Insert a Selection of Documents


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Insert a batch of files into a Word document
	Whilst preparing the 'Print a batch of files' page which draws much from the 'boiler' add-in that has been a downloadable file from this site for several years, I realised that I had not created a separate page referring to that add-in. The downloadable file did include comprehensive description of the add-in and its use, but the reasons why I did not prepare a page to accompany it are lost in the mists of time. This page now corrects that omission. Boiler is a template add-in for Microsoft Word, originally conceived by Woody Leonard (with several modifications of my own) to include boilerplate text(s) into Word. It can be used to insert pre-prepared texts at the cursor - in much the same way that you would use autotext, autocorrect or includetext, or you can use it to combine a number of documents into one e.g. the separate chapters of a book. The zip file actually includes four files which will be listed something like the following. The file sizes reflect the size of the most recent version and those in the zip file may not match those shown below: The Word 2007 Boiler.dotm template is strictly for Word 2007 and 2010 The Word 2002-3 Boiler.dot template may be used with Word versions 2002, 2003, (and also 2007/2010). The Word 2000 Boiler.dot is for Word 97 and 2000 . The appropriate template file only should be extracted to the Word or Office startup folder. Word will attempt to load any file located in either location on start-up. *** Unless there is a very good reason to use the Office startup folder, for preference always use the Word startup folder. * The folder location for the Word startup folder will vary with operating system and/or user. If you don't know the location on your machine, check Word > Tools > Options > File Locations. If you have not changed the default location of the Word Startup folder, it can be located by typing %appdata%\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP** in the address bar of Windows Explorer or your web/file browser.

	When correctly installed the add-in will be loaded with Word and will appear in the templates dialog. In Word up to 2003 this is located via Tools > Templates and add-ins. In Word 2007 the Templates button is on the Developer tab of the ribbon.

	In the 2000 and 2002-3 versions, the add-in provides a Custom toolbar called Boiler which should be displayed by default, but if it isn’t select View > Toolbars and check the Boiler entry. In Word 2007/2010, the Insert Documents command can be found in the Boiler group on the Insert tab of the ribbon.

	Clicking the buttons produces the following dialog

	In the Word 97/2000 version the following dialog is used instead. The only practical differences are the title of the windows and the names of the buttons used to activate the choice.

	Select the folder that contains the documents you wish to include and click ‘Open’ or ‘OK’ according to version. This causes the following dialog box to be displayed:

	Click OK to insert the documents into the current document in the order selected.
Note:	Because of the way Word formats documents, the function works best when all the inserted documents are based on the same template. There will inevitably be some formatting issues if the documents use the same style names to produce different layouts. To help minimise some of the issues that may occur, check the 'Insert each document on a new page' check box when inserting batches of documents. This inserts a new page section break between each document. It is not the perfect solution, but it is as good as you are likely to get when working with disparate document types.

Insert a batch of files into a Word document