Creating docs with externally referenced styling, headers & footer

[chandldj]

I am trying to create a business system that can be used as a template for
multiple businesses. I will have a number of variable inputs that I would
like to have pulled from one central document (similar to CSS & includes in
web pages). Items could include:

- Company Name
- Header content (including Company logo)
- Footer content
- style sheets (one company may use Arial font, the next may use
Helvetica)... is it possible to have a number of docs reference one,
changeable style sheet? so that if the style sheet is changed AFTER the
document is created, the document will be automatically updated
- Names, etc.

I would like to have these variables listed in one or a few documents and
reference variables as needed throughout the manuals. These manuals will
consist of hundreds of documents, so it is important to have them
automatically update with externally referenced variables.

Is this possible???

Thank you in advance for you help!

 

[Stefan Blom]

There are several way to include data that can be updated. For example, you
could make use of INCLUDETEXT fields. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/tblsfldsfms/includetextfieldscontent.htm.

If you are using Word 2007, here's how to open the Insert File dialog box:
Click the Insert tab, click the arrow next to Object, and choose Text from
File.

You can force updates of the styles in a document by selecting the
"Automatically update document styles" in the Templates and Add-Ins dialog
box (if that's what you're asking).