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Q182057: WD97: Merging Documents vs. Comparing Documents

Article: Q182057
Product(s): Word 97 for Windows
Version(s): WINDOWS:97
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbdta kbproof word97
Last Modified: 14-NOV-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Word 97 for Windows 
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SUMMARY
=======

In earlier versions of Microsoft Word, you could compare two versions of a
document and "mark" the differences (Compare Documents). In Word 97, you can
merge the tracked changes from several copies of a document into one document
(Merge Documents).

The Compare Documents and Merge Documents commands are quite different, but may
be confused because of the location of the commands and their names. This
article contains a brief explanation of their differences.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Compare Documents
-----------------

The Compare Documents command marks all of the differences between two documents,
using the current Track Changes settings. To compare documents, follow these
steps:

1. Start Word, and open one of the documents for comparison (normally the most
  recent or current document).

2. On the Tools menu, point to Track Changes and click Compare Documents.

  NOTE: There should be no tracked changes in either document at the start of
  the process.

3. In the "Select File to Compare With Document" dialog box, select the file to
  be compared with the current file.

4. Click Open.

Unique text in the open document (text that does not appear in the other
document) is marked as inserted or new text. Unique text in the file selected to
compare with the open document is marked as deleted text.

Merge Documents
---------------

The Merge Documents command merges tracked changes in several copies of the same
document. After you have edited each copy of the document, you can merge all of
the tracked changes into one document for final editing.

NOTE: To track changes in each copy of the document, point to Track Changes on
the Tools menu, click Highlight Changes, and then click to select the "Track
changes while editing" check box.

To merge marked changes, follow these steps:

1. Open one of the documents containing tracked changes.

2. On the Tools menu, click Merge Documents.

3. In the "Select File to Merge Into Current Document" dialog box, select a
  document containing tracked changes to be merged, and click Open.

All of the tracked changes are now in the open document. Repeat steps 2-3 until
you have merged tracked changes from all document copies.

NOTE: If there are any differences in the documents that have not been marked as
tracked changes (unmarked changes) the merge stops at that point and Word
displays the message:

  The merged documents contain unmarked changes. Do you want to merge up to the
  first untracked change?

If you click OK, Word merges only up to the first unmarked change and highlights
it (selects it). Word does not add new material that is not marked as inserted
text. If you click Cancel, Word cancels the merge.

At this point you can either compare these documents using the Compare Documents
command, or mark all differences between the copies as tracked changes, to
successfully complete the merge.

Additional query words:

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbdta kbproof word97 
Technology        : kbWordSearch kbWord97 kbWord97Search kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Issue type        : kbhowto

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