How do I Manage a manual using Word?

[JamesDart]

Greetings;

I have read several of the posts here already, but I need more information.
Here is the parameters of the document I am creating:

It is a Process Manual, meaning it is a Large document designed to show
users how to do specific procedures within the program we are using.

For my document, I am using the following features:
Auto Table of Contents
Heading Styles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)
Hyperlinks to outside documents
Hyperlinks to same document
Bookmarks (300 so far)
Cross-References
Insert Picture (mostly Screen shots copied into MSPaint and saved)
"Dragged" images from Visio
Figure Captions
Field Codes in Header
Field Codes in Footer
Auto Table of Figures
Sections
Page numbers restart at the beginning of each Section

Manual Design:
Being this is my second manual, and I'm self taught, I know this is not a
standard format, hence why i'm asking for help:
Title Page
ToC
Introduction
Part I Section
Chapter 1
....
....
Part VI Section
Chapter 23
Appendixes
Glossary
Screenshots

So far, I have 214 pages and i'm only on Chapter "2" of 23. File size is
already 10,048 kb.

Here's one my Issues:

Every time I insert a "copied" item, something that is being repeated that
is hyperlinked and cannot be placed in the header or footer, Word seems to
"Time Out", no cursor visible, no typing available, for about 15 to 30
seconds. If i scroll the screen up or down a few times, then attempt to type
again, it seems to respond again.

Is this where "Building blocks" or "Quick Parts" would be of better use?

Thank you for any responses. Any suggestions would be wonderful on how to
make this a quicker/effiecient process.

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello James

JamesDart wrote:
[..]

It is a Process Manual, meaning it is a Large document designed to show
users how to do specific procedures within the program we are using.

For my document, I am using the following features:
Auto Table of Contents
Heading Styles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)

I would take a step back here: *6* heading levels for anything under the
volume of, say, the Bible, is too much IMHO.

Hyperlinks to outside documents
Hyperlinks to same document
Bookmarks (300 so far)
Cross-References
Insert Picture (mostly Screen shots copied into MSPaint and saved)
"Dragged" images from Visio

I would investigate a bit if exporting from Visio (WMF/EMF format?)
might get better results in terms of file size and overhead for Word.

Figure Captions
Field Codes in Header
Field Codes in Footer

Could you elaborate a bit here: PAGE and STYLEREF fields, and/or
something more?

Auto Table of Figures
Sections
Page numbers restart at the beginning of each Section

Again, this is something I would critically review: it's basically an
outdated practice from the ages of printed manuals and delivered
page-wise corrections. If you intend to do that (instead of, say,
delivering PDF or HTML files), then Word might not be the best tool at
hand for you because it's definitely not page-oriented in its setup.

Manual Design:
Being this is my second manual, and I'm self taught, I know this is not a
standard format, hence why i'm asking for help:
Title Page
ToC
Introduction
Part I Section
Chapter 1
...
...
Part VI Section
Chapter 23
Appendixes
Glossary
Screenshots

So far, I have 214 pages and i'm only on Chapter "2" of 23. File size is
already 10,048 kb.

I don't know the scope of your application. But by extrapolating, it
looks like you'll be somewhere in the vicinity of 2500 pages in the end.
That is a monster manual. Is it intended to be read?

Here's one my Issues:

Every time I insert a "copied" item, something that is being repeated that
is hyperlinked and cannot be placed in the header or footer, Word seems to
"Time Out", no cursor visible, no typing available, for about 15 to 30
seconds. If i scroll the screen up or down a few times, then attempt to type
again, it seems to respond again.

Is this where "Building blocks" or "Quick Parts" would be of better use?

Are you talking about an external object to be repeated here (picture,
Visio object, etc.)? You could bookmark the first occurrence and insert
a REF field, technically.

In a very large document, saving all the pictures externally and linking
them into the document will reduce the file size. Though frankly, you
have the burden to make sure that the pictures are all stable relative
to the document (in the same folder or subfolder, preferably), have to
deal with relative vs. absolute links, and of course Word needs to bring
all stuff together at run time, so I'm not sure this helps a lot in your
situation.

In any case, the machine you're working on should be state of the art
and have lots and lots of RAM.

HTH
Robert

 

[JamesDart]

Robert;

Thank you for responding, been struggling terribly.

JamesDart wrote:
[..]

It is a Process Manual, meaning it is a Large document designed to show
users how to do specific procedures within the program we are using.

For my document, I am using the following features:
Auto Table of Contents
Heading Styles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)

I would take a step back here: *6* heading levels for anything under the
volume of, say, the Bible, is too much IMHO.

I did take a step back and reduced to "4" Heading levels, so that's good to
know that i'm on the right track.

I would investigate a bit if exporting from Visio (WMF/EMF format?)
might get better results in terms of file size and overhead for Word.

<nods> I will do some investigating on this. Any ideas on where I can get
this kind of information, or will it just be trial and error? <grins>
Getting used to the Trial and Error, frustrating, but I do learn from my
mistakes.

Could you elaborate a bit here: PAGE and STYLEREF fields, and/or
something more?

Header: For Sections 1-4, there is no Header. For Sections 4-32, I have 3
PAGE fields: "Chapter" (Heading 1), "Module" (Heading 2), and "Section"
(Heading 3). I felt that the 4th Heading, which is the actual
process/procedure/instructions jumbled the Header too much. For Sections
33-37, I have 2 PAGE fields, "Chapter" and "Section." I'm thinking that I
can reduce it to just "Chapter" since these sections are all part of the
Appendix

Footer: Section 1's footer is a PAGE field with the "SAVEDATE" that I am
using as a "Last Edited" reference. Sections 2-4 it the ToC, so there is a
PAGE field for roman numeral page numbers. Sections 5-32, I have a PAGE
field for the pagenumber, "Outline Circle 2" as well as two "pasted" logos,
one on either side of the pagenumber. Essentially, one is my company's and
the other is the Software company's. Sections 33-37 use the same "Outline
Circle 2" PAGE field, but I changed the Format to reflect "A-1" for appendix
A, "B-1" for appendix B, etc.

Again, this is something I would critically review: it's basically an
outdated practice from the ages of printed manuals and delivered
page-wise corrections. If you intend to do that (instead of, say,
delivering PDF or HTML files), then Word might not be the best tool at
hand for you because it's definitely not page-oriented in its setup.

