I have some Procedure documents at work that I have combined into one Master document for our team to reference, as well as new hires. We want to keep the individual documents as well, in case we ever need to reference only one process during an audit.


Is it possible to link these documents together, so that if I make an update to an individual document, the Master receives the same update automatically?




To be clear, I want the data from the individual documents to be displayed in the Master, not just a link to file.

I trust you're not using what Microsoft calls Master documents. These are a long standing source of catastrophic document corruption. See:
Why Master Documents corrupt
Master Documents Feature in Microsoft Word - from the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Microsoft Word
If you want to link contents from multiple documents together, that can be done via Word's INCLUDETEXT field - which is what Word creates for you if you use Insert|Object|>Text from File>Insert as Link. See: Field codes: IncludeText field - Office Support

Word also provides an RD field which allows you to have a Table of Contents in one document that references content in another document. See: Field codes: RD (Referenced Document) field - Office Support

You may also find https://www.msofficeforums.com/word/...nal-files.html helpful when using INCLUDETEXT & RD fields to link documents that may need to be moved around.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

That's perfect, thank you @macropod!

Also, is there a way I can use VBA to auto-update when the document is opened, that way if there are any changes to the source document the user won't have to manually hit F9 to update?

See:Instructions for Installing Macros from Forums or Websites by Graham Mayor, MVP

If your rename his UpdateAll macro shown as an example to AutoOpen and place it in your Document it will update all fields when the document is opened.

If you need something more refined (i.e., only certain fields) write back.

You could, for example, insert the following macro into the 'ThisDocument' code module of the document or its template:
For PC macro installation & usage instructions, see: Installing Macros
For Mac macro installation & usage instructions, see: Word:mac - Install a Macro

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]