If not Master Document, then what?

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So, I concede that the Master Document feature is a risk. So, what is the
alternative to create a large document based on many small documents?
 
Just create a single large document.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
But what about re-use? The content of the large document is really smaller
documents that needs to be re-used across multiple large documents.
 
Hasn't IncludeText already been suggested?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Interesting. I have never used that field before. In experimenting with it,
I keep getting the error: Error! Not a Valid Filename. The file will always
be in the same directory as the file in which the FIELD will reside, so I am
just entering the filename as filename.doc.

Now how does this differ from Master Document? The Help feature indicates
you can also push updates back to the source file by using the Ctrl + Shift +
F7 keystroke.
 
Standard workarounds for people who wanted Master Documents (and I don't
see how Master Document is an appropriate feature for re-using content
anyhow--a subdocument belonging to multiple master documents sounds
either impossible or extra-prone to corruption):

IncludeText Fields can partially substitute for the Master Document
feature—for an introduction to them, see here:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/includetextfields.htm

Word experts generally advise combining long documents into one file, if
possible, and you will find more information on controlling those big
files here:
http://daiya.mvps.org/bookword.htm

Creating a Table of Contents Spanning Multiple Documents
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=148

See the “Number Pages Across Files†section at this link:
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister/MiscFram.htm
 
Thank you, Daiya.

I have to admit, I had never looked into Word's Master Document feature
until last nigh and was horrified to see that the documents were actually
part of the Master, not links like they used to be in WordPerfect. My
"concept" of Master Document comes from WordPerfect, which had it nailed.

I will read up further on the links you provide.

THanks again.
 
Suzanne:

I have experimented with this field and find that the resulting formatting
is inconsistent at best. For example, if I'm inserting a file that begins
with Heading 1 style followed by a body style, sometimes the files are
inserted with the body style being replaced with the Heading 1 style or vice
versa. It's all very inconsistent and erratic.

Are there any "best practices" to follow when using this field to avoid the
resulting unformatting of the final document?

Thanks for your help.
 
I have no experience with this, but you might see if there are any helpful
tips at http://daiya.mvps.org/includetext.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Nothing tere, unfortunately. Hopefully, someone else will post who has
experienced this problem.

Thanks!
 
A guess, but this might apply:
"If you use the Insert>Field method to create the IncludeText fields,
Word will automatically add a \* MergeFormat switch to the field. In
most cases, you do not want this switch and will need to delete it. The
\* MergeFormat switch will change the original formatting of your
included text. Help offers more information about this switch. [Thanks
to newsgroup poster Chip Orange for this tip]"
 
Hm. What du you recommend for large documents with a large number of users? I
used to use master and subdocuments for this purpose, both WordPerfect until
1994, thereafter Word, so that all authors could edit independently of each
other, and control access to the various chapters. In addition the styles in
the master document overrode those in the subdocuments. I need also to be
able to edit the master document even when subdocuments are open, as well as
printing the expanded master document. We shall shortly be using SharePoint,
and I cannot find anything on the web to guide me. A typical usage will be
100-200 pages, a lot of graphics, 10-25 users simultaneously, very short
deadlines. What do others do?
--
alu


Daiya Mitchell said:
A guess, but this might apply:
"If you use the Insert>Field method to create the IncludeText fields,
Word will automatically add a \* MergeFormat switch to the field. In
most cases, you do not want this switch and will need to delete it. The
\* MergeFormat switch will change the original formatting of your
included text. Help offers more information about this switch. [Thanks
to newsgroup poster Chip Orange for this tip]"
Nothing tere, unfortunately. Hopefully, someone else will post who has
experienced this problem.

Thanks!

:
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks, Daiya. This solved the problem. The only one left has to do with
Word deleting my Section Break Next Page that separates each inserted
document each time I update the IncludeText field. The destination file has
a Section Break, Next Page and looks like this:

=====Section Break (Continuous)======
=====Section Break (Next Page)======
{INCLUDETEXT ....}

For purposes of this posting, the ellipsis here are in place of my full path.
After updating the IncludeText field, my file looks like this:
=====Section Break (Continuous)======
=====Section Break (Continuous)======

thereby deleting my forced page breaks separting the inserted documents.
I have tried it with having the source files begin with a Continuous Section
Break and without a Continuous Section Break. In either case the Next Page
Section Break is deleted each time I update the field.

Geez, I hope there is a solution to this. THis INCLUDETEXT feature is
EXACTLY what I need.


Thanks.


Daiya Mitchell said:
A guess, but this might apply:
"If you use the Insert>Field method to create the IncludeText fields,
Word will automatically add a \* MergeFormat switch to the field. In
most cases, you do not want this switch and will need to delete it. The
\* MergeFormat switch will change the original formatting of your
included text. Help offers more information about this switch. [Thanks
to newsgroup poster Chip Orange for this tip]"
Nothing tere, unfortunately. Hopefully, someone else will post who has
experienced this problem.

Thanks!

:
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I'm afraid I really don't know. I largely tested it with just next page
section breaks in the destination document between each IncludeText
field, and no continuous breaks anywhere.

Can you see what happens if you don't have that continuous section break
there are all? Is the Next Page break actually being deleted, or
converted to continuous?

I think this link will help illuminate what Word is doing and maybe
offer some things to test:
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/WorkWithSections.htm
Thanks, Daiya. This solved the problem. The only one left has to do with
Word deleting my Section Break Next Page that separates each inserted
document each time I update the IncludeText field. The destination file has
a Section Break, Next Page and looks like this:

=====Section Break (Continuous)======
=====Section Break (Next Page)======
{INCLUDETEXT ....}

For purposes of this posting, the ellipsis here are in place of my full path.
After updating the IncludeText field, my file looks like this:
=====Section Break (Continuous)======
=====Section Break (Continuous)======

thereby deleting my forced page breaks separting the inserted documents.
I have tried it with having the source files begin with a Continuous Section
Break and without a Continuous Section Break. In either case the Next Page
Section Break is deleted each time I update the field.

