I'm unsure which version of Word you're using, but here's how you can do it in 2010:
- Go to the
Insert
tab on the ribbon - In the
Text
section of theInsert
tab, choose the drop-down option beside theObject
button - Choose
Text from File
- Navigate to your text file and select it with one mouse click (do not insert it yet)
- Press the drop-down on the
Insert
button, and selectInsert as Link
Your .txt file is now inserted as a field. After you update the file, click the field in your word document and press F9
to see the new text. To update all fields at once, select the whole document (Ctrl+A
) then press F9
.
Alternate method:
- Place your cursor where you want the file inserted
- Press
Ctrl+F9
- Type
{ INCLUDETEXT "C:\\path\\to\\file.txt" \c AnsiText \* MERGEFORMAT }
. Do not type the brackets. Do type the double-backslashes. - Press F9
Note that \* MERGEFORMAT
is only necessary if you want the field to assume the formatting of the surrounding text.