atw: Re: Office 2007 - Master documents - Faustian evil but useable...

Sorry Pete, have I left something out there?

I made dozens of the damn thing nearly 18 months ago now. The reply was
horribly rushed. The basics I put in certainly worked for me. The important
thing was to not move the documents from the source area. That was a no
brainer, preferably leaving them on a network. 

In the end for me, I produced pdfs from them and released them to clients.
If the client lost the manuals the policy was to reproduce a new one of the
latest version. Always keep back-ups btw...

Warren.
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Peter Martin
Sent: Monday, 26 March 2007 15:28
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Office 2007 - Master documents - Faustian evil but
useable...

Warren:

Tch!   Tch!   Tch!

Naughty!  Naughty !  Naughty!     This is virtually guaranteed NOT to work,
Warren, 
because Word KNOWS there's no copy, and therefore punishes you by scattering
pointers to the 4 winds. 

Steps 1 to N in any process using Master document mode should have a prefix
after each step: 

Copy all your files someplace safe.

Without this ritual, nothing.

On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:28:42 +1100,  you wrote:
> Right, just to step out of the 'they don't work' mire. Steve Hudson, 
> God rest his souls, is a good mate of mine.
>
> Okay, Word master sub documents were pretty solid from Word 2000 on. 
> Word has stabilised remarkably in the last few years since real RAM 
> has become available. As you will see below, you need patience, time 
> and very good humour to get it to work. solid Word skills are 
> ESSENTIAL. Sorry but this document is madly rushed.
>
> I haven't seen Office 2007 (mine is coming).
>
> My recommendations start with ensuring the style naming conventions 
> you have applied to each document are all the same. In fact take that as
essential...
> To create a Master sub-document system you should really start with a 
> template that all documents are made from or one that is attached to 
> all relevant documents. It is not critical, but it removes an irritant 
> level step or in the WORST case, an absolute nightmare! And there are 
> so many pests (equivalent to your beloved sandflies on the south 
> Island) that any you can remove is good.
>
> Each sub-document should be contained in one bookmark (from beginning 
> to end), labelled for example "Section_##". Master Document TOC's work 
> best using bookmark references, linked back to each sub-document. So 
> add a discrete name for each sub-document that is independent (I use 
> "Section_##"), then each Master Document TOC field (one for each sub-
> document) looks like: {TOC \b "Section_##" [switches] }. Otherwise 
> diagnosing the sometimes psychotic standard TOC results can be a
nightmare.
>
> To guarantee a nice consecutive numbering of the sections, go to each 
> sub- document, navigate to the styles controlling the heading 
> numbering. Stand on your head, count to ten. In the Bullets and 
> Numbering dialog, select the Outline numbered tab and click Customize. 
> Change the 'Start at' number to the relevant section number. Click OK 
> to confirm it all. Hope. Update your fields. Save. Do a rap dance ... 
> (swearing creatively helps). If this step is not done, remember that 
> editing the individual sub-documents will not reflect the heading numbers
that Word distributes in the Master document.
>
> NEVER DELETE SECTION BREAKS WITHOUT FOREVER CURSING YOUR GRANDMOTHER'S 
> MEMORY IN A MASTER DOCUMENT.
>
> This description below is how it used to all work (as at word 2003
anyway).
>
>
> 1. Put all your documents into one directory location. Start with the 
> Master document and leave the sub-documents in a folder under it. 
> Prevent the directory/folder tree from being tampered with. Ever. 
> Threaten being eaten by Maori's if they do... don't ever change a file
name in here again.
>
> 2. To set up the master document, Start with a nice front matter section.
> This will become the master document.
>
> 3. Tools > Options > View. Turn viewing everything on, section breaks, 
> styles, fields. The whole caboose. Click Ok and get used to the view, 
> especially in View > Normal. You'll need it. Believe me.
>
> 4. Now, View > Outline. The view changes again. Get used to this view, 
> you will need it more. This is where you could get into trouble, 
> however all your documents are going already. So it is easier.
>
> 4a. Make sure the cursor is not inside a bookmark, or a section break 
> you have created in the master document.
> 4b. In the Outlining toolbar, click the Insert sub-document button. 4c.
> Browse to and select the document you want to add. Click open. Click 
> OK, Yes or No on any messages (read them all, they mean something) you may
get.
> 4d. Breathe once, select all, update fields and save.
>
> Now that is how it used to work. Don't' forget to swear and curse on 
> the Wallabies bad name and evilly glare at Word numerous times during 
> the process. It does the same to you and the All-Blacks...
>
> Finally. BE WARNED. Master-sub document help was scanty, but it may be 
> absent because the system doesn't work properly any more... MS 
> developers do that sort of thing. then again, it might work even 
> better, it was just the developer responsible didn't want the user monkeys
utilising it...
> Warren.
> From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter- 
> bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carin van Bolderen
> Sent: Monday, 26 March 2007 12:51
> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: atw: Office 2007 - Master documents
>
>
> Hi everyone
>
>
> Ive just joined this list and am based in New Zealand working as a 
> technical writer for a software company. Im currently producing a 
> large manual in WORD (using Office 2007), and wonder if anyone has any 
> pointers about creating Master documents. Ive worked in FrameMaker 
> for many years, so Im finding WORD a bit of a grind.
>
>
> I basically have a dozen or so chapters ( approx 30-40 pages in each 
> one) and want to be able to create a TOC that has consecutive numbers 
> across the whole manualis there any other way of achieving this apart 
> from creating a Master document with sub-documents (the chapters)? I 
> cant find anything about Master documents in the WORD help file???
>
>
> Look forward to your response J
>
> Kindest regards
>
> Carin
>
>
> Carin van Bolderen                                  
>
> Documentation Analyst                     
> Ph: +64 3 365 3200
>
> Carin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
> Hindin Communications Ltd
>
> P.O. Box 1181
>
> Christchurch
>
> New Zealand                                 
> www.knowledgebase.co.nz
>
>
> CAUTION: This e-mail message and accompanying data may contain 
> information that is confidential and subject to privilege. If you are 
> not the intended recipient, you are notified that any use, 
> dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message or data is 
> prohibited. If you have received this e- mail in error, please notify 
> me immediately and delete all material pertaining to this e-mail. Thank
you.


-Peter M
 
There's really no point in listening to other people. They're either going
to be agreeing with you or saying stupid stuff  -- Dogbert via Dilbert and
(c)Scott Adams
**************************************************
To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field.

To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field.

To search the austechwriter archives, go to
www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter

To contact the list administrator, send a message to
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************

**************************************************
To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to 
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to 
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field.

To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field.

To search the austechwriter archives, go to 
www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter

To contact the list administrator, send a message to 
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************

Other related posts: