Saving Master Documents

[Guest]

Hi,

Is there any way I can save master documents without the links? In other
words, could I possibly save it like a normal word doc?

I have a project that I'm working on and I want to send my master document
to my client and I love the fact that you can edit the separate documents in
the master doc, but when I'm sending the doc, I have to send all the
different links (yes, it does save as one word doc, but I have to worry about
are the links all in there or not). Is there any way to avoid that? Is there
any way to make it look like a normal word doc with all the links typed out
(therefore becoming a doc with no links)?

Help me please!

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Save the document.

Then, on the Outlining/Master Document toolbar (assuming you're using Word
2003 rather than Word 2007), click each subdocument and click the Remove
Subdocument tools, until all of the subdocuments have been converted to
regular text. Delete the extraneous section breaks. Then save the document
under a new name, and use that version to send to your client.

My advice here is to leave it in this form and NOT go back to master
document format. See the note below for why.

If you really want it back as a master document, turning the sections back
into subsections is extremely easy. Just select the text (works best in
outlining mode), click Create Subdocument, and so on.

Note: the master document feature in ALL VERSIONS OF WORD is unstable,
including Word 2007, unfortunately. It's been said by a fellow MVP that
there are two kinds of master documents... those that are corrupted, and
those that soon will be. Experiences with client documents over many years
bear out this bleak assessment.