Creating a Master Document Using Existing Subdocuments

If you have a series of existing documents for which you want to create a master document, Word makes the process very easy. For instance, you may have chapters for an employee manual, and each chapter is stored in its own Word document. To combine such chapters into a master document, follow these steps:

1. Open the document you want to use as your master document. This can be either an existing file (such as the preface to your manual), or it can be a new document you are creating for this purpose.
2. Switch to Outline view. (Display the View tab of the ribbon and click the Outline tool.) Word displays the Outlining tab of the ribbon.
3. Position the insertion point where you want the subdocument to appear.
4. Click the Show Document tool on the Outlining tab of the ribbon. Word expands the tools within the Master Document group.
5. Click the Insert tool. Word displays the Insert Subdocument dialog box, which looks like a standard Open dialog box.
6. Use the dialog box controls to select the document you want used as a subdocument.
7. Click on Open. The file is inserted as a subdocument, as you specified.
8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 for each document you want to include in the master.

Once you've inserted your subdocuments, if you would rather not work in Outline view, you can choose any of the other views you desire. When you later save your master document, any changes to the subdocuments are also automatically saved. When you later open the master document, all the subdocuments are again opened and displayed as part of the master. If the master document only displays the links to the subdocuments, follow these steps to open and display as part of the master:

1. Switch to Outline view. (Display the View tab of the ribbon and click the Outline tool.) Word displays the Outlining tab of the ribbon.
2. Click the Expand Subdocuments tool on the Outlining tab of the ribbon. Word displays the contents of the subdocuments in the master document.
3. Click on Close Outline View if you prefer to work in any of the other views.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12635) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Creating a Master Document Using Existing Subdocuments.