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.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 11, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
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.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!
Do you notice delays when you double-click a document icon, perhaps on your desktop? If you are confused by such delays ...
Discover MoreDo your files look garbled when you open them? Here's one possible reason.
Discover MoreDouble-click a Word document on your desktop, and you expect Word to spring into action and load the document. What if ...
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.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2023 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments