What is the Process of Merging Two Word Documents?

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There are plenty of reasons why you might want to merge two Word documents. Maybe you’re a journalist and you need to bundle multiple news reports together into a single Word document. Or maybe you’re a marketing executive. You’ve created a few sales brochures that you want to combine in a single file and show to your clients.

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Copying and pasting data from one document to another isn’t a good choice. It can break the document structure, and leave the table of contents in a disordered manner. Even worse, it can ruin your entire document’s formatting or overwrite the existing text. Nonetheless, there are better ways to merge two Word documents without messing up with your document’s content, structure and formatting. In this article, we’ll guide you throughout the entire process.

 

Method 1: Using Microsoft Word’s Merge Tool

Thankfully, you don’t need to look anywhere else. Microsoft Word already has a file merging functionality. Using the in-house documents merging functionality, you can combine multiple files together.

 

Things to keep in mind

Here are a few things that you should keep in mind before merging any documents.

  • Microsoft Word will merge the content of the new document where your mouse cursor is currently positioned. So make sure that you set the cursor at the right position. Setting the correct mouse position is important to avoid breaking up the existing content and to keep your document formatting intact.
  • You can merge multiple documents as well. In order to ensure they’re merged in the correct order, you will need to set the correct file order. Documents placed at the top will be merged first, and the rest will be merged later. So, make sure that you rename your file names in an alphabetical or ascending order. For example File 1.docx, File 2.docx, File 3.docx or File A.docx, File B.docx, File C.docx, etc. If you still have any issues with the merging order, you can manually move the text from one position to another.
  • File encoding issues are not uncommon, especially when you’re merging a non-Word document or if the Word document you’re trying to merge has a different encoding than the existing document. In such cases, Word will display the File Conversion dialog box and prompt you to select your desired text encoding format. Text encoding differs from language to language. Unicode is the most commonly used encoding pattern as it accommodates the most character sets required to smoothly load a document. Using Unicode will allow smooth encoding and decoding of your documents. Select your desired encoding and then click OK, if any such prompt occurs.

 

Steps:

Microsoft Word 2007 or later:

  1. Open Microsoft Word.
  2. Click on the Insert tab.
  3. Look for the Object icon under the Text category.
  4. Select Text from file from the drop-down options.
  5. Word will open a new dialog named Insert File. Select the Word document(s) you want to insert, and then click on the Insert button.

 

Microsoft Word 2003 or older:

  1. Open Microsoft Office Word.
  2. Click on the Tools menu and select Compare and Merge Document.
  3. In the Compare and Merge Documents dialog box, select the multiple Word documents that you want to merge. Use the Shift + Click combination to select multiple files at a time.
  4. Choose one of the following options:
    • To start merging the files instantly, click on the Merge button.
    • To merge the documents into the existing Word document, click the downward icon next to the Merge button and select Merge into the current document.
    • To merge the documents into a new document, click the downward icon next to the Merge button and select Merge into a new document.

That’s it. Microsoft Word will automatically insert the selected document(s).

 

Method 2: Using Free Third-Party Services

If you don’t find the default merging tool helpful, you’ve got choices. There are plenty of free third-party services that let you merge Word documents online. Basically, you just have to select multiple files and upload them together. The online file merge service processes your documents and creates a single Word document for you to download.

Important: Uploading your private documents on third-party online services can pose major privacy and security risks. DO NOT upload your documents on third-party websites if you do not trust them, or if your documents contain highly confidential information. Please refer to the Privacy Policy of the respective service and use your own experience and judgment before taking any decision.

 

Using Docsoso:

  1. Visit the http://www.docsoso.com/word/combine-word.aspx website.
  2. Click on Select Files.
  3. Browse and locate the multiple Word documents you want to upload for merging. Use the Shift + Click shortcut to select multiple files at a time.
  4. Click on the Merge Word button.
  5. Click on Download File to start downloading your file.
  6. Once your file is successfully downloaded, click on The file has been downloaded, now delete the file button to automatically delete it from the Docsoso’s servers.

 

Method 3: Compare & Merge Multiple Versions of a Word Document

Imagine, multiple people are working on the same Word document and they have produced different versions with variations. You can merge all these versions together into a single file using the Compare functionality in Word:

 

Microsoft Word 2007 or later:

  1. Open Microsoft Word.
  2. Open the primary (original) version of the document you want to compare with newer versions.
  3. Click on the Review tab on the Ribbon interface.
  4. Click the Compare icon.
  5. Choose one of the following options:
    • Compare: Select this option to compare two versions of the same Word document and legal blackline. The legal blackline shows only what changed between the two documents that you’ve selected.
    • Combine: Select this option to combine revisions from different authors into a single Word document.
  6. You’ll be seeing a new dialog on your screen called Combine Documents.
  7. In the Original Document drop-down menu, select the primary version of your Word document.
  8. In the Revised Document drop-down menu, select the latter addition.
  9. Click on More to expand the advanced combine options and change them, if required. (optional)
  10. Click on OK to proceed.

 

Microsoft Word 2003 or older:

  1. Open Microsoft Office Word.
  2. Open the original version of your document.
  3. Click on Tools, select Compare and Merge Documents.
  4. Choose the other versions of your document that you want to compare and merge.
  5. Select one of the following options:
    • Merge: Starts merging straight away.
    • Merge into current document: Use this option to compare and merge the selected document versions into the current document.
    • Merge into a new document: Use this option to create a new Word document from scratch and compare & merge both the original version and other selected instances.
Raza Ali Kazmi
Website

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Raza Ali Kazmi works as an editor and technology content writer at Sorcim Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. He loves to pen down articles on a wide array of technology related topics and has also been diligently testing software solutions on Windows & Mac platforms. If you have any question about the content, you can message me or the company's support team.