microsoft word variables across documents

Question

Perhaps I'm just not Googling properly or not sure of exactly what I'm looking for, but I want to have global variables across multiple Microsoft Word documents. I also want to be able to update the variable's value and have the documents that reference it update automatically (although if I have to "push" those changes, I'd be fine with that).

Example:
Let's say that I have two documents that should both display the minimum required operating system. So I would want to put in a variable, such as: $. Then I would have $ defined somewhere else. So far, it seems like AutoText, HOWEVER...

If I ever want to update the $ to another version, I want the change to be reflected in any documents that have $ in them, even if I have to open those documents and say "re-update with the new value of $.

Answer 1

You could accomplish something similar using the mail-merge functionality in Word. Put your variables in a spreadsheet, and link all the documents to it. If the spreadsheet contains exactly one row, you'll get exactly one result. Its a bit of a kludge, but it should work.