUDETEXT tip - using Ctrl+F9, not inserting my own braces via the keyboard!
2017-11-18 15:22:06
Jeremy
How do I combine two full transcripts into one document, eliminating exact text from the second copy. I have two versions of a book in different editing stages that need combined. Is this possible in word 2002?
2014-06-18 12:16:47
Paul Hanson
I have a list of 70+ documents that I want to "include" in a single file. Is there an automated way to do this other than repeating the above process 70+ times?
Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments