Can a the version history of a Word document be embedded in the document?

Question

We currently maintain a version history inside our documents, using a simple table with 4 columns: version, date published, comments, author initials. We save documents as PDF before sending them to our customer. Because the version history is in the document, the customer can 'track' it as well.

This versioning information can be captured in SharePoint as well, by turning on versioning and check-ins for a document library.

If we do that, can we then embed the full version history captured by SharePoint in the document using fields or macro's? So that we can still share this metadata with the customer, but we don't have to maintain it in the document (which is error-prone and will lead to discrepancies).

If deeper customization is required, what sort of feature are we talking about?

Edit: I'm not talking about embedding just the current version or date, but rather the full history, formatted as a table.

Answer 1

If the task is to insert the version history of the word document into the document when generating and sending the pdf then you can use Open XML SDK to generate a temporary document with the version history and then Word Automation service to generate the pdf.

A good starting point is the MSDN article Developing with SharePoint 2010 Word Automation Services which shows a little of both.