Unless each file is in the same format (e.g. a different row or column for every ingredient), you'll be unable to automate that. And, unless the ingredients and their quantities are differentiated into separate cells, a lot of processing overhead would be involved to do that for the destination workbook. Without such differentiation, you'd never be able to filter the destination workbook by ingredient.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]