<gasp> oh, my. So, what is the recommendation? This "File" is intended to
be used by employees through access in our network. The finished product
(and subfiles) will be placed in the "Public" Folder so that any employee can
access it. It is not intended or designed to be printed. Though, my
supervisor threatens that it needs to be printable for folks to have it
"handy." I disagree, but, then again, she's the boss.

I don't know the scope of your application. But by extrapolating, it
looks like you'll be somewhere in the vicinity of 2500 pages in the end.
That is a monster manual. Is it intended to be read?

<laughs> Yes, it is intended to be read. Maybe that's the wrong
terminology. It is to used to "train" new employees as well as a "Reference"
for established employees. As mentioned above, I have no intentions of ever
printing this monster. Any shortcuts, tricks, and/or ideas to reduce the
size would be greatly appreciated. Half way through Chapter 3, Only added 20
pages. Granted, I reformatted the original 214 pages to be less graphic
intensive, added more white space.

Question: I am not happy with the product, impressed with it, having fun
with the different "eye candy" Word(c) provides, but as you mentioned, I
think that it was the crux of my issue. Essentially, The following is a
"brief" example:
Header: Chapter: "Heading 1" Module: "Heading 2" Section: "Heading 3"
Top right corner: three graphic pictures .25inx.25in, hyperlinked. 1sr one
is to the ToC, 2nd is to the Section Heading, 3rd is to the Appendix
Heading 1 - "3 Inpatient Admissions"
Heading 2 - "Intake"
Heading 3 - "Admissions - Daily Pre-Admission"
- a little paragraph about the purpose and intent of the section, why it has
to be done, etc.
Heading 4 - "Pre-Admission Checklist"
- and then there's a HUGE table that follows. I found that using a table
made it extremely easy to manipulate, as far as height and length, as well as
"filling" table fields with colors for emphasis.
Footer: Company Logo, Page number, Software Logo

Finally, the question: does using extensive, HUGE tables cause problems?

Are you talking about an external object to be repeated here (picture,
Visio object, etc.)? You could bookmark the first occurrence and insert
a REF field, technically.

Yes, and Wow, didn't even think about that. Awesome, will impliment that
today.

In a very large document, saving all the pictures externally and linking
them into the document will reduce the file size. Though frankly, you
have the burden to make sure that the pictures are all stable relative
to the document (in the same folder or subfolder, preferably), have to
deal with relative vs. absolute links, and of course Word needs to bring
all stuff together at run time, so I'm not sure this helps a lot in your
situation.

Oh, okay. I started to do that initially, but found that in order to "link"
to the picture, I had to create a "save" for every single one. After #15 (of
57 currently) I gave up on that idea and just put the pictures (aka Screen
shots) at the end of the document, linked to the appropriate heading.
Problem was, I would have to create a bookmark for the readers spot, insert
the picture to the "Screen shot Appendix", add a WORD(c) caption to the
picture, create a "BACK" hyperlink to the bookmark, then hyperlink the
bookmark to the picture Caption. VERY time consuming, and, as you mentioned
before, takes a lot of memory.

This document I am creating also has documents within documents, meaning,
for processes, prcedures, and/or instructions that will be referred to more
often than others, I created an external document (some are up to 10 pages)
that was hyperlinked from the main document. This does save space, but at
the same time, when the link is clicked on, it "opens" the document and if
the User doesn't "close" it, well, let's just say there's going to be a lot
of open documents.

In any case, the machine you're working on should be state of the art
and have lots and lots of RAM.

Alas, though the system I am working on is better than the majority of
systems being used at our agency, it is far from "State of the Art." Hence
why I'm trying to find any and all means to reduce the intensity of the
document w/o losing the integrity as well. I like what I have created, but I
worry that I am putting an awful lot of work into something that may end up
too cumbersome or worse yet, unused.

Thank you Robert for responding. I will take what responses you have listed
and put them into action. I also am anxiously waiting for a respone this as
well.

Again, thank you.

James Dart
Special Projects Manager
Sundown M Ranch

 

[Mike Shuls]

James,
I'm making a manual very similar to yours only much smaller. I'm a summer
intern with a copius job that takes a while to learn the ins and outs of, so
I'm making a manual for the next intern and any other future interns during
my free time.

I'm using most of what you're using, 3 levels of headers, a autoTOC and
bookmarks (probably an autoindex as well which ill bookmark so that they are
links...)

I was just wondering if you knew any way to add in an object that will
scroll as the user scrolls with a link back to the TOC, or if there's a good
alternative besides keeping the document map open to easily return to the
table of contents...

Thanks, and good luck on your possible 2500 page beast.

-Shuls

Robert;

Thank you for responding, been struggling terribly.

JamesDart wrote:
[..]

It is a Process Manual, meaning it is a Large document designed to show
users how to do specific procedures within the program we are using.

For my document, I am using the following features:
Auto Table of Contents
Heading Styles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)

I would take a step back here: *6* heading levels for anything under the
volume of, say, the Bible, is too much IMHO.

I did take a step back and reduced to "4" Heading levels, so that's good to
know that i'm on the right track.

I would investigate a bit if exporting from Visio (WMF/EMF format?)
might get better results in terms of file size and overhead for Word.

<nods> I will do some investigating on this. Any ideas on where I can get
this kind of information, or will it just be trial and error? <grins>
Getting used to the Trial and Error, frustrating, but I do learn from my
mistakes.

Could you elaborate a bit here: PAGE and STYLEREF fields, and/or
something more?

Header: For Sections 1-4, there is no Header. For Sections 4-32, I have 3
PAGE fields: "Chapter" (Heading 1), "Module" (Heading 2), and "Section"
(Heading 3). I felt that the 4th Heading, which is the actual
process/procedure/instructions jumbled the Header too much. For Sections
33-37, I have 2 PAGE fields, "Chapter" and "Section." I'm thinking that I
can reduce it to just "Chapter" since these sections are all part of the
Appendix

Footer: Section 1's footer is a PAGE field with the "SAVEDATE" that I am
using as a "Last Edited" reference. Sections 2-4 it the ToC, so there is a
PAGE field for roman numeral page numbers. Sections 5-32, I have a PAGE
field for the pagenumber, "Outline Circle 2" as well as two "pasted" logos,
one on either side of the pagenumber. Essentially, one is my company's and
the other is the Software company's. Sections 33-37 use the same "Outline
Circle 2" PAGE field, but I changed the Format to reflect "A-1" for appendix
A, "B-1" for appendix B, etc.

