Forgive me for not using the appropriate terminology. Anytime I mentioned "template", I was referring to a literal template, not a Word Template. Each of these documents are templates from a literal standpoint that are copied and pasted to create specific documents.

More specifically and with better labeling, my library consists of:

1 Word Document ("Source") that is entirely composed of Bookmarks with Mail Merge Fields. This file is typically not opened unless the specific bookmarked fields need to be changed.

1 Word Document ("Plan Doc") that is composed entirely of INCLUDETEXT fields that pull in the bookmarked sections of the Source Document depending on the user's choices within "Excel Doc".

1 Excel Document ("Excel Doc") that is used to dictate which sections go from the Source doc to the Plan doc based on fields filled out that go into Source through a Mail Merge.

The current process: user copies a Plan Doc and Excel Doc and places into desired folder. Fills out the Excel Doc then runs a mail merge through the Plan Doc which uses the INCLUDETEXT fields to pull from Source Doc. Then manually has to CTRL + SHIFT + F9 to turn INCLUDETEXT fields into regular text.

I want to simplify the existing process.

Future process: User copies and pastes Excel Doc into desired folder. Fills out Excel doc and runs VBA command that automatically copies the Plan Doc, pastes it into whichever folder the (copied) Excel Doc exists in, runs the mail merge with DDE (or OLE DB as you suggested, whichever works, DDE works for me at the moment) and then CTRL + SHIFT + F9 the entire document to eliminate INCLUDETEXT fields and create a doc with workable text all from Excel.

I hope this clarifies my request before. Thanks again for your time.