How to Combine Documents in Microsoft Word

It is often helpful to combine documents to view changes from multiple sources in one document. The following steps show how to combine two Word documents.

This feature works the same in all modern versions of Microsoft Word: 2010, 2013, and 2016.

1. From within any Microsoft Word document (it does not have to be one of the ones you are comparing, but it can be), click on the Review tab and then click the Compare command.
2. Select Combine.
3. In the Combine Documents dialog box:
   1. Choose the original and revised documents you wish to combine.
   2. In the Label unmarked changes with boxes, Word will suggest who to attribute changes to. You can edit this if you want.
   3. Under Comparison settings, deselect anything you do not wish to check. By default, Word checks for all types of changes.
   4. In the Show changes section, you can choose to show changes in the original document, the revised document, or in a new document. The default selection is a new document.
4. Click OK to compare the documents. Differences will show up as tracked changes.
5. If both documents contain formatting changes, Word will ask you to choose which formatting changes to keep. Select one of the documents and then press Continue with Merge.
6. The image below shows what they might look like.