Again, this is something I would critically review: it's basically an
outdated practice from the ages of printed manuals and delivered
page-wise corrections. If you intend to do that (instead of, say,
delivering PDF or HTML files), then Word might not be the best tool at
hand for you because it's definitely not page-oriented in its setup.

<gasp> oh, my. So, what is the recommendation? This "File" is intended to
be used by employees through access in our network. The finished product
(and subfiles) will be placed in the "Public" Folder so that any employee can
access it. It is not intended or designed to be printed. Though, my
supervisor threatens that it needs to be printable for folks to have it
"handy." I disagree, but, then again, she's the boss.

I don't know the scope of your application. But by extrapolating, it
looks like you'll be somewhere in the vicinity of 2500 pages in the end.
That is a monster manual. Is it intended to be read?

<laughs> Yes, it is intended to be read. Maybe that's the wrong
terminology. It is to used to "train" new employees as well as a "Reference"
for established employees. As mentioned above, I have no intentions of ever
printing this monster. Any shortcuts, tricks, and/or ideas to reduce the
size would be greatly appreciated. Half way through Chapter 3, Only added 20
pages. Granted, I reformatted the original 214 pages to be less graphic
intensive, added more white space.

Question: I am not happy with the product, impressed with it, having fun
with the different "eye candy" Word(c) provides, but as you mentioned, I
think that it was the crux of my issue. Essentially, The following is a
"brief" example:
Header: Chapter: "Heading 1" Module: "Heading 2" Section: "Heading 3"
Top right corner: three graphic pictures .25inx.25in, hyperlinked. 1sr one
is to the ToC, 2nd is to the Section Heading, 3rd is to the Appendix
Heading 1 - "3 Inpatient Admissions"
Heading 2 - "Intake"
Heading 3 - "Admissions - Daily Pre-Admission"
- a little paragraph about the purpose and intent of the section, why it has
to be done, etc.
Heading 4 - "Pre-Admission Checklist"
- and then there's a HUGE table that follows. I found that using a table
made it extremely easy to manipulate, as far as height and length, as well as
"filling" table fields with colors for emphasis.
Footer: Company Logo, Page number, Software Logo

Finally, the question: does using extensive, HUGE tables cause problems?

Are you talking about an external object to be repeated here (picture,
Visio object, etc.)? You could bookmark the first occurrence and insert
a REF field, technically.

Yes, and Wow, didn't even think about that. Awesome, will impliment that
today.

In a very large document, saving all the pictures externally and linking
them into the document will reduce the file size. Though frankly, you
have the burden to make sure that the pictures are all stable relative
to the document (in the same folder or subfolder, preferably), have to
deal with relative vs. absolute links, and of course Word needs to bring
all stuff together at run time, so I'm not sure this helps a lot in your
situation.

Oh, okay. I started to do that initially, but found that in order to "link"
to the picture, I had to create a "save" for every single one. After #15 (of
57 currently) I gave up on that idea and just put the pictures (aka Screen
shots) at the end of the document, linked to the appropriate heading.
Problem was, I would have to create a bookmark for the readers spot, insert
the picture to the "Screen shot Appendix", add a WORD(c) caption to the
picture, create a "BACK" hyperlink to the bookmark, then hyperlink the
bookmark to the picture Caption. VERY time consuming, and, as you mentioned
before, takes a lot of memory.

This document I am creating also has documents within documents, meaning,
for processes, prcedures, and/or instructions that will be referred to more
often than others, I created an external document (some are up to 10 pages)
that was hyperlinked from the main document. This does save space, but at
the same time, when the link is clicked on, it "opens" the document and if
the User doesn't "close" it, well, let's just say there's going to be a lot
of open documents.

In any case, the machine you're working on should be state of the art
and have lots and lots of RAM.

Alas, though the system I am working on is better than the majority of
systems being used at our agency, it is far from "State of the Art." Hence
why I'm trying to find any and all means to reduce the intensity of the
document w/o losing the integrity as well. I like what I have created, but I
worry that I am putting an awful lot of work into something that may end up
too cumbersome or worse yet, unused.

Thank you Robert for responding. I will take what responses you have listed
and put them into action. I also am anxiously waiting for a respone this as
well.

Again, thank you.

James Dart
Special Projects Manager
Sundown M Ranch

 

[JamesDart]

James,
I'm making a manual very similar to yours only much smaller. I'm a summer
intern with a copius job that takes a while to learn the ins and outs of, so
I'm making a manual for the next intern and any other future interns during
my free time.

I'm using most of what you're using, 3 levels of headers, a autoTOC and
bookmarks (probably an autoindex as well which ill bookmark so that they are
links...)

I was just wondering if you knew any way to add in an object that will
scroll as the user scrolls with a link back to the TOC, or if there's a good
alternative besides keeping the document map open to easily return to the
table of contents...

Thanks, and good luck on your possible 2500 page beast.

-Shuls

Hiyas Shuls

I'm pretty sure that having a "scrolling object" will create more problems
than solve. What i did, since i have this beast, and frankly, having a
document map open, while is a wonderful function, not everyone understands
it, is just added an icon to represent the Table of Contents on each page
that is hyperlinked.

My solution was the following:
(Part 1)
At the beginning of the document (or just above my Table of Contents) I
typed in very teeny tiny letters "Table"
Highlighted "Table", went into font format and made the text "hidden"
While still highlighted I also gave it a refcode called "Table" as a bookmark

(Part 2)
Then I added my Auto Table of Contents.

(Part 3)
In my "Introduction" I have a page script describing all the little icons
and symbols on any given page. In here, I created a Visio Object (you can
use paint or even import a picture/clipart) to represent the Table of
Contents.

I highlighted this object and named it "AutoTable" as a Bookmark

(Part 4)
Then, I go to the first spot in the manual, all I have to do is select the
spot where i want it (Upper right-hand corner), go to the Insert Tab, Click
on Quick Parts, Click on Fields, Click on Ref, select "Autotable" bookmark,
click on OK...

....and Viola! the picture is now where I want it to be.

(Part 5)
Finally, I highlight the new tableicon and hyperlink it to the "table"
bookmark.

Setup takes a few minutes, then it's just copied/pasted onto each page.
Rather nifty. Got the Idea from Robert (see below)

"Are you talking about an external object to be repeated here (picture,
Visio object, etc.)? You could bookmark the first occurrence and insert a REF
field, technically."

Anyhow, if there's an easier way to do it, i'm open to suggestions. Being
self-taught here, i'm probably working too hard. But, I've read, in it's
entirety, "Step by Step; Office Word 2007" and progressing through "2007
Microsoft Office System." Fantastic resources, but limited on the In's and
Out's. That's why i'm posting here.


James Dart
Special Projects Manager
Sundown M Ranch
"Reality isn't Relevant, Perception is Everything"

 

[Mike Shuls]

Sweet.
I'm completely self taught as well, and my office has office 2000, so we'll
see if that works or not. I think it should and it sounds awesome so i'll try
it out right now.

Thanks a million
-Shuls

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello James

JamesDart wrote:
[..]

I did take a step back and reduced to "4" Heading levels, so that's good to
know that i'm on the right track.

well, 4 is certainly better than 6 or 7 in that regard!

It's really also a matter of changing seats and imagine you were the
reader. The heading structure is supposed to guide -- not to confuse.

I think I read about this in one of fellow MVP John McGhie's articles.
I'm not sure it's in the following, but you might still take a look (and
there are other good ones where this one comes is hosted ):

Creating a Template (Part II, by John McGhie)
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm


[..]

<nods> I will do some investigating on this. Any ideas on where I can get
this kind of information, or will it just be trial and error? <grins>
Getting used to the Trial and Error, frustrating, but I do learn from my
mistakes.

Sorry, I don't really know any good resources up front. That doesn't
mean there are not any (especially "somewhere" in office online). But
much material there seems to be ephemeral/version bound. For a project
like yours, I would test myself in any case. Office/Word is great in
bringing together all different parts/objects, but the details can be a
pain. And historically, testing was due again whenever you switched
versions. So always keep whatever you put into Word also in separate
files wherever you took it from (Visio, PPT, Excel, maybe graphic art
from Photoshop or any other graphic application).

Header: For Sections 1-4, there is no Header. For Sections 4-32, I have 3
PAGE fields: "Chapter" (Heading 1), "Module" (Heading 2), and "Section"
(Heading 3). I felt that the 4th Heading, which is the actual
process/procedure/instructions jumbled the Header too much. For Sections
33-37, I have 2 PAGE fields, "Chapter" and "Section." I'm thinking that I
can reduce it to just "Chapter" since these sections are all part of the
Appendix

Footer: Section 1's footer is a PAGE field with the "SAVEDATE" that I am
using as a "Last Edited" reference.

Good idea, I've even used that in dissertation templates (including with
instructions on how to take it out again before publication).

Sections 2-4 it the ToC, so there is a
PAGE field for roman numeral page numbers.

Just curious: 3 sections for a TOC? Have you three of 'em? [I've seen
this in a 1000 page book before, all with different level of detail. Two
seems enough here as well IMHO ...]

Sections 5-32, I have a PAGE
field for the pagenumber, "Outline Circle 2" as well as two "pasted" logos,
one on either side of the pagenumber. Essentially, one is my company's and
the other is the Software company's. Sections 33-37 use the same "Outline
Circle 2" PAGE field, but I changed the Format to reflect "A-1" for appendix
A, "B-1" for appendix B, etc. [..]
<gasp> oh, my. So, what is the recommendation? This "File" is intended to
be used by employees through access in our network. The finished product
(and subfiles) will be placed in the "Public" Folder so that any employee can
access it. It is not intended or designed to be printed. Though, my
supervisor threatens that it needs to be printable for folks to have it
"handy." I disagree, but, then again, she's the boss.

This again is one of John's points: "Folio by Chapter" is outdated.
Imagine yourself leaving through a very large book, say you look
something up in the INDEX or TOC. You will find page 625 in a 1000 page
book very quickly. But how fast will you be able to locate page 8-39?

It's really something people did "in the old days" when large manuals
went into print, and where paper was expensive. When you changed
something in a manual, you only reprinted certain pages with actual
edits. And that's the part where Word really is unsuitable: it does not
really have a clear concept of "pages".

The main text is laid out each and every time you switch views. Well,
it's a text processor, not a typewriter. When you change something on
page 13, 59 following pages might change their pagination. And that's
fine, if you either print out the whole thing anyway each time, and
certainly if you don't print at all.

For an electronic "publication," even on an intranet, I strongly suggest
you don't put the original Word file up there, because users will mess
it up for you! I would probably not even put it in DOC format there,
but as a PDF (or HTML). And, frankly, especially for a printed
publication, the page number is either not necessary at all, or it might
be an ordinary number running from 1 to 1000.


[..]

<laughs> Yes, it is intended to be read. Maybe that's the wrong
terminology. It is to used to "train" new employees as well as a "Reference"
for established employees. As mentioned above, I have no intentions of ever
printing this monster. Any shortcuts, tricks, and/or ideas to reduce the
size would be greatly appreciated. Half way through Chapter 3, Only added 20
pages. Granted, I reformatted the original 214 pages to be less graphic
intensive, added more white space.

That's cool. Many long documents are what we call "lead deserts" in my
language.

Question: I am not happy with the product, impressed with it, having fun
with the different "eye candy" Word(c) provides, but as you mentioned, I
think that it was the crux of my issue. Essentially, The following is a
"brief" example:
Header: Chapter: "Heading 1" Module: "Heading 2" Section: "Heading 3"
Top right corner: three graphic pictures .25inx.25in, hyperlinked. 1sr one
is to the ToC, 2nd is to the Section Heading, 3rd is to the Appendix

Hyperlinks in headers or footers are not clickable from the main text
story in Word. I don't know what happens if you convert such a document
to PDF (certainly depends in which way you convert whether you get links
at all anywhere ).

Heading 1 - "3 Inpatient Admissions"
Heading 2 - "Intake"
Heading 3 - "Admissions - Daily Pre-Admission"
- a little paragraph about the purpose and intent of the section, why it has
to be done, etc.
Heading 4 - "Pre-Admission Checklist"
- and then there's a HUGE table that follows. I found that using a table
made it extremely easy to manipulate, as far as height and length, as well as
"filling" table fields with colors for emphasis.
Footer: Company Logo, Page number, Software Logo

Finally, the question: does using extensive, HUGE tables cause problems?

