Can more than one person work on a Word document?

[ste©]

Hi there,

In work, we're working on a large report using Microsoft Word 2000, and each
person has their own section to complete. To start with, each person had
their own separate Word document to work on, then when finished, we copied
and pasted the separate documents into one big document to form the report.

But now we need to amend large parts of the document - can a Word document
be shared, so more than one person can work on it at once? We haven't got
the time for just one person to work on it at once, and we're hoping to
avoid having to copy and paste the different sections into separate
documents again for each individual to work on.

In Excel, you can Share Workbook, and this works really well in an office
environment for sharing over the network. I can't find any such feature
with Word - perhaps I'm not looking hard enough? Or is there a better
work-around?

Any ideas or advice are appreciated.

Many thanks,

Stephen

 

[Doug Robbins]

Not using Word 2000. I'm not sure that I should be implying that it is
possible in later versions, but I think that in some way it might be
possible with Office 2003. See

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010930941033.aspx

--
Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be
interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid
consulting basis.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[ste©]

Thanks Doug. It's a shame we can't do anything with Word 2000, and that our
best work-around is to copy and paste between documents. I don't think we'd
upgrade just for the feature in the Microsoft article (thanks for this
link), but I'd hope that future realeases of the software allow the kind of
sharing (like Excel workbook sharing) that I'm after.

Thanks,

Stephen

 

[Bruce]

What I would try (it might be too late for this document, but keep it
in mind for future reference) is setting up a Master Document. This
is basically a contents page that has links to all the sub-files but
doesn't actually have them in the document itself. That way you could
have everbody working on their own section but it would all be linked
and formatted and organised through the master document.

Word help (F1 key) has plenty of information about it.

Cheers,

Bruce Walker

 

[ste©]

Thanks Bruce, that sounds like a good way to do it, I'll look into this
whilst at work tomorrow. It is too late for this particular document, but
as you say, for future reference, this could be the practical solution that
we've been looking for from our existing software.

Thanks,

Stephen


| What I would try (it might be too late for this document, but keep it
| in mind for future reference) is setting up a Master Document. This
| is basically a contents page that has links to all the sub-files but
| doesn't actually have them in the document itself. That way you could
| have everbody working on their own section but it would all be linked
| and formatted and organised through the master document.
|
| Word help (F1 key) has plenty of information about it.
|
| Cheers,
|
| Bruce Walker
|
| > Thanks Doug. It's a shame we can't do anything with Word 2000, and that
our
| > best work-around is to copy and paste between documents. I don't think
we'd
| > upgrade just for the feature in the Microsoft article (thanks for this
| > link), but I'd hope that future realeases of the software allow the kind
of
| > sharing (like Excel workbook sharing) that I'm after.
| >
| > Thanks,
| >
| > Stephen
| >
| >
| > | > > Not using Word 2000. I'm not sure that I should be implying that it
is
| > > possible in later versions, but I think that in some way it might be
| > > possible with Office 2003. See
| > >
| > > http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010930941033.aspx
| > >
| > > --
| > > Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be
| > > interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a
| > paid
| > > consulting basis.
| > >
| > > Hope this helps,
| > > Doug Robbins - Word MVP
| > > | > > > Hi there,
| > > >
| > > > In work, we're working on a large report using Microsoft Word 2000,
and
| > > > each
| > > > person has their own section to complete. To start with, each
person
| > had
| > > > their own separate Word document to work on, then when finished, we
| > copied
| > > > and pasted the separate documents into one big document to form the
| > > > report.
| > > >
| > > > But now we need to amend large parts of the document - can a Word
| > document
| > > > be shared, so more than one person can work on it at once? We
haven't
| > got
| > > > the time for just one person to work on it at once, and we're hoping
to
| > > > avoid having to copy and paste the different sections into separate
| > > > documents again for each individual to work on.
| > > >
| > > > In Excel, you can Share Workbook, and this works really well in an
| > office
| > > > environment for sharing over the network. I can't find any such
feature
| > > > with Word - perhaps I'm not looking hard enough? Or is there a
better
| > > > work-around?
| > > >
| > > > Any ideas or advice are appreciated.
| > > >
| > > > Many thanks,
| > > >
| > > > Stephen
| > > >
| > > >
| > >
| > >

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Well, while you investigate master documents, read these links. MDs do have
their uses, especially as an after the fact solution, but you may not want
to let a bunch of people loose on it.

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

Steve Hudson on how to make Master Documents work safely:
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/wordhomepage.html

DM