I would like to utilize a combination of the functionality provided by mail
merge and paste links.

In a general way I want to format like I can with mail merge yet still be
able to add rows to the excel file and not have to merge a new document each
time.

To explain more, I want to be able to paste a link from excel and format the
data from that link within a document but outside of a table. This is
possible to an extent with each feature (mail merge and paste link), but not
to the level of detail I would like.  

I can't imagine this is the first time someone's requested this but I could
not find any reference.  Sorry if its a repeat.

The way I envision it is being able to paste a link and then tell it which
fields go where and how they're formatted within the document.  

An example would be in creating a glossary for a book or manual, but I can
forsee many other possible applications.  In this case I would rather just
have it pull defined terms directly from excel and not have to merge a new
document withthe old one every time a term is added to the excel file.