Large Document Creation

[NYSA-HD]

We have created a program in VB & VBA that assists users in creating midsize
documents daily. There will be one file for each day anywhere from 3-25
pages in length. We need to combine these documents once a year into one
large file to be published into a book. The document is straight text. No
images. In the end it will be approximately 1500-2000 pages in length
including table of contents and index. We hope to index and do TOC using
Word's automated features. Before we attempt this I would like to know any
limitations of Word. Can Word handle a document of this size? What do we
need to do to prevent file corruption? Are there any special steps we need
to take? What is the easiest way to combine all the daily files into one at
the end? We looked at Master Docs but read about corruption.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

See replies to your posts in other newsgroups. In the Microsoft Word
newsgroups it is considered bad form to post separate messages to multiple
newsgroups. If you need to post in more than one forum (unusual) please post
a single message with both forums in the header of that single message. That
way (1) your question and the various answers stay together, (2) less space
is used on the news servers, (3) less bandwidth is used on the Internet, (4)
you only have to check one forum for answers that appear in both forums, and
(5) you won't unnecessarily annoy the people you are asking for help. This
isn't meant to criticize you. We were all beginners once and the only way to
learn is to try. (BTW, a number of the Microsoft newsgroups don't want
posting in more than one newsgroup, period. Check the FAQ.)
Take a look on the MVP FAQ website under "getting help" for more reasons ase
well as other suggestions for getting answers more easily and quickly. <URL:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FindHelp/Posting.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.

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

Except that both you and Doug Robbins encouraged the OP to post
to this newsgroup, even though the OP had already multiposted to
the .docmanagement and .vba.general newsgroups.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Oops, you are right. Sorry.

Except that both you and Doug Robbins encouraged the OP to post to this
newsgroup, even though the OP had already multiposted to the
.docmanagement and .vba.general newsgroups.

 

[NYSA-HD]

I am sorry that I didn't follow the ettiquette. Some of the replies in the
other newsgroups told me to repost here. I will keep in mind for future.

Thank you.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Sorry, I was one of those who suggested posting here. It would be helpful if
you would reply with the suggestions you've already gotten so that people
won't repeat. Also, John McGhie posted some excellent suggestions on
handling large documents within the last couple of weeks, you might check
for his posts.
--
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.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

OK, now we have Nettiquette out of our system, let's try and answer this

Word will cope happily with a 2,000 page document.

I recently published a 2,500 page document that was automatically assembled
from 400 source documents using a macro.

The absolute limit is around 5,500 pages. But the "consideration" is
'speed'. Word starts to slow down when it starts running short of memory.
Don't even think of handling large documents on a PC with less than 512 MB
of memory, and ensure that the file system of the local machine is NTFS.
Anything else and you are likely to get failures when things get big.

I would prefer to handle such documents on a workstation. Personally I use
a dual-Zeon workstation with 4 GB of memory, but that's overkill

To prevent file corruption:
* make sure that all documents are created from the same template.
* Make sure you handle tracked changes carefully -- particularly to avoid
changes within or on top of changes.
* Perform all formatting using styles.
* Turn on Show/Hide so you can see your paragraph marks. Teach the users
to run with paragraphs on, and train them that the paragraph mark is the
most important character in the paragraph: it holds ALL the formatting
* Forbid the use of Format>Bullets and Numbering. Make up a proper set of
linked numbering styles as explained by Shauna Kelly (www.shaunakelly.com)
and apply all numbering via styles.
* With a document of that size, it's best to work with pictures linked but
not embedded: but make sure you train your users HOW before trying that...

The best way to combine the daily files would be using Insert>File. Make a
macro to automate this. I use a naming convention that causes the files to
sort in the correct order alphabetically in the folder.

Hope this helps

We have created a program in VB & VBA that assists users in creating midsize
documents daily. There will be one file for each day anywhere from 3-25
pages in length. We need to combine these documents once a year into one
large file to be published into a book. The document is straight text. No
images. In the end it will be approximately 1500-2000 pages in length
including table of contents and index. We hope to index and do TOC using
Word's automated features. Before we attempt this I would like to know any
limitations of Word. Can Word handle a document of this size? What do we
need to do to prevent file corruption? Are there any special steps we need
to take? What is the easiest way to combine all the daily files into one at
the end? We looked at Master Docs but read about corruption.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410