Is there a way to synchronize sections of different Word documents?

Question

I'm working on how my company does documentation (especially programming documentation). I'd like to be able to synchronize sections of different Word documents, such that if a section in one document changes, the change is reflected in the other document, and vice versa. Is there a way to do this with Word, and if not, is there some word processing program that is good at this?

Answer 1

I appreciate this is an old question, but Google brought me here.

This can be done (at least on Word 2016, other versions not tested) one-way as follows:

1. In the source document, select the text you want to synchronise, and on the Insert tab, click Bookmark in the Links section.
2. Type a name for the bookmark (no spaces allowed), and click Add.
3. Save the document.
4. Open the document where you want to duplicate the text ("destination document").
5. On the Insert tab, click the drop-down arrow next to Object (in the Text section), then click Text from File....
6. Browse to find the source document, and select it.
7. Click Range....
8. Type the bookmark name you entered in step 2, and click OK.
9. Click the drop-down next to the Insert button, and click Insert as Link.

When you want to edit the text, proceed as follows.

1. Modify the source document as required, and save.
2. Update the field in the destination document with one of the following methods:
   • Right-click on the text and click Update Field.
   • Click on the text and press F9.
   • To update all fields in a document, Press Ctrl-A then F9.

Answer 2

You can always make section 1 in your example above a third word document and then insert it into Document A and B (Insert > Object) and make the object linked to the file, so it will load changes each time you open A or B.

Answer 3

Why not just use the Master and Subdocument features built-in with Word? It's exactly for your kind of situation.