Jump to content

Combining 2 Word Documents with Numbered Lists


Mike_Taylor

Recommended Posts

I am currently writing some specifications in Word for a project. The Architect is requiring us to send a single word document with all sections.

 

We currently have all sections in sperate word documents (about 47 docs total) and each has a numbered list. When combining I want to insert the documents as links so we can automatically update each section if required.

 

Now the issue is when combining the numbering format for each section continues the numbering sequence from the previous document. For example Section 1 is broken into 3 parts, when inserting section 2 the fisrt part is labelled as part 4.

 

Does anyone know a way of automating the process of combining having the sections retain the numbering. As of now I have to each manually, when dealing with larger projects we may have hundreds of sections.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had a chat with our word expert here

 

 

That’s really a tough question to answer and Word does not really offer a solution.

 

Formatting will always be retained when merging documents together. 

 

 

You can merge documents together without any formatting, that will be just plain text with no formatting at all, which might be preferred.

 

 

 

I wonder if you could convert them to PDF, combine them using the Adobe program that I have and then convert them back to word, this may retain the original formatting of the document without any renumbering.

 

 

 

I don’t see any solution at all, unless you were really good at writing macros.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the answer BIGAL, I am goiong to look at writing something to do this, I might also look at restructuring our Word documents to make this easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just thought of something have all sections twice the 2nd one has the correct section Number But has a single line like "Not applicable to this project" this way section 17 will stay exactly that, your index will still auto update.

 

A smart macro bring in in section full or blank next number and so on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The issue was not the Sections renumbering, within each section we have up to 5 parts which are labelled 1-5. When combining the specifications the number pertaining to the part continues from the last part, so if Section 1 has part 1-4, When inserting Section 2, the number begins at part 5. I can manually renumber the first part in the new section inserted and that all fine and dandy.

 

This isn't an issue on small jobs, but we have several very large jobs we are doing book specs for and we may have 80-90 sections, and some sections are quite long resulting in going through upwards of 1000 pages in some cases trying to renumber the each section.

 

I think what I might do is create a template containing all of our specs, each being linked back to the original section, and the user going through specs can "turn off" sections they do not need. I will look into this and see if it is even possible. If not I will try and reformat the specs a bit so I can easily import them, and have a macro that renumbers.

 

Edit: Unfortunately merging without formatting is not option, we have software that imports our specs into AutoCAD for us and we have everything formatted to allow this to happen quite easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...