Using master/subdocuments in Word 2007

[vonbosau]

I edit a master document with subdocuments (created by someone else in this
format). It worked (more or less) in Word 2003. However, I cannot open it
in Word 2007 - clicked View>Outline, then Show Document, but when I click on
Expand Subdocuments, the whole thing crashes ("Word has stopped
working...Word is trying to recover your info.." then it all Goes Away).

First, am I missing something or is this hopeless (e.g., document is corrupt)?
Second, is it possible in either Word 2003 or Word 2007 to merge all the
subdocuments into a single document (thus avoiding this problem)?

This is a complex document (book with equations, figures, tables, a TOC,
index, etc.) and unfortunately the option of using desktop publishing is not
available to me - it must stay formatted in Word.

Any advice/assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Laura von Bosau

 

[grammatim]

The most practical thing to do is simply to copy each of the (former
sub)documents into a new document, and abandon the idea of Master
Document. Insert a Section Break after each one.

From your description, it doesn't sound like a particularly complex
book.