MS Word Master document

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kat
  • Start date Start date
K

Kat

Hello,
I am trying to create a master document containing all the chapters for
my thesis. I have a problem that the Heading numbering system in the
master doc ignores the numbering in my seperate chapter files, e.g.
1.1, 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 2.1 ..... Can anyone advise?
Also, when I go to 'Print Layout' of the master doc, the numbering
system of the figures and tables are completely different to those on
the outline view, e.g. a figure that should be labelled 1.1 is labelled
0.1 ???

Please help this is driving me mad! I have tried F9 to update the
figure numbers but it doesn't work.

Kat
 
Unfortunately my files are too big to concatenate them into one
single document. My computer will not have enough memory to open it!
Any other suggestions?
 
Unfortunately my files are too big to concatenate them into one
single document. My computer will not have enough memory to open it!
Any other suggestions?
 
Sorry, I don't have an answer because I don't use Master Documents. However,
you may need the reason I don't more than you need an answer. "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 good 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
http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm for information on the
Master Document feature and workarounds. See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm for more
information on what goes wrong, and
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm for ideas on how
to salvage what you can. See
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/masterdocs.doc for
Steve Hudson's instructions if you are willing to follow them very
carefully.

Once you get that straightened out, see: How to create numbered headings or
outline numbering in your Word document
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html. (For
bullets see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/bullets/controlbullets.html, the
subject is related.)

This is based on ...

Word's Numbering Explained
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm

Additional information you may find useful or need is at:

How to Create a Template, Part II
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.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


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.
 
Sorry, I don't have an answer because I don't use Master Documents. However,
you may need the reason I don't more than you need an answer. "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 good 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
http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm for information on the
Master Document feature and workarounds. See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm for more
information on what goes wrong, and
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm for ideas on how
to salvage what you can. See
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/masterdocs.doc for
Steve Hudson's instructions if you are willing to follow them very
carefully.

Once you get that straightened out, see: How to create numbered headings or
outline numbering in your Word document
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html. (For
bullets see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/bullets/controlbullets.html, the
subject is related.)

This is based on ...

Word's Numbering Explained
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm

Additional information you may find useful or need is at:

How to Create a Template, Part II
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.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


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.
 
Do you want to be able to turn in your thesis? Then do not use the master
document "feature." If this means you can't use Word, then you can't. I
suspect you can.

What kind of computer do you have that can't open a large document? I could
open a 1000-page complex document running a Pentium II with 256Mb RAM. It
may be slow, but it will open and can be edited, revised, and saved. See the
first link I gave you in my earlier reply for other workarounds.
--
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




--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.
 
Do you want to be able to turn in your thesis? Then do not use the master
document "feature." If this means you can't use Word, then you can't. I
suspect you can.

What kind of computer do you have that can't open a large document? I could
open a 1000-page complex document running a Pentium II with 256Mb RAM. It
may be slow, but it will open and can be edited, revised, and saved. See the
first link I gave you in my earlier reply for other workarounds.
--
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




--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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.
 
Nonsense! You can have documents of up to 32 mb of text (and that doesn't
include graphical elements) which will produce documents with thousands of
pages.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
Nonsense! You can have documents of up to 32 mb of text (and that doesn't
include graphical elements) which will produce documents with thousands of
pages.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
G'day "Kat" <[email protected]>,

Hi.

The master document sucks in content from your subdocuments and then
reformats it using the style definitions and list templates in the
master document.

This is a marvelous feature, not a bug.

You must do this:

Ensure your documents use Styles. For example, Heading 1 for chapter
headings, Title, Body Text and so on. Word 2003's Styles and
Formatting Task Pane is a wicked tool to use to quickly reformat a
document using styles to correct this.

Then, make sure the Master Document has those styles and they are
defined correctly. So long as your sub-document has a heading 1 in it,
it doesn't matter how it looks in the sub, whatever the master has in
it will override.

More next post, but you must meet this prerequisite.


Steve Hudson - Word Heretic

steve from wordheretic.com (Email replies require payment)
Without prejudice


Kat reckoned:
 
G'day "Kat" <[email protected]>,

Hi.

The master document sucks in content from your subdocuments and then
reformats it using the style definitions and list templates in the
master document.

