Combine Google Docs documents - google-apps-script

Question

Is it possible to merge 100 Google Docs documents into one?
I've tried copy-pasting, but it seems too long and it's not possible to copy comments.

Answer 1

This can be done with Google Apps Script. See this example. The most relevant parts (example assumes nothing but Google Docs in the folder):
function combine() {
var folder = DriveApp.getRootFolder();
if (folder == null) { Logger.log("Failed to get root folder"); return; }
var combinedTitle = "Combined Document Example";
var combo = DocumentApp.create(combinedTitle);
var comboBody = combo.getBody();
var hdr = combo.addHeader();
hdr.setText(combinedTitle)
var list = folder.getFiles();
while (list.hasNext()) {
var doc = list.next();
var src = DocumentApp.openById(doc.getId());
var srcBody = src.getBody();
var elems = srcBody.getNumChildren();
for (var i = 0; i < elems; i++ ) {
elem = srcBody.getChild(i).copy();
// fire the right method based on elem's type
switch (elem.getType()) {
case DocumentApp.ElementType.PARAGRAPH:
comboBody.appendParagraph(elem);
break;
case // something
}
}
}
}
Note that you don't copy the source document's contents in one lump; you have to loop through them as individual elements and fire the correct append* method to add them to the merged/destination file.

Answer 2

I expanded on #noltie's answer to support merging docs in a folder structure recursively, starting from an arbitrary folder (not necessarily the root folder of google docs) and guard agains script failures on too many unsaved changes.
function getDocsRec(rootFolder) {
var docs = [];
function iter(folder) {
var childFolders = folder.getFolders();
while (childFolders.hasNext()) {
iter(childFolders.next());
}
var childFiles = folder.getFiles();
while (childFiles.hasNext()) {
var item = childFiles.next();
var docName = item.getName();
var docId = item.getId();
var doc = {name: docName, id: docId};
docs.push(doc);
}
}
iter(rootFolder);
return docs;
}
function combineDocs() {
// This function assumes only Google Docs files are in the root folder
// Get the id from the URL of the folder.
var folder = DriveApp.getFolderById("<root folder id>");
if (folder == null) { Logger.log("Failed to get root folder"); return; }
var combinedTitle = "Combined Document Example";
var combo = DocumentApp.create(combinedTitle);
var comboBody = combo.getBody();
// merely get the files recursively, does not get them in alphabetical order.
var docArr = getDocsRec(folder);
// Log all the docs we got back. Click "Edit -> Logs" to see.
docArr.forEach(function(item) {
Logger.log(item.name)
});
// this sort will fail if you have files with identical names
// docArr.sort(function(a, b) { return a.name < b.name ? -1 : 1; });
// Now load the docs into the combo doc.
// We can't load a doc in one big lump though;
// we have to do it by looping through its elements and copying them
for (var j = 0; j < docArr.length; j++) {
// There is a limit somewhere between 50-100 unsaved changed where the script
// wont continue until a batch is commited.
if (j % 50 == 0) {
combo.saveAndClose();
combo = DocumentApp.openById(combo.getId());
comboBody = combo.getBody();
}
var entryId = docArr[j].id;
var entry = DocumentApp.openById(entryId);
var entryBody = entry.getBody();
var elems = entryBody.getNumChildren();
for (var i = 0; i < elems; i++) {
var elem = entryBody.getChild(i).copy();
switch (elem.getType()) {
case DocumentApp.ElementType.HORIZONTAL_RULE:
comboBody.appendHorizontalRule();
break;
case DocumentApp.ElementType.INLINE_IMAGE:
comboBody.appendImage(elem);
break;
case DocumentApp.ElementType.LIST_ITEM:
comboBody.appendListItem(elem);
break;
case DocumentApp.ElementType.PAGE_BREAK:
comboBody.appendPageBreak(elem);
break;
case DocumentApp.ElementType.PARAGRAPH:
comboBody.appendParagraph(elem);
break;
case DocumentApp.ElementType.TABLE:
comboBody.appendTable(elem);
break;
default:
var style = {};
style[DocumentApp.Attribute.BOLD] = true;
comboBody.appendParagraph("Element type '" + elem.getType() + "' could not be merged.").setAttributes(style);
}
}
// page break at the end of each entry.
comboBody.appendPageBreak();
}
}
You can create and run a script with the above code on https://script.google.com/home

Answer 3

Both the above fail for me with the script returning a red lozenge:
Service unavailable: Docs Dismiss
(the documents in the folder are found, as are the document id's, and the combined doc is created, but empty)
Fixed that - had a document in the list that wasn't owned by me or was created by conversion. Removed that and away we go.

Answer 4

Google Docs does not support any type of merge, yet.
You can select all 100 docs, download them and try to merge them offline.

Answer 5

Download all the files as Docx, then use Microsoft Word or Open Office to merge the documents using the "master document" feature. (Word also refers to this as "Outline.")