Merge document with endnotes stored in a separate file

[Albert Au Yeung]

Hi, I've got a document of main text with endnotes reference markers
in it, and another file containing the endnotes. I want to merge the
two so that I can refer to the endnotes in the same document. I am not
sure how these two separate documents are created, but is it possible
to merge them?

Thanks

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Word's endnote feature has two options for placement: end of section and end
of document. If you have your reference marks and the endnotes in two
different documents, then either you did something funky--like copying them
to the new document, and then manually renumbering them--or you are using an
add-in/3rd party program of some kind. In order to answer the question, we
would need to know whether this is something you did, or if you're using a
product such as EndNote (in which case, knowing the version of EndNote and
Word would help, too).

When you use Word's own endnote feature, the endnotes manifest automatically
at the end of the document or section as you create them. There is no
default provision for keeping them in a separate file. You could do this by
indirection using noteref fields, but this would require that the endnotes
and their original reference marks be contained in that other file.

In any event, to answer the question with any confidence... more information
is needed about how you ended up with them in different files.

On the theory that these were created manually--by inserting numbering in
the main document that correspond to a list of notes in a separate
document--the process is not complicated, but is tedious:

1. Copy the first note's contents to the clipboard.

2. Go to the location of the first reference in the main document, and
press, Ctrl+Alt+D (insert endnote), paste the contents of the note into the
endnote pane.

3. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This could be automated using a macro, but, it would take longer to write
and debug the macro than it would be to just do it, unless there are many
many many endnotes.

 

[Albert Au Yeung]

Thanks a lot for your answer.

In fact, I got these files from someone else who I cannot get in touch
with at this moment, so I don't know what was done to separate them.
Maybe the person created one file, and somehow thought that he should
cut and paste the endnotes into a separate file.

I think the tedious method you mentioned should solve the problem, but
it would be much more helpful if there's some automated way, as there
are quite a large number of footnotes, and I have several pairs of
these documents. But writing a macro is probably something too
difficult for me at this point.

Anyway, if there isn't any better method, I think I will use the
method you provided. Thanks a lot.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

If there are a lot of the endnotes... you might take a stab at recording a
macro before giving up and doing it manually. I would begin by making copies
of the files in question (in case things go afoul). I would next open both
the body document and the notes document side by side, and see what
repetitive steps are involved--including finding some way to get yourself to
the next occurrence of the reference mark to creating the next endnote. When
you find yourself in a repetitive groove of sorts, turn on the macro
recorder and see if it correctly captures the steps.

A much easier alternative... if the note references are just numbers that
were inserted rather than being more complex manifestations, is to simply
copy and paste the references to the end of the document. Unless some
particular feature was used, there might be no actual link between the
references and the notes themselves, in which case my guess could simply be
overcomplicating matters.

Alternatively, if the note references are hyperlinks (or some other kind of
reference) to bookmarks in the endnote list, then there might be some kind
of mass find/replace edit you can make after copying the bookmarks to end of
the document file. The bookmarks would come over to the main document, and
all that would be needed would be to modify the hyperlink fields. For
example, a bookmark named "test" stored in a different file might be
referred to in this way:

HYPERLINK "C:\\Users\\Herb\\Documents\\This is an endnote document.doc" \l
"test"

The same hyperlink to a note stored within the current file, would be
simply:

HYPERLINK \l "test"

....in which case, you could display all fields (Alt+F9), and find/replace
the file location/name, leaving behind only the bookmark name.

Again, the details depend on how this was done, but if you have zillions to
do, it might be worth exploring for a few minutes to see if you can develop
a quicker solution.


#test


--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com


Thanks a lot for your answer.

In fact, I got these files from someone else who I cannot get in touch
with at this moment, so I don't know what was done to separate them.
Maybe the person created one file, and somehow thought that he should
cut and paste the endnotes into a separate file.

I think the tedious method you mentioned should solve the problem, but
it would be much more helpful if there's some automated way, as there
are quite a large number of footnotes, and I have several pairs of
these documents. But writing a macro is probably something too
difficult for me at this point.

Anyway, if there isn't any better method, I think I will use the
method you provided. Thanks a lot.

 

[Albert Au Yeung]

I will give it a try, thanks a lot!

If there are a lot of the endnotes... you might take a stab at recording a
macro before giving up and doing it manually. I would begin by making copies
of the files in question (in case things go afoul). I would next open both
the body document and the notes document side by side, and see what
repetitive steps are involved--including finding some way to get yourselfto
the next occurrence of the reference mark to creating the next endnote. When
you find yourself in a repetitive groove of sorts, turn on the macro
recorder and see if it correctly captures the steps.

A much easier alternative... if the note references are just numbers that
were inserted rather than being more complex manifestations, is to simply
copy and paste the references to the end of the document. Unless some
particular feature was used, there might be no actual link between the
references and the notes themselves, in which case my guess could simply be
overcomplicating matters.

Alternatively, if the note references are hyperlinks (or some other kind of
reference) to bookmarks in the endnote list, then there might be some kind
of mass find/replace edit you can make after copying the bookmarks to endof
the document file. The bookmarks would come over to the main document, and
all that would be needed would be to modify the hyperlink fields. For
example, a bookmark named "test" stored in a different file might be
referred to in this way:

HYPERLINK "C:\\Users\\Herb\\Documents\\This is an endnote document.doc" \l
"test"

The same hyperlink to a note stored within the current file, would be
simply:

HYPERLINK \l "test"

...in which case, you could display all fields (Alt+F9), and find/replace
the file location/name, leaving behind only the bookmark name.

Again, the details depend on how this was done, but if you have zillions to
do, it might be worth exploring for a few minutes to see if you can develop
a quicker solution.

#test

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog:http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web:http://www.herbtyson.com

Thanks a lot for your answer.

In fact, I got these files from someone else who I cannot get in touch
with at this moment, so I don't know what was done to separate them.
Maybe the person created one file, and somehow thought that he should
cut and paste the endnotes into a separate file.

I think the tedious method you mentioned should solve the problem, but
it would be much more helpful if there's some automated way, as there
are quite a large number of footnotes, and I have several pairs of
these documents. But writing a macro is probably something too
difficult for me at this point.

Anyway, if there isn't any better method, I think I will use the
method you provided. Thanks a lot.