Geez, I hope there is a solution to this. THis INCLUDETEXT feature is
EXACTLY what I need.


Thanks.


:

A guess, but this might apply:
"If you use the Insert>Field method to create the IncludeText fields,
Word will automatically add a \* MergeFormat switch to the field. In
most cases, you do not want this switch and will need to delete it. The
\* MergeFormat switch will change the original formatting of your
included text. Help offers more information about this switch. [Thanks
to newsgroup poster Chip Orange for this tip]"
Nothing tere, unfortunately. Hopefully, someone else will post who has
experienced this problem.

Thanks!

:



I have no experience with this, but you might see if there are any helpful
tips at http://daiya.mvps.org/includetext.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.



Suzanne:

I have experimented with this field and find that the resulting formatting
is inconsistent at best. For example, if I'm inserting a file that begins
with Heading 1 style followed by a body style, sometimes the files are
inserted with the body style being replaced with the Heading 1 style or


vice


versa. It's all very inconsistent and erratic.

Are there any "best practices" to follow when using this field to avoid


the


resulting unformatting of the final document?

Thanks for your help.

:



Interesting. I have never used that field before. In experimenting


with it,


I keep getting the error: Error! Not a Valid Filename. The file will


always


be in the same directory as the file in which the FIELD will reside, so


I am


just entering the filename as filename.doc.

Now how does this differ from Master Document? The Help feature


indicates


you can also push updates back to the source file by using the Ctrl +


Shift +


F7 keystroke.


:



Hasn't IncludeText already been suggested?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the


newsgroup so


all may benefit.



But what about re-use? The content of the large document is really


smaller


documents that needs to be re-used across multiple large documents.

:



Just create a single large document.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the


newsgroup so


all may benefit.



So, I concede that the Master Document feature is a risk. So,


what is


the


alternative to create a large document based on many small


documents?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
In all cases, the next page section break is converted to a continuous
section break. It doesn't matter what combination of continuous versus next
in either the source of destination; once I insert a INCLUDETEXT field,
insert a next page section break, then at some point update the field, the
next page section break is converted to a continuous.

I have studied the document on the other end of the link you provide at
great length. The recommendation is putting a continuous section break at
the end of each source document; which I've tried. I've also tried a
continuous section break at the beginning AND end of each source document --
all with the same results - once the field inthe destination document is
updated the next page section break is converted to a continuous.

I guess at this point having to re-enter the next page section break is
lesser of the two evils. The alternative would be having to do Insert...File
each time the source document is updated.

Geez, I really wish there was a workaround to this. Are there are Microsoft
reps around that could offer some insight?

Daiya Mitchell said:
I'm afraid I really don't know. I largely tested it with just next page
section breaks in the destination document between each IncludeText
field, and no continuous breaks anywhere.

Can you see what happens if you don't have that continuous section break
there are all? Is the Next Page break actually being deleted, or
converted to continuous?

I think this link will help illuminate what Word is doing and maybe
offer some things to test:
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/WorkWithSections.htm
Thanks, Daiya. This solved the problem. The only one left has to do with
Word deleting my Section Break Next Page that separates each inserted
document each time I update the IncludeText field. The destination file has
a Section Break, Next Page and looks like this:

=====Section Break (Continuous)======
=====Section Break (Next Page)======
{INCLUDETEXT ....}

For purposes of this posting, the ellipsis here are in place of my full path.
After updating the IncludeText field, my file looks like this:
=====Section Break (Continuous)======
=====Section Break (Continuous)======

thereby deleting my forced page breaks separting the inserted documents.
I have tried it with having the source files begin with a Continuous Section
Break and without a Continuous Section Break. In either case the Next Page
Section Break is deleted each time I update the field.

Geez, I hope there is a solution to this. THis INCLUDETEXT feature is
EXACTLY what I need.


Thanks.


:

A guess, but this might apply:
"If you use the Insert>Field method to create the IncludeText fields,
Word will automatically add a \* MergeFormat switch to the field. In
most cases, you do not want this switch and will need to delete it. The
\* MergeFormat switch will change the original formatting of your
included text. Help offers more information about this switch. [Thanks
to newsgroup poster Chip Orange for this tip]"

Deb wrote:

Nothing tere, unfortunately. Hopefully, someone else will post who has
experienced this problem.

Thanks!

:



I have no experience with this, but you might see if there are any helpful
tips at http://daiya.mvps.org/includetext.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.



Suzanne:

I have experimented with this field and find that the resulting formatting
is inconsistent at best. For example, if I'm inserting a file that begins
with Heading 1 style followed by a body style, sometimes the files are
inserted with the body style being replaced with the Heading 1 style or


vice


versa. It's all very inconsistent and erratic.

Are there any "best practices" to follow when using this field to avoid


the


resulting unformatting of the final document?

Thanks for your help.

:



Interesting. I have never used that field before. In experimenting


with it,


I keep getting the error: Error! Not a Valid Filename. The file will


always


be in the same directory as the file in which the FIELD will reside, so


I am


just entering the filename as filename.doc.

Now how does this differ from Master Document? The Help feature


indicates


you can also push updates back to the source file by using the Ctrl +


Shift +


F7 keystroke.


:



Hasn't IncludeText already been suggested?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the


newsgroup so


all may benefit.



But what about re-use? The content of the large document is really


smaller


documents that needs to be re-used across multiple large documents.

:



Just create a single large document.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the


newsgroup so


all may benefit.



So, I concede that the Master Document feature is a risk. So,


what is


the


alternative to create a large document based on many small


documents?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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