Page numbering a master document

[Guest]

I have a master document with subdocuments, trying to number Page 1 of, Page
2 of, etc. of 350 throughout the document, also each subdocument has the name
of the section in the footer. When I expand the subdocuments the page numbers
are incorrect, ex. the first subdocument has Page 11 of 11 for all 11 pages,
the other subdocuments show 1 of XX. I have changed the footer in all
subdocuments to continue from previous sections but page numbers still not
correct. Any other suggestions? This is my first time working with master
documents, I inherited this document from someone else, tried manually
combining documents into one but the formatting is so different on the
subdocuments therefore causing a real mess. Thanks

 

[Charles Kenyon]

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.

--

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


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[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Yvonne,

I have a master document with subdocuments, trying to number Page 1 of, Page
2 of, etc. of 350 throughout the document, also each subdocument has the name
of the section in the footer. When I expand the subdocuments the page numbers
are incorrect, ex. the first subdocument has Page 11 of 11 for all 11 pages,
the other subdocuments show 1 of XX. I have changed the footer in all
subdocuments to continue from previous sections but page numbers still not
correct. Any other suggestions? This is my first time working with master
documents, I inherited this document from someone else, tried manually
combining documents into one but the formatting is so different on the
subdocuments therefore causing a real mess.

Mmmm. Master documents are "iffy" things, as you can gather from Charles's
reaction There are very basic guidelines for achieving a "useable" result;
if you're starting with a potpourri of various documents, from different
sources, you're already violating the first rule...

By "different formatting" are you referring to page layout (margins, etc)?

What technique are you using to put the "section name" in the footer?

How do you plan to use the Master Document, if you manage to get it up and
running?

Finally, which version of Word are we dealing with?

I have some thoughts, but I first need more background so I don't confuse you
even more

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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