Yes, Word can be slowed down when your tables span many, many pages. I'd
say it's not the sheer length but "complexity" (number of columns/rows,
split/merged cells, and the content, raw text or pictures/objects, etc.)
that makes it struggle. If you can, split up the table every now and
then (where you'd have inserted a Heading 5 previously ... ).

Yes, and Wow, didn't even think about that. Awesome, will impliment that
today.

And I hope it really works well, too!

Oh, okay. I started to do that initially, but found that in order to "link"
to the picture, I had to create a "save" for every single one. After #15 (of
57 currently) I gave up on that idea and just put the pictures (aka Screen
shots) at the end of the document, linked to the appropriate heading.
Problem was, I would have to create a bookmark for the readers spot, insert
the picture to the "Screen shot Appendix", add a WORD(c) caption to the
picture, create a "BACK" hyperlink to the bookmark, then hyperlink the
bookmark to the picture Caption. VERY time consuming, and, as you mentioned
before, takes a lot of memory.

Regarding the pictures before: Word has not historically been a good
container for original "artwork" -- meaning that it's only prudent to
save them someplace else (additionally, unless you link to there from
Word). Linking is more work for you, I think (esp. since you need to
make sure the link targets are still there).

This document I am creating also has documents within documents, meaning,
for processes, prcedures, and/or instructions that will be referred to more
often than others, I created an external document (some are up to 10 pages)
that was hyperlinked from the main document. This does save space, but at
the same time, when the link is clicked on, it "opens" the document and if
the User doesn't "close" it, well, let's just say there's going to be a lot
of open documents.

Yes, well, but users these days should be familiar with hypertext enough
to get along there. Again, the DOC format is hardly the optimal format
for your "publication."

Alas, though the system I am working on is better than the majority of
systems being used at our agency, it is far from "State of the Art." Hence
why I'm trying to find any and all means to reduce the intensity of the
document w/o losing the integrity as well. I like what I have created, but I
worry that I am putting an awful lot of work into something that may end up
too cumbersome or worse yet, unused.

Thank you Robert for responding. I will take what responses you have listed
and put them into action. I also am anxiously waiting for a respone this as
well.

You're welcome. I wish I could give you more direct tips and less
"general advise", but it's been some time since I had to do large
manuals like the one you're working with. I'm not even sure you
mentioned it, but this is not in Word 2007, I presume?

[Tried and trusted is what you are looking for, in any case ... ;-)]

I once had a setup with a dissertation with many pictures being done in
PowerPoint. The special circumstance was that the author took his work
home with him on on weekends and holidays. And had some obscure
subnotebook or such a thing (and it was way before the time when USB
memory sticks were known) and the connection speed from his main
computer to his mobile device was really, really slow. That's where we
exported all slides from PowerPoint to WMF files (that's done with one
command from PowerPoint) into the same folder where the doc was sitting,
and linked all files into Word via INCLUDEPICTURE fields. That worked
pretty well. And a change to a slide took only another save as WMF
(globally, in PowerPoint) and an UpdateField in Word.

Greetinx
Robert

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello James

JamesDart wrote:
[..]

My solution was the following:
(Part 1)
At the beginning of the document (or just above my Table of Contents) I
typed in very teeny tiny letters "Table"
Highlighted "Table", went into font format and made the text "hidden"
While still highlighted I also gave it a refcode called "Table" as a bookmark

hmm. Interesting. You don't have a heading reading "Table of Contents,"
I presume? You could use that to reference (and if it's done in a
heading style, you don't even have to create the bookmark yourself ).

2cents
Robert

 

[Mike Shuls]

I ended up getting your idea to work, but I decided I wanted to convert my
document to PDF to make it easier to read, since reading something complex in
word can be confusing at best.
The only problem is that those images didn't keep their hyperlinks after the
conversion...any ideas?

Thanks
-Shuls

 

[JamesDart]

Robert! Thanks; some more answers and questions for you.

I think I read about this in one of fellow MVP John McGhie's articles.
I'm not sure it's in the following, but you might still take a look (and
there are other good ones where this one comes is hosted ):

Creating a Template (Part II, by John McGhie)
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm

Awesome article, made me cry with all that I have done, wish i had this
beforehand. Oh, well.

Sections 2-4 it the ToC, so there is a
PAGE field for roman numeral page numbers.

Just curious: 3 sections for a TOC? Have you three of 'em? [I've seen
this in a 1000 page book before, all with different level of detail. Two
seems enough here as well IMHO ...]

No, the ToC is not three sections, but the first three sections are as
follows: Section 2 is the ToC, section 3 is the Brief Description of the
Chapters, and section 4 is a Page Script and descriptions for various icons
and jargon. I included them all in the same "section" due to i used small
roman numerals to give them reference.

This again is one of John's points: "Folio by Chapter" is outdated.
Imagine yourself leaving through a very large book, say you look
something up in the INDEX or TOC. You will find page 625 in a 1000 page
book very quickly. But how fast will you be able to locate page 8-39?

Message understood, and zomg, 25 sections of linking and unlinking, but, it
does look a lot better and cleaner. Thanks!

Hyperlinks in headers or footers are not clickable from the main text
story in Word. I don't know what happens if you convert such a document
to PDF (certainly depends in which way you convert whether you get links
at all anywhere ).

The Hyperlinks are not in the Header, but in the upper right hand corner,
just below the header. I experimented with Hyperlinks in the Header and
discovered that they are only accessible, if you are in the Header. Don't
want users there. heh. But, this does bring up a question.

I have these "hyperlinks" on every single page, and quite honestly, i have
to replace them with "Insert>Quickpart>Field>Ref" and that's a lot of them,
roughly 582 of them. <shivers> any suggestions on how to make a very long
document more accessible?

I thought about just putting a statement in the Header or Footer about using
"Ctrl+F" instead of the graphic intense icons. What do you think?

Yes, Word can be slowed down when your tables span many, many pages. I'd
say it's not the sheer length but "complexity" (number of columns/rows,
split/merged cells, and the content, raw text or pictures/objects, etc.)
that makes it struggle. If you can, split up the table every now and
then (where you'd have inserted a Heading 5 previously ... ).

