Hi Curran:
Yes, you are correct: links to Hypertext Targets that include an explicit
path name to a saved document will work in INCLUDETEXT. If the document has
not been saved when you insert the reference the link is not written as a
full-qualified path, or if you move the document after inserting such a
link, the link will break. It is indeed a bug in my opinion, although
Microsoft considers it a "limitation".
Cross-references (which are not hyperlinks) will not work outside the
current file, and neither will some types of numbering. With list-based
(Heading) numbering, you can fake it. With Captions, you can't (well, you
can by setting the caption starting number manually in the first SEQ field,
but that's a high-maintenance solution).
Word 2003 master documents are quite stable provided you are working in
HTML. The fix to Master Documents is HTML/XML. So yes, the fix has
arrived. But you need a seriously powerful computer to operate this way:
HTML is very slow compared to the Word .DOC format.
The number of pages in a Word file actually has nothing to do with things,
because "pages" do not exist in a Word document, they are inserted into the
print stream when you print or display.
The limit is "32 megabytes of text, NOT including graphics" or an overall
file-size of 2 GB. You can easily exceed the 32 MB on Windows XP provided
that you are using NTFS as your file system.
However, workstations with sufficient power to handle huge documents are not
universally supplied on corporate desktops. You need a 3 GHz processor and
1 GB of real memory plus a nice fast SCSI disk drive for a happy life.
Now let me say something that will really annoy you: Master Documents will
work fine in Word 2000 or above provided you know how to use them perfectly
and are capable of operating that way.
That statement really is an absurdity, because no human being operates that
perfectly all the time. But it's user error that breaks master documents,
not Word. Things like changing numbering improperly, deleting paragraphs
next to tables, drag-and-drop editing, etc etc.
I had a 2,600-page master document survive in daily editing for six months
once. But it means you have to operate perfectly: do all of your formatting
with styles, define your numbering and bullet styles perfectly, don't do any
hack-and-chop editing and don't use Tracked Changes or Versions.
Not, in my view, practical either.
Sorry
from said:
John,
That's quite the limitation! I need to print the doc quite a numeber of
times
while developing it for editing/etc. by my supervisor. I think there is some
bug in there though, because the INCLUDETEXT does work on some
of the cross-references, such as bookmarks in other files and references
to captions as long as I reference them after the actual caption line.
The heading styles etc. also know about the other chapter numbers and
update fine. I do realize the within each sub-file, the document obviously
has no knowledge of numbering in the other documents.
I think I'll go back to one main document; I already link to pictures to
reduce file size. I've also been having a pain with section page formatting
when using INCLUDETEXT. Hope you're right about handling that
many pages in modern versions of Word. Or maybe there will someday
be a working version of real Master Document functionality.
Thanks for your thoughts.
--
Please respond only to the newsgroup to preserve the thread.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:
[email protected]
