Making the same changes to 10 different Word documents - Word 2002

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Guest

I have 10 different documents (all more than 40 pages), some are almost
identical while others are quite different. All have areas of text which need
updating each financial year (tax rates etc).

Is it possible to add changes (say a dollar amount) once only which then
flow automatically through to all 10 documents, even if the placement of that
change varies from document to document? If so, how? Obviously I don't want
to have to search each document to find the right section and then type in
the change 10 times every year.

I use Word 2002 at home and Word 2003 at work.
 
Hi NealM

Here's one possible solution.

Create an Excel workbook, and put your data in there. (Your reference to tax
rates makes me think that Excel may be appropriate. This is because you
might be using numbers that have been calculated in some way, and if it's in
an Excel spreadsheet, the calculations are self-documenting for posterity.
And, you get to use Excel's formatting, which makes it easy.)

Create range names to name the cells whose values you want to use in your
Word documents.

For ease of administration, I'd put the Excel workbook in the same folder as
the Word documents.

Now, in Excel, click in the relevant cell and Edit > Copy. In Word, Edit >
Paste Special. Click the Link button. Experiment with different settings in
the "As" box, though I'd suggest starting with "Unformatted text". In spite
of its name, it will bring in the value in the range formatted as it is in
the Excel spreadsheet.

Note that the field code that Word creates includes the range name. That
makes it easier next year when you're wondering which number was which. You
can toggle between display of field codes and display of field results with
Shift-F9.

You can now change the Excel spreadsheet, and the change will be made in the
Word document. Or, click a field and F9 to update it. Or, ctrl-a to select
the whole text and F9 to update it.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
 
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