How to view and merge two microsoft word documents?

Question

I think this is very rare scenario. I have done merging two source file / text files in the past. But I've to merge two word documents(*.docx) files . Is there any tools(free/opensource) available ?

Solution 1

You can use WinMerge, which is free. It comes with a bundled plugin that allows you to compare 2 Word or Excel documents. If the plugin isn't fast enough you can try the xdocdiff plugin; it has support for the docx format.

Solution 2

You can use Microsoft Word to do this. In Word 2007 just select Compare on the Review ribbon:

Here's a Microsoft blog entry with a bit more detail about how this works and some more screenshots.

The feature is also in Word 2003.

Comments

[ukanth]

Thanks , But it looks like a shareware application. I am looking for free/open source app.

[ukanth]

Cool... Never thought WinMerge can do that with plugin ..

[joe]

Most of application for this kind of doc merge will be share ware only.. let see whether we able to find any free ware ;)

[ukanth]

Thanks for the clear solution , But I am using open office, But would like to compare those files from clients :)

[alex]

It's amazing how many "hidden" features the programs we use everyday have :)

[coz]

As this is the method recommended here How to merge multiple Word documents into one? - EeeKB it is very limited, compared to the other answers.