Use text links to replace text across multiple Word documents at once. Text links are helpful when you insert the same block of text in several documents and this text will need to be updated at some point.

Understanding Linking

Linking is helpful if the text is the same in all the documents, and when the text needs to be updated. This is a very specific scenario, but one that can save a lot of time. For example, 20 Microsoft Word documents that are set up to print 20 sheets of address labels, and each page has dozens of labels. If the addresses in those 20 Word documents need to be updated in the future, don’t update each document manually. Instead, make a separate document that lists the addresses. Then, link the 20 documents to the one page of addresses so that when you update an address, any document that links to it will update, too. Another example is when several Word documents include the name and contact information for a newly hired employee and these documents are given to each new employee. Instead of typing this information in each document, insert a link to a document that contains the employee’s information. This way, their contact information is always correct and formatted the same way in each document.