Okay, I was not clear enough. I have purposely "Split Table" and "Break
Page" on every page to reduce cells being on 2 pages, etc, but it does create
more work. I removed the "extra" cells. You're going to laugh, but I added
cells above and below each one as spacers. It was recently i discovered that
I could control the height with a click of a button on the Layout Tab. So, I
removed all the extra Cells. Much Cleaner.

And I hope it really works well, too!


Regarding the pictures before: Word has not historically been a good
container for original "artwork" -- meaning that it's only prudent to
save them someplace else (additionally, unless you link to there from
Word). Linking is more work for you, I think (esp. since you need to
make sure the link targets are still there).

I have done extensive reading on Pictures and Imbedded items into word, but
I can't seem to find my answer. You mentioned making sure to put all my
external items into seperate files and link them to the document. I
understand that works well for Screen Captures and Bitmaps. As far as Visio,
i have many flowcharts and modified Screen Captures that are imbedded (i.e.
Ctrl+Click & Drap) into the document. Do I need to have an individual file
for each one instead?

Also, if I have FieldRef linked a picture, can I copy & Paste it in another
spot or do I have Link it again to the document?

I read in one of the MVP logs that if I"m going to insert pictures, several
things need to be done. (1) use a table to provide a frame for the picture,
that way it doesn't wander (2) Convert any Bitmap to a GIF and then
"Insert>Picture>Link to File." I finally figured out how to convert my bit
maps, and wow, I have a 3,780 KB bitmap reduced to a 52 KB GIF. Granted the
color quality is less, but it's sufficient. Once one of these GIFs have been
inserted & linked, can I copy & paste them elsewhere?

Yes, well, but users these days should be familiar with hypertext enough
to get along there. Again, the DOC format is hardly the optimal format
for your "publication."

Rut Roh, what would be the suggestion?

Ditto!

You're welcome. I wish I could give you more direct tips and less
"general advise", but it's been some time since I had to do large
manuals like the one you're working with. I'm not even sure you
mentioned it, but this is not in Word 2007, I presume?

I am creating this Document in Word 2007 Compatibility Mode due to the fact
that our company has 144 Users, 141 of them are using Word 2000.

James E. Dart
Sundown M Ranch
Special Projects

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello James

Awesome article, made me cry with all that I have done, wish i had this
beforehand. Oh, well.

I remember when I read it first myself. I can relate to that!


[..]

The Hyperlinks are not in the Header, but in the upper right hand corner,
just below the header. I experimented with Hyperlinks in the Header and
discovered that they are only accessible, if you are in the Header. Don't
want users there. heh. But, this does bring up a question.

I have these "hyperlinks" on every single page, and quite honestly, i have
to replace them with "Insert>Quickpart>Field>Ref" and that's a lot of them,
roughly 582 of them. <shivers> any suggestions on how to make a very long
document more accessible?

I thought about just putting a statement in the Header or Footer about using
"Ctrl+F" instead of the graphic intense icons. What do you think?

various thoughts: It's easy in Word to repeat anything on "all pages"
(of a section) -- by putting it into the header. If there's any content
you want repeated but not anchored to header or footer area, you are
basically calling for trouble. [In a long, structured document.]

In the best case, and you're finding this out, it's a lot of work. And
every time you change something that alters the pagination on a couple
of pages, it's more work again. Word is not a "page-oriented application".

So, I would invest a great deal of thought (and work ) to prevent
that. I don't know exactly what your users/readers are supposed to do
with the document. But there are inherent ways in Word of how to
navigate in a large document, namely the Document Map, and Outline View.

And for some discreet number of places in the document, you might even
create some very small macros and place them on a custom toolbar. Then
you only have to do this once.

Okay, I was not clear enough. I have purposely "Split Table" and "Break
Page" on every page to reduce cells being on 2 pages, etc, but it does create
more work. I removed the "extra" cells. You're going to laugh, but I added
cells above and below each one as spacers. It was recently i discovered that
I could control the height with a click of a button on the Layout Tab. So, I
removed all the extra Cells. Much Cleaner.

You can tell Word not to split a row unto different pages ("Allow Row to
break ..." I think it's called, somewhere in the table/row properties
dialog). The use of hard page breaks is rather discouraged in long
documents. Use the "Page Break Before" property, in a heading style
preferably, as direct formatting in discreet places if you must.

I have done extensive reading on Pictures and Imbedded items into word, but
I can't seem to find my answer. You mentioned making sure to put all my
external items into seperate files and link them to the document. I
understand that works well for Screen Captures and Bitmaps. As far as Visio,
i have many flowcharts and modified Screen Captures that are imbedded (i.e.
Ctrl+Click & Drap) into the document. Do I need to have an individual file
for each one instead?

Well, as long as it works, it's fine. The saying goes: Word is not a
good container for (original) picture material. Meaning: Historically,
Word was not very good with large documents full of pictures, and it was
possible to loose a picture that way, or even the document. That meant
1) to have a backup copy of the picture available (so you can insert it
again, no matter which way), and 2) a good backup history of the file
itself (and, in a long document, this is still a very reasonable practice!).

In effect, I can't really say linking is better than embedding per se.
Linking must be carefully tested and executed and is probably more work.
But keeping the non-text stuff in separate files just in case you need
to re-insert some material seems reasonable. When I do software
documentation, I still do that, because, well, doing the screenshots is
work and if I need to do re-insert some picture, I don't want to make it
again.

Also, if I have FieldRef linked a picture, can I copy & Paste it in another
spot or do I have Link it again to the document?

Well, if you copy it from within the document, I'm pretty sure you're in
fact copying the INCLUDEPICTURE field and hence, yes, that should work
nicely.

I read in one of the MVP logs that if I"m going to insert pictures, several
things need to be done. (1) use a table to provide a frame for the picture,
that way it doesn't wander (2) Convert any Bitmap to a GIF and then
"Insert>Picture>Link to File."

I'm not familiar with that article. Might be a slightly different context.

Pictures can be setup in two different ways in Word: they can be
floating above/below the main text layer, that's called a Shape. Or they
may be treated as a (usually slightly large) character (InlineShape) and
are then part of the normal text area.

