entering subdocuments in a Master doc

[Chuck]

If a series of subdocuments are entered into a Master doc, I see:

1. in Collapsed View:
......a Section Break (Continuous) appears before each subdocument
2. in Expanded View:
.....a) before the first subdoc there is now 1 Section Break (Next Page)
.....b) before each subsequent subdoc there is a Section Break (Continuous)
followed immediately by another Section Break (Next Page).

This causes an extra blank page after each subdoc (after the first). When
assembling a book of multiple chapters in a Master doc, these blank pages
are not only undesireable, but they also throw the pagination off so that
only half the chapters end up on an odd page.

Must be doing something wrong! Ayn help would be appreciated.

Chuck

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

I'm afraid what you are doing wrong is using the Master document "feature,"
see below. Word will handle files of thousands of pages, especially if you
use styles for formatting. Try combining the document.

Why Master Documents corrupt
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm

How to recover a Master Document
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm

DM

 

[Chuck]

Dayo,

Many thanks. Wished I'd have asked earlier before spending many hours
fighting it. I'm humble enough to think that most problems are due to my
ignorance. One obviously wonders why MS doesn't put out an alert to all
users? ... or an explanatory update.

Thanks again,
Chuck

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Yeah...well. They have certain uses, and it is possible to make them work,
it just requires an unrealistic degree of standardization in editing, is
what I've heard.

Are you familiar with styles and templates? The http://www.mvps.org/word
site has quite a lot of useful links if not. There are also workarounds (RD
fields) if for some reason you absolutely cannot combine the doc.

Dayo

 

[Charles Kenyon]

This is a follow-up or elaboration on what Dayo already told you. "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 sure 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 <URL:
http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm> for information on the
Master Document feature and workarounds. (This page also has a link to Steve
Hudson's chapter on how he gets Master Documents to work.) See <URL:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm> for more
information on what goes wrong, and <URL:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm> for ideas on
how to salvage what you can.

You may also want to look at http://addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm.
--

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

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
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[Pop Rivet]

....
Word will handle files of thousands of pages,
Well, yes, for the later versions of Word, but not
earlier ones. In my experience at least.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Word 97 does fine. Earlier than that?

Lots of RAM helps.
Working in normal view helps.
Using styles for formatting helps.
--

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

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.