Opening Only a Merge Document, Take Two

A previous WordTips featured a tip on how to open a mail-merge source document without opening the associated data source. While the guidance provided in that tip is still true, there is one other thing you can try to achieve the desired results: simply use the Insert File feature of Word, as follows:

1. Create a new, blank document.
2. Choose File from the Insert menu. Word displays the Insert File dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Use the controls in the dialog box to locate and select the mail-merge source document.
4. Click on Insert.

Word inserts the file within the blank document, but does not open the data source that was associated with the original source document. While this approach allows you to quickly examine the contents of the source document, there may be a few little differences you notice. For instance, if the blank document you created in step 1 has different margin settings than the source document, then the formatting on the inserted file (the source document) may look a bit askance.