Basically, you use the first method if you need any fancy "text flows
around the picture" layout. In all other cases, you really want
InlineShapes, as their positioning/layout is easier and more "stable."

I finally figured out how to convert my bit
maps, and wow, I have a 3,780 KB bitmap reduced to a 52 KB GIF. Granted the
color quality is less, but it's sufficient. Once one of these GIFs have been
inserted & linked, can I copy & paste them elsewhere?

Office made it very easy to drag'n'drop any material into document. But
there's an old DTP rule, and even though Word is decidedly not a proper
DTP application, it still applies: always think of the outcome, of the
final product. When the file will ultimately converted to HTML, and
picture resolution over 100 dpi is moot. If it's going to be printed,
then it depends on the printer's resolution. BMP is a very large format,
and you can certainly shrink stuff a lot. Whether GIF is the best for
screenshots depends mostly on the colors used on screen.

Rut Roh, what would be the suggestion?

All I've read so far (or: read and remember right now ) indicates
your users need to read this document, not update it in any kind of way.
Then, I reflexively think that PDF (or: HTML) might be a better format
for giving them access to the material. That doesn't solve the "many
open documents" issue, as this happens in PDF as well (unless, in the
end, you manage to put all into one PDF).

I am creating this Document in Word 2007 Compatibility Mode due to the fact
that our company has 144 Users, 141 of them are using Word 2000.

Well, that would be the good part about converting in PDF in the end:
you can work in 2007 natively ...

Greetinx
Robert

 

[JamesDart]

Hello Robert!!

Been on Vacation, but now back on the grind. I had some time to think about
what I’ve been working on and have decided to make some major changes.

1. I removed the hyperlinked pictures on the every page. It was too tedious
to keep track of them when editing. Plus, since they were above the heading,
they were often included with the previous heading. Ug.
2. I re-organized the Headings so that they made more sense. Heading 1 being
the Chapter, Heading 2 being the Section, Heading 3 being the Process Steps
and Heading 4 being the screen indicator. Heading 4 is rarely used.
3. I got tired of fighting the ToC. I couldn’t get it to stay stable as it
would change almost daily as far as format. I would spend at least and hour
or two trying to figure out what happened, end up just re-doing it, and it’d
look great, I’d save it, close the file, and open it, and it would appear to
stick. Yet, the next day, I come in, and it’s all messed up again.

Then, I made a huge leap, which is forcing me to start over in essence. It
was very clear that I need to make a Template to force Windows to follow the
same format as indicated. So, I have made my Template as per Mr. McGhie’s
article. I must say that even though it’s much cleaner, my visual play space
is much smaller.

I don’t have ToC problems anymore, but my tables are completely messed up.
Half of them are off the page while the other half have merged. <sighs>
This is very, very frustrating. I was hoping I could convert the old
document to force it to use the new Template, but, <shivers> the was a very
ugly attempt.

Due to the smaller space, I have some questions that maybe you could clarify.
1. Of the Tables I’ve already created, would it be beneficial to
convert Table to Text and leave the table idea alone or just copy and paste
the data into a new table.
2. I’m removing the majority of insertpicture of the individual buttons
and just using Bold and Italics to denote a specific button. But, I want to
insertpicture the first occurrence of the button as a reference. I saw in a
book of the “icon†being in the Margin. For the life of me, I’ve tried and
tried to replicate this and cannot make it work. I tried using a table, but
with opposing pages, it falls off the page. I’m wondering if it was done
through a sidebar type thing.
3. You and several others have indicated using inlinewithtext option
when using pictures. That’s fine and all, but if the picture is larger than
the text (which it most often is), it’s not centered. I don’t want floating
pictures. I would much rather just increase the space between lines and have
the picture centered. Wraparoundtext does not solve the issue.
4. Again, you and many other sources have indicated to “You can tell
Word not to split a row unto different pages ("Allow Row to break ..." I
think it's called, somewhere in the table/row properties dialog). The use of
hard page breaks is rather discouraged in long documents. Use the "Page Break
Before" property, in a heading style preferably, as direct formatting in
discreet places if you must.â€
a. So, what do I do when the process ends in the top or middle of the
page? To remind you, I am using four headings, Heading1 (Chapter), Heading2
(Section), Heading3 (Process), and Heading4 (Module). Headings 1 & 2 are
setup to start a new page. Heading3 is not designed that way, nor do I want
it to be since there are many processes per section. Some processes are only
a few steps. I have a few processes that “would†start at the middle of the
page with the last step being at the top of the next page. Very frustrating.
b. Along the same lines, I am using a table for the majority of the
data in this manual. When reaching the bottom of a page, with a row that has
more than one line, it splits it across the two pages. This does not look
good to me. The Bodytext style is set to “keep with next†and “keep lines
together,†so, I thought this would not happen, yet it does. Ack, I just
re-read what you wrote, do you mean to turn off the “Allow Row to Break�
5. You wrote “And for some discreet number of places in the document,
you might even create some very small macros and place them on a custom
toolbar. Then you only have to do this once.†That is something I would love
to do, but I have no clue how or what you mean. Would the macros allow the
using to go to specific areas? If that’s the case, then YES! Show me! Heh.

I’ve been discussing this project with our Network Administrator and she
expressed a desire to convert it to a .PDF document. I noticed you suggested
that as well. What are some issues I need to be aware of? Do I complete the
document in Word first then Convert it? Or, do I Convert what I have and
complete it in the .PDF format.

Yes, I am probably over analyzing this, but, as a perfectionist, hence why I
get to do this project, I want to make sure I make the best product possible,
even if it’s for an Internal agency and no one else will ever see it. It’s
not about publication and acknowledgement, I just want to do the best I can.
If I know what do to do, then, it’ll be done.

Your previous tips and suggestions have been invaluable. Again, if I
haven’t said it yet, I know I have, I’ll say it again:

T H A N K Y O U!

James Dart
Sundown M Ranch
Sigmund Administrator Assoc.

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello James

Been on Vacation, but now back on the grind. I had some time to think about
what I’ve been working on and have decided to make some major changes.

sorry, haven't made it back into this group for a long time!


[new template]

Due to the smaller space, I have some questions that maybe you could clarify.

