Even though Microsoft Word now supports multi-person collaboration 3 Microsoft Office Online Teamwork and Collaboration Tools That Impress 3 Microsoft Office Online Teamwork and Collaboration Tools That Impress With Office 2016 and its free online counterpart , Office Online, Microsoft has released new tools for teams Collaborate remotely and in real time. We show you what you cannot miss. Read More
Of course, you can simply copy and paste the content of one document into another, but it is not the most practical way to achieve the desired result. Fortunately, Word offers a few ways to combine multiple documents. Use PDFSam to easily split, merge and reorder PDF pages. Use PDFSam to easily split, merge and reorder PDF pages. “PDF Split &Merge,” is a great utility for quick PDF editing. You can combine multiple PDF documents into a single PDF document, split a PDF into multiple files, extract pages from ... Read More together.
In this article, I am going to explain four methods:
If you have two slightly different versions of the same document, it can be tedious, if not impossible, to find the slight variations.
Word provides a way to compare the differences between the two and then combine them into a single file.
Before performing the merge, it is wise to study the differences between the two files. You might decide you don't want to combine them after all. I'll walk you through the process using two versions of a BBC News report on a Mars probe.
Here is the original:
And here is my slightly altered version:
To get started, open the original document and go to Review> Compare> Compare . If the Compare Documents option is not available, your document is probably protected. To unprotect it, go to File> Info> Protect Document and remove any restrictions.
In the new window, fill in the Original document box with a file, and the Document reviewed box with another. You can also add a custom tag to the changes.
Word will automatically open a new document. The revisions are displayed in a left column (1), the compared documents are displayed in the center panel (2), and the two originals are displayed in the right column (3). You can hide the source documents by following Compare> Show Source Documents> Hide Source Document .
Now you have all the differences neatly in one file, but it's still a mess. How do you determine which changes you want to keep and which ones you want to discard?
You have two options. You can manually review the document and edit each change to your liking (remember, added text is underlined, deleted text is shown with strikethrough ). Editing the document this way is fine for shorter documents, but you're still likely to miss some things if you're working on a long document like a book.
A more efficient method is to use the list of revisions in the left column. You can right click on each change and select OK or Reject , or you can hover over the text below each listed revision and amend accordingly. Word will automatically update text 5 Things Microsoft Word Can Automatically Update for You 5 Things Microsoft Word Can Automatically Update for You Microsoft Word can help you be more efficient. It can automate many time-consuming processes, ensuring that you spend less time gaming and more time typing. Take a few minutes now to save hours later. Read more in the main document as you work.
In the image below, you can see that I've worked through all the changes. The number of revisions now shows zero, and I have a document where I accepted or rejected all my changes. Save the final document as normal.
Comparing two and merging two versions of a document is easy. But what if you have multiple versions of the same file, perhaps because you sent it to multiple people for input?
Once again, open the original document and go to Review> Compare . This time, you need to select Combine instead.
Place the first document you want to merge into the Revised Document field and give the changes a label. Click OK .
Once you have the merged document, go to Review> Compare> Merge again. Put the newly merged file into the Original version field and add the following document to Revised Version . Continue repeating the process for each copy of the file, making sure to give each revised document a unique tag.
When you're done, you'll end up with a merged document that shows each person's changes in a different color. As before, right click on each change and select OK or Reject to create your final copy.
Document merging can extend beyond simple text alterations. You may want to combine and retain comments, formatting, headers, footers, and much more.
The word makes the process painless. The methodology for comparing and/or merging the document is the same, but when you have navigated to Review> Compare> Compare , click the More>> button.
You will be presented with an extensive list of options. When you have selected your preferences, click OK . You can proceed to accept or reject changes in the same way as before.
The last part of this tutorial will look at how to merge text from completely different documents.
As mentioned at the beginning, you can copy and paste the text, but it's not always practical, especially in long documents. A better method is to use Word's built-in tools. 7 Underused Microsoft Word Features and How to Use Them 7 Underused Microsoft Word Features and How to Use Them Are you overlooking some of the most useful Microsoft Word features? This app features a surprising number of underused tools and options. We've unearthed seven and we'll show you how to use them. Read more.
I'm going to merge the BBC article on the Mars probe with the Space.com version of the same story.
Open the first document. This is the file you will add all future files to. Go to Insert> Object> Text from File and find the document you want to merge.
The text will be inserted wherever your cursor is, so make sure it's in the desired location before continuing. Word will retain all formatting of the original document How to Customize Microsoft Word Design Settings How to Customize Microsoft Word Design Settings Microsoft Office comes with many useful templates, styles, and themes. We'll show you all the settings you need to create your own custom layout in Word 2013 and Word 2016. Read More In the example below, I've put the Space.com story in a different color and font to illustrate the point.
Repeat the process for each document you want to add, and save it when you're done.
I have given you a step by step guide that covers the four most common ways to merge documents and I hope it has made your Microsoft Office life easier 10 Hidden Microsoft Word Features That Will Make Your Life Easier 10 Hidden Microsoft Word Features That Will Make Your your life easier Microsoft Word is deceptively simple. You're fine as long as you activate a document and just type. But Microsoft Word wouldn't be the Swiss knife without its productive features. Read more.
However, I appreciate that complications may arise. Have you run into any difficulties? We are always happy to help.
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