Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Inserting Only Part of a File.

Inserting Only Part of a File

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 6, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007 and 2010

You probably already know that Word allows you to insert a file into your document. You may not know, however, that you can insert a portion of a file, if desired. This is done in the following manner:

Position the insertion point where you want the document inserted.
Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.
Click the down-arrow at the right of the Object tool within the Text group, and then choose Text from File. Word displays the Insert File dialog box.
Use the controls in the dialog box to locate and select the document you want inserted.
Click the Range button. Word displays the Set Range (Word 2007) or Enter Text (Word 2010) dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Enter Text dialog box.

In the Range box, indicate a bookmark name assigned to the text you want inserted. This must be an existing bookmark name in the document you are inserting.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11485) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Inserting Only Part of a File.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is one less than 8?

2025-01-06 12:22:35

Beepee

Sounds OK when Bookmarks are in place and remembered!! If you have to open the source document and set up a Bookmark by selecting all of the required text, then why not just Copy and Paste the content?

2025-01-06 08:19:00

David in Mississippi

This tip would be so much more helpful if:
1. You would put a lot more screenshots into the procedure description, with highlights indicating the areas to focus on.
2. You would talk first about preparation of the source document. For example, do we have to mark an entire paragraph or section as a bookmark? Most people, like me, put a bookmark between or before a specific word in the document - when we use this technique, how much of the source document is included? From the bookmark to the end? Just that line? Just that paragraph?

This WordTip is incomplete and confusing. Please let us know when you improve it.

2012-03-26 15:28:38

Gay

Great tip, I just need to remember to select the section and then give it a bookmark then I can easily put a large file together. Thanx!

2012-03-24 07:19:24

Susanna

P.S. So you have to anchor the bookmark to the text you want to insert into the new doc? Does this work for big chunks of text, e.g., a chapter of a book? Will experiment!

2012-03-24 07:10:59

Susanna

That's very cool -- but I thought a bookmark could only mark a place, not a range. Now to go figure that out . . .

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