"Smaller space," hmm: ISTR that John's suggestion of page margins surely
is on the large side (though, for technical manuals,
readability/legibility is really a big issue, and most documents folks
produce still have way too long lines in that regard). Certainly you
_can_ reduce page margins a bit, though unless you want to read up some
more on typography first, it's not a bad idea to go with what he suggests.

1. Of the Tables I’ve already created, would it be beneficial to
convert Table to Text and leave the table idea alone or just copy and paste
the data into a new table.

It's hard to give general advice without knowing the content better. If
you have many tables with a lot of content, you could make them wider
than the normal text width (if there is a margin where, say, you have
heading numbers and other stuff -- don't think that's the case in John's
template though). You can use a font size (at least) 1-1.5 point sizes
smaller in tables than for normal text outside.

Regarding transporting content from one document/template to the other,
I'd try Edit | Paste Special to see whether one of the choices there
yields better results.

Generally, the more direct formatting you've used in a document, the
more you will have to redo parts of your formatting work when your
template changes.

2. I’m removing the majority of insertpicture of the individual buttons
and just using Bold and Italics to denote a specific button. But, I want to
insertpicture the first occurrence of the button as a reference. I saw in a
book of the “icon†being in the Margin. For the life of me, I’ve tried and
tried to replicate this and cannot make it work. I tried using a table, but
with opposing pages, it falls off the page. I’m wondering if it was done
through a sidebar type thing.

A comprehensive description of how to create most anything in the margin
can be found here:

Placing text in the margins (by Suzanne Barnhill)
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/MarginalText.htm

3. You and several others have indicated using inlinewithtext option
when using pictures. That’s fine and all, but if the picture is larger than
the text (which it most often is), it’s not centered. I don’t want floating
pictures. I would much rather just increase the space between lines and have
the picture centered. Wraparoundtext does not solve the issue.

An inline picture is for Word really like a large character. That said,
if it's not centered, then use the "center" command like you would for
any other line (paragraph property). Of course, you really want to
create a picture style (based on your body text or normal style) and
center it (and make sure it doesn't have an "exact" line height, if your
normal style has that setting).

4. Again, you and many other sources have indicated to “You can tell
Word not to split a row unto different pages ("Allow Row to break ..." I
think it's called, somewhere in the table/row properties dialog). The use of
hard page breaks is rather discouraged in long documents. Use the "Page Break
Before" property, in a heading style preferably, as direct formatting in
discreet places if you must.â€
a. So, what do I do when the process ends in the top or middle of the
page? To remind you, I am using four headings, Heading1 (Chapter), Heading2
(Section), Heading3 (Process), and Heading4 (Module). Headings 1 & 2 are
setup to start a new page. Heading3 is not designed that way, nor do I want
it to be since there are many processes per section. Some processes are only
a few steps. I have a few processes that “would†start at the middle of the
page with the last step being at the top of the next page. Very frustrating.

I think it depends how much effort you want to put into pagination. Half
an empty page here and there (before a page starting with a new major
heading) is usually OK in a technical manual (it's not prose, after all
). You set all your heading styles to "Keep with next" (unless, say,
you want a H1 to be on its own page) and "Keep lines together."
[According to John, I think you even keep all your body text styles to
"Keep lines together" as well -- depends on the content, I'd say.]

If you can invest extra time in preparation (mind you, that's then
needed every time before a "publication," then you can move a picture
here, maybe join or split paragraphs, add a paragraph setting here or
there _as direct formatting_ to better fill your pages. In an ideal
world, each time you make major changes to the document, you remove all
direct formatting ...

b. Along the same lines, I am using a table for the majority of the
data in this manual. When reaching the bottom of a page, with a row that has
more than one line, it splits it across the two pages. This does not look
good to me. The Bodytext style is set to “keep with next†and “keep lines
together,†so, I thought this would not happen, yet it does. Ack, I just
re-read what you wrote, do you mean to turn off the “Allow Row to Break�

I probably did.

Paragraph style settings govern what paragraphs do in general. Just keep
in mind that both the "KWN" and "KLT" settings concern the whole
paragraph they're applied to (either directly or through the para
style): KLT usually inhibits Word to split a paragraph on two pages (of
course, if it's long enough, it doesn't have a choice). KWN in a style
where there are many instances of the same style one after the other
(i.e., many paragraphs in this style one after the other) usually does
not make much sense (because if the accumulation of these paragraphs is
longer than one page, well, the setting is again moot).

I don't know what kind of material you have in these recurring tables,
so I cannot comment on the feasibility of converting it to normal text
per se.

5. You wrote “And for some discreet number of places in the document,
you might even create some very small macros and place them on a custom
toolbar. Then you only have to do this once.†That is something I would love
to do, but I have no clue how or what you mean. Would the macros allow the
using to go to specific areas? If that’s the case, then YES! Show me! Heh.

Hmm, not _quite_ sure what you mean here. For the reader to *navigate*
in the document, no, I would not use any macros at all. Teach the user
to use Outline view or Document Map ...

I’ve been discussing this project with our Network Administrator and she
expressed a desire to convert it to a .PDF document. I noticed you suggested
that as well. What are some issues I need to be aware of? Do I complete the
document in Word first then Convert it? Or, do I Convert what I have and
complete it in the .PDF format.

Definitely the former. PDF is not generally/historically fit to hold
"work in progress." It's probably more universal than DOC (doesn't have
to be an issue in-house, but the moment you want to distribute something
to the outside world ...). And, if properly done (i.e., esp. with fonts
included) the pagination of a PDF is set in stone.

You might have made the experience, OTOH, that this is not the case with
a Word document (the pagination there has historically been extremely
dependent on the installed version, availability of fonts, current
printer driver, etc.).

Yes, I am probably over analyzing this, but, as a perfectionist, hence why I
get to do this project, I want to make sure I make the best product possible,
even if it’s for an Internal agency and no one else will ever see it. It’s
not about publication and acknowledgement, I just want to do the best I can.
If I know what do to do, then, it’ll be done.

It's good to see people that really invest the time before creating huge
amounts of content -- more often than not, we redo a lot simply because
we don't investigate earlier. Understandable, in certain corporate
setups, but that doesn't make it any better!

Your previous tips and suggestions have been invaluable. Again, if I
haven’t said it yet, I know I have, I’ll say it again:

T H A N K Y O U!

You're welcome!

Greetinx
Robert