Possible to display a section from a Word or Excel doc into the Word or Excel files you are reading?

[Android]

Hi,

I would like to create one file (using Word (preferred) or Excel) with
Glossary of Terms with their definitions..

In a number of other Excel or Word files, I would like display the same
terms with their definitions.

Instead of copying and pasting (which would make it difficult to maintain
multiple versions) I would like to just provide the terms wherever I need
them, and link them to the master Glossary file such that only that
definition is extracted and displayed.

Is this possible?

 

[Margaret Aldis]

How about marking each term and definition pair in the glossary document
with a bookmark (named according to the term) and then bringing them into
the target document usingan INCLUDETEXT field with the bookmark option?

 

[Android]

Margaret,

Thank you for this. I have not come across INCLUDETEXT before.

I tested it with Word. It works but I notice that:
- the \! switch does not seem to prevent you from editing the included text
- it does not update the fields automatically when you open the file

Any resolutions for this?

Also, is there an equivalent way to include the same text into Excel. It
does not seem to use Fields, or INCLUDETEXT .

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Android

As I understand it, you can 'edit' the text, as you can with other field
values (such as TOC fields), but updating the field will bring back the
source. I think the \! switch is meant to give you some control on the
updating of 'fields within fields' (fields in the included file) so wouldn't
really be relevant to this case.

If you need automatic updating, you could use an AutoOpen macro to update
fields on opening the document.

Alternatively, putting each term/definition in a separate document and using
LINK fields (which can be set to automatically update on open, and can't be
edited in situ) might suit better? Your complete glossary could link to the
same individual source files in this case. I'm no Excel expert, but I think
object linking is supported in Excel too, so this might be the best way
forward for that requirement.