This is a marvelous feature, not a bug.

You must do this:

Ensure your documents use Styles. For example, Heading 1 for chapter
headings, Title, Body Text and so on. Word 2003's Styles and
Formatting Task Pane is a wicked tool to use to quickly reformat a
document using styles to correct this.

Then, make sure the Master Document has those styles and they are
defined correctly. So long as your sub-document has a heading 1 in it,
it doesn't matter how it looks in the sub, whatever the master has in
it will override.

More next post, but you must meet this prerequisite.


Steve Hudson - Word Heretic

steve from wordheretic.com (Email replies require payment)
Without prejudice


Kat reckoned:
 
G'day "Kat" <[email protected]>,

Your immediate action list:

1) Your documents are corrupt. Guaranteed. No panic, we have some
simple fixes. You need to copy and paste everything except the last
paragraph in each section to a new document OR save them all as XML
(or HTML if Word 2000), quit word, reload new files, save as docs
again.


2) Don't expand your master, print it out, delete it. Recreate it from
a new normal.dot, make the nice styles and list templates. Do
liberally refer to www.mvps.org for extra infos. You will want to use
Relative Paths to insert the subdox. Let's assume the Master and the
subs are in the same folder. Save the master. Select insert sub,
browse to the masters folder, select ok with no file selected, cancel,
whatever. We have now just set the base path.

a) Select insert sub again, select the sub-document. Repeat sub-step
as needed.


3) MAKE A COPY OF EVERYTHING TO WORK ON TO PRODUCE THE MASTER. DO NOT
OPEN THE MASTER ON NATIVE COPIES OF THINGS! EVER EVER EVER.

This is the million dollar step. The master document is a PUBLISHING
GIMMICK only. You NEVER use it to edit your subs. When it comes to
publishing time and you open the master, we do it with a copy of
everything. We publish, we delete, we work on our subs as needed.
Rinse repeat, make a million dollars with masters every time. By using
relative paths, we can drag a copy of the folder and publish from
that.

If you need assistance ping me @ wordheretic from the ISP of
iinet.net.au.


Steve Hudson - Word Heretic

steve from wordheretic.com (Email replies require payment)
Without prejudice


Kat reckoned:
 
G'day "Kat" <[email protected]>,

Your immediate action list:

1) Your documents are corrupt. Guaranteed. No panic, we have some
simple fixes. You need to copy and paste everything except the last
paragraph in each section to a new document OR save them all as XML
(or HTML if Word 2000), quit word, reload new files, save as docs
again.


2) Don't expand your master, print it out, delete it. Recreate it from
a new normal.dot, make the nice styles and list templates. Do
liberally refer to www.mvps.org for extra infos. You will want to use
Relative Paths to insert the subdox. Let's assume the Master and the
subs are in the same folder. Save the master. Select insert sub,
browse to the masters folder, select ok with no file selected, cancel,
whatever. We have now just set the base path.

a) Select insert sub again, select the sub-document. Repeat sub-step
as needed.


3) MAKE A COPY OF EVERYTHING TO WORK ON TO PRODUCE THE MASTER. DO NOT
OPEN THE MASTER ON NATIVE COPIES OF THINGS! EVER EVER EVER.

This is the million dollar step. The master document is a PUBLISHING
GIMMICK only. You NEVER use it to edit your subs. When it comes to
publishing time and you open the master, we do it with a copy of
everything. We publish, we delete, we work on our subs as needed.
Rinse repeat, make a million dollars with masters every time. By using
relative paths, we can drag a copy of the folder and publish from
that.

If you need assistance ping me @ wordheretic from the ISP of
iinet.net.au.


Steve Hudson - Word Heretic

steve from wordheretic.com (Email replies require payment)
Without prejudice


Kat reckoned:
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Word 2003 Paragraph Numbering when combining multiple documents 3
thesis document 1
Two multilevel lists in one document 7
Attach Chapter numbers to Captions with different numbering style 3
How to switch from Chapter to Annex numbering midway thru a large. 1
How to switch from Chapter to Annex numbering midway thru a large. 6
Word 2003 - Customized outline numbering in the appendix of the do 1
Caption numbering in chapters - Always 0 for chapter number 1

Back
Top