Combining Multiple PERRLA Papers into One Paper

There may come a time when you need to combine multiple PERRLA papers into a single paper. There's no one-click way to do this, but the process is straightforward.

The result will be a single paper with each individual paper's body content separated by page breaks, and a single reference page at the end containing references from all the individual papers.

PERRLA for Word

Before starting, create a clean copy of each paper you want to combine. This removes the content controls that PERRLA uses to format your paper. Learn more about Clean Copies here.

Once you have your clean copies ready, follow these steps. Make sure you are working with the clean copies, not the originals.

1. Create a new PERRLA paper. 
2. Highlight the text in the clean copy of the first paper, not including the references. 
3. Copy the highlighted text. 
4. Paste that text into the new PERRLA paper. 
5. Place your cursor on the line below the text you just pasted. 
6. Go to Word's Insert tab. 
7. Click the Pages button. 
8. Choose Page Break from the dropdown menu.
   This creates a new blank page.
9. Highlight the text in the clean copy of the second paper, not including the references. 
10. Copy the highlighted text. 
11. Paste that text into the blank page created in Step 8. 
12. Repeat Steps 5 through 8. 
13. Repeat Steps 9 through 12 for each remaining paper. 
14. Once all papers have been pasted, go to the PERRLA tab in Word. 
15. Click References & Citations in the PERRLA ribbon. 
16. Click Add References From Library in the side panel. 
17. Click +Add to Paper beneath each reference to include in the merged paper. 
18. Click Finished.
    This adds all selected references to a single reference page at the end of the merged paper.

You'll now have a single paper containing all of your individual papers, with a combined reference page at the end.

PERRLA Online

Note: Merging PERRLA Online papers requires the PERRLA for Word Add-in to be installed in Microsoft Word. Installing the PERRLA Add-in.

Start by exporting each of your PERRLA Online papers to your computer as a Simplified Word File. Make sure you choose Simplified Word File when exporting. Learn how to download your PERRLA Online papers here.

Once you have the simplified Word files downloaded and the PERRLA Add-in installed, follow these steps with the simplified Word files open in Word.

1. Create a new PERRLA paper with the PERRLA for Word Add-in. 
2. Highlight the text in the simplified copy of the first paper, not including the references. 
3. Copy the highlighted text. 
4. Paste that text into the new PERRLA paper. 
5. Place your cursor on the line below the text you just pasted. 
6. Go to Word's Insert tab. 
7. Click the Pages button. 
8. Choose Page Break from the dropdown menu.
   This creates a new blank page.
9. Highlight the text in the simplified copy of the second paper, not including the references. 
10. Copy the highlighted text. 
11. Paste that text into the blank page created in Step 8. 
12. Repeat Steps 5 through 8. 
13. Repeat Steps 9 through 12 for each remaining paper. 
14. Once all papers have been pasted, go to the PERRLA tab in Word. 
15. Click References & Citations in the PERRLA ribbon. 
16. Click Add References From Library in the side panel. 
17. Click +Add to Paper beneath each reference to include in the merged paper. 
18. Click Finished.
    This adds all selected references to a single reference page at the end of the merged paper.

You'll now have all of your individual papers merged into one, with a combined reference page at the end.

Individual Reference Pages

The instructions above produce a single combined reference page at the end of the merged paper. If you need each paper's references to stay with its own section instead, follow the same instructions above with one change: copy the references along with the body text for each paper, and skip steps 14 through 18.

The result will be a merged paper where each individual paper retains its own reference page.