Linking changes in one document to another

[steve989767]

I'm guessing this may be fairly basic but I can't find out how to do it!



I'm writing a book. Each chapter is a separate Word document. When I change some text in one of the chapters, I want that change to be copied into a bigger document that contains the whole manuscript (ie all the chapters).

Is that possible?

By the way, though I use Word 2007, I save documents as Word 97-2003 so that they can be seen correctly on a much older computer at work.

Would be very grateful for any help.

Steve

[Charles Kenyon]

In your larger document use an IncludeText field rather than copying and pasting.
Insert > Quick Parts > Field > IncludeText

You may learn of a "feature" called Master Documents. Do NOT use this. Master Documents Feature in Microsoft Word

[steve989767]

Thanks for the warning re Master Documents. You're solution is great for putting the text into the full manuscript, but it doesn't, as far as I can see, copy changes made in the individual chapters. Maybe that's too ambitious.

[Charles Kenyon]

Originally Posted by steve989767

Thanks for the warning re Master Documents. You're solution is great for putting the text into the full manuscript, but it doesn't, as far as I can see, copy changes made in the individual chapters. Maybe that's too ambitious.

What you need to do is (in full manuscript) Ctrl-A for select all, then F9 to update fields.

[macropod]

You should be able to have the links update automatically, by checking Word's 'update automatic links at open' option. Check also the 'update linked data before printing' option.

With Includetext fields, you can make changes in either the source document or the target document. After making changes in the target document, select the field then press Ctrl-Shift-F7 to update the source document.

[steve989767]

Originally Posted by Charles Kenyon

What you need to do is (in full manuscript) Ctrl-A for select all, then F9 to update fields.

It works! Thanks very much.

The only thing that's a bit slow for me is manually typing the individual chapter file names into the IncludeText box. Is there a quick way of getting the file path and the file name as a single row of text I can just copy and paste?

[steve989767]

Originally Posted by macropod

You should be able to have the links update automatically, by checking Word's 'update automatic links at open' option. Check also the 'update linked data before printing' option.

Thanks for that but can't seem to get the automatic updates to work - using F9 is fine

[macropod]

Originally Posted by steve989767

The only thing that's a bit slow for me is manually typing the individual chapter file names into the IncludeText box. Is there a quick way of getting the file path and the file name as a single row of text I can just copy and paste?

You could copy & paste an INCLUDETEXT field to multiple locations, then change just the filenames. To do this, press Alt-F9 before doing the copy, select the field then paste as many times as needed. Next, change the filenames. When you're done, press Ctrl-A, F9 to update, then F9 to display the results.

[steve989767]

Thanks very much for that. I've also found that by clicking on a file's properties, and then on the security tab, the file's full name and path is given in a form that can be copied and pasted

All best
SH