How to merge Microsoft Word documents
Merging two types of the same file is generally easy. The format translates easily from one document to the other. If you merge a PDF with a DOCX file, the text will not look right. It may be cut off, the formatting will break in most cases, and you will need to remove trailing spaces and line breaks. If you merge a DOCX file with another DOCX file though, you won’t have these problems.
Merge Microsoft Word Documents
You can open a Microsoft Word document, use the Ctrl+A keyboard to select everything, Ctrl+C to copy it all, and Ctrl+V to paste it into a different document. It’s easy enough but Microsoft Word makes it far easier to merge documents.
How to merge Microsoft Word documents
To merge two or more Microsoft Word documents using the built-in merging tool, follow these steps. Your documents can be located anywhere on your local drive. You need only open the document you want to merge the other document to. The document you are merging into another document does not have to be open.
- Open the Microsoft Word document that you will merge the other document to.
- Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon.
- Look for the Object button and click it.
- From the list, select From File.
- In the file selection box that opens, select the document that you want to merge.
- Click Insert.
- The contents of the document will be inserted.
- Repeat for all documents that you want to merge into the current Microsoft Word document.
Merging vs Copy/paste
You can always copy and paste the contents of one Microsoft Word document into another. It may seem like an easier process to follow, and it is, given that it uses familiar keyboard shortcuts. The copy/paste method is only easier to use if you have small documents. With larger documents that have images and tables, it’s a good idea to use the merge tool.
The merge tool will make sure that nothing is left behind. If you are combining group work into a single file, this will prevent images, text, headings, tables, etc from being left out.
Conclusion
The document merging tool allows users to insert other types of documents too. It will work in that everything will be copied but if the document isn’t a DOCX file, you may have to fix the formatting of the text afterwards. If you’re having trouble copying text from a PDF file, try the document merging approach. Microsoft Word has a great format painter tool that you can use to fix the formatting of the merged text.
