Combining Many Documents into One (97)

[suchi_7]

Hi,
I have around 130 text files that I want to combine into one word document. Formatting is irrelevant..

I have the files in one folder numbered from 001to 130. I thought word would have some tool by which I can select a range of documents and insert them into one, but couldn't find any. The Insert>File thingy works only for one document at a time.

I suppose the nearest is a kind of mail merge (i haven't used that much) but then I have no fields,etc.

Or can I create a macro for that. I don't have enough programming exp. to do much except record my actions but I figured there must be a way to tell word that I want to Insert all the files from one folder.

Alternatively, even if there is a tool that combines many text files into one text file, it would serve my purpose.

Thanks in advance!

[gwhitfield]

suchi,

What I'd do- as a one-off- is something like this:

.Open up Notebook. Keep it open.

Open up Windows explorer. Find the folder where all your text files are stored.

Switch to notepad.

Drag your text files, one by one, into the notepad session.

Then select all the text, and copy it into Word.

It's crude, and ytou won't learn anything new about VBA programming or any other nice clever techniques. But if you're only going to do it once, it just might do the job you want.

[suchi_7]

Thanks for the tip.
It seems a simple technique and will serve me well 'cos I need to do it only once!

Thank god i don't have to learn VBA! <grin>

Rgds, Suchi

[gwhitfield]

VBA is good. Really.

I earn (some of) my living from it!

It's powerful, and you can do heaps.

But, as you say, if you only have to do it once, there's sometimes an easier way.

[Leif]

Geoff,
When I do that, the next file dragged into Notepad over-writes the previous.
(I know this because I use the technique for examining problem emails in a 'bad message' postbox.)
So what's the trick?

[chrisgreaves]

My Files processor lets you do this. There's a tutorial guide that addresses this very problem 9combining several documents into one)

[gwhitfield]

Leif,

It's quite simple really.

The way this technique works is to test it very quickly, see that something happens, and then post an answer as if that really works.

Ouch.

Thanks for picking that up. And it seemed so easy.

When I try it into Word and Wordpad, it embedded links to the documents rather than put in the the text.

Sorry about that.

And none of the other quick copy and paste things work either,

[lonelywind]

If you're working in a Windows OS that has a Command Prompt window, you can also use a DOS command (yes, I said DOS) to concatenate the files into one file, and then open that resulting file using Word.

Example:

<pre> for %i in (c:*.txt) do type %i >> saveit.doc</pre>

[lonelywind]

<hr>This is assuming that Gary's command works, which I do assume.<hr>

I tested it first. I'm a little rusty at DOS, so I have to look these things up and try them beforehand. And thanks for the clarification, I shouldn't have assumed that everyone would know the ins and outs of DOS syntax... <img src=/S/laugh.gif border=0 alt=laugh width=15 height=15>

[Kevin]

Besides the previously mentioned DOS trick, this should work too at a DOS prompt in the folder containing your 130 text files:

copy *.txt /a OneBigFile.txt

[suchi_7]

Hi all,
Well I've got my big file with all the 130 files in it just as I wanted!

Thanks a lot to Kevin whose advice was the simplest (for me, atleast) to follow... Not to leave out all the others who gave tips.

bye all,
Suchi

[gwhitfield]

Hey, mine was simple... just wrong!

[Granville]

Simply wrong? <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

[chrisgreaves]

You are correct. About a week ago i posted a question about testing file size in a BATch file and got a lovely response with a FOR loop stripping individual characters .... but it won't work in my Win95 - I'd have to upgrade to get it working. And this in an OS for which DOS is Dead!

I take it your addbalance site is still down. Please do let me/us know when its back up. I want some of the champagne.

[chrisgreaves]

>if you only have to do it once, there's sometimes an easier way.

My experience has been that as soon as I take that approach, a second use pops up two days later.