Create master document made up of several documents?

[Guest]

We currently keep meeting minutes in Excel so that one workbook as a tab for
each meeting's minutes. I would prefer typing the minutes in Word but how
can I have one document with a separate file/section for each day's meeting
minutes?

 

[Guest]

You need to create a master document. Create a blank document and then move
to outline view. You will see on the Outline toolbar buttons for working
with a master document. Here you can either import subdocuments or simply
add text, then select it and click the create subdocument button. Save all
files in the same directory.

One warning, when you reopen your master document, you will see hyperlinks
to all the subdocument, don't worry. Just move to Outline view and Expand
all the subdocuments and you will see all your text. Also, you only need to
work in Outline view when you are actually creating and adding the
subdocuments. The rest of the time you can work in Print Layout view, if
you'd like.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

"Master Document" is a term of art in Word referring to a "feature" that not
only doesn't work but also destroys documents. The consensus (with the
limited exception of Steve Hudson) among those offering advice on these
newsgroups is that using the Master Document feature is a good way to
destroy your document. It can destroy parts of your document that you are
not even working on! I think John McGhie said it succinctly when he said
that there are two kinds of Master Documents: Those that are corrupt and
those that will be corrupt soon. See
http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm for information on the
Master Document feature and workarounds. See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm for more
information on what goes wrong, and
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm for ideas on how
to salvage what you can. See
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/masterdocs.doc for
Steve Hudson's instructions if you are willing to follow them very
carefully.

You do _not_ want a master document for what you are trying to do. Period.
There are better and safer ways.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


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from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Ctrl-End will move you to the end of a document. If you need a section break
you can insert one.

The following macro goes to the end of a document, inserts a next-page
section break, and pastes whatever is in the clipboard.

Sub BreakAndPaste()
'
' Macro written 20 Dec 2005 by Charles Kyle Kenyon
'
Selection.EndKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.InsertBreak Type:=wdSectionBreakNextPage
Selection.PasteAndFormat (wdPasteDefault)
End Sub

Would that help?

Rather than a section break, though, I would simply recommend setting the
Heading 1 style for page break before and having the first line of your new
meeting minutes be in Heading 1 style. You could perhaps type the date and
place of the meeting as this heading line. This can be picked up in a table
of contents, reviewed in outline view, and will be picked up in the scroll
bar on the right as you move through the document.

Remember to save changes and make regular backups.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.