link chapter heading references

[robertwlamb]

Two problems involving long documents. I've tried to search for these
topics, but haven't found an exact fit.
1) I am editting a technical manual in which we often refer to
different sections of the book in the text. I was wondering if there
is any way to link the various references so that when we change a
section name, all the references will automatically change. Using
find/replace is not ideal because some section titles are also words
that we use commonly in the text, though not as references to
sections. Is there a macro I could use? I'm not much of a code
writer, but I do know how to use the VBA macro writer. Thanks
2) We have now split the document into three different volumes. We
would like to make style changes effective over all three volumes.

From what I have read in help and bend word to your will, it seems

like attaching a custom template to all three would work. Is this
correct? thank you. robert lamb

 

[macropod]

Hi Robert,

I hope you're using Word's Styles for this, and that your headings are in a suitable Heading style. If not, I strongly recommend
doing so. Then it's really quite easy to cross-reference to them - via Insert|Cross-reference>Heading, and choosing the type of
reference you want (eg the text or page number). Now, if the title (or page) changes, the links can be updated by pressing Ctrl-A
then F9. If you've got a proper TOC, that'll get updated at the same time.

Cheers

--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]


| Two problems involving long documents. I've tried to search for these
| topics, but haven't found an exact fit.
| 1) I am editting a technical manual in which we often refer to
| different sections of the book in the text. I was wondering if there
| is any way to link the various references so that when we change a
| section name, all the references will automatically change. Using
| find/replace is not ideal because some section titles are also words
| that we use commonly in the text, though not as references to
| sections. Is there a macro I could use? I'm not much of a code
| writer, but I do know how to use the VBA macro writer. Thanks
| 2) We have now split the document into three different volumes. We
| would like to make style changes effective over all three volumes.
| >From what I have read in help and bend word to your will, it seems
| like attaching a custom template to all three would work. Is this
| correct? thank you. robert lamb
|

 

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

Hi Robert:

An ordinary Cross Reference is the mechanism designed to fulfil your first
requirement. Insert>Cross reference... And choose the type of reference you
need.

Once you have finished changing the text (at all!) Update Fields to bring
all your cross references up to date. Note that you can only
cross-reference WITHIN a document. Use hyperlinks if you want
cross-references to work outside of the current document. Hyperlinks will
NOT update automatically: catch 22.

The mechanism built to deal with that is broken: It's called "Master
Document". Do not be tempted to use Master Documents until you move your
documents to XML in the next version of Word (the one that is not on sale
yet...). The .doc file format is too unstable to safely use master
documents (you get corrupt documents and lose text). I am a technical
author specialising in long documents. Finally getting master documents to
work safely and reliably will make Word 2008 worth the purchase price for
me!

In the meantime, combine your three documents into one at the end of your
writing process, then insert normal cross-references into it. If you have
enough memory in your computer (at least a gig) Word will run safely above
2,500 pages in a single file. If it gets to slow, get back to us and we
will teach you about speed-up techniques such as external graphics.

Yes, an Attached Template will allow you to feed styles to all three
documents. If you use Tools>Templates and Add-ins you can attach the same
template to each document. A couple of caveats:

1) You can choose to have the document "Automatically update styles on
open". If you do, be aware that this will reset your list numbering each
time you open the document. So you need to make a choice: are you going to
use list numbering within the document? If so, then you need to turn
"Automatically update styles on open" OFF.

2) Be careful editing near dynamic cross references, and do not use Change
Tracking while editing documents that contains them. Broken
cross-references are a pain and waste a lot of time if you do not exercise
caution

3) For an attached template to work, it must be somewhere on the network
where it will be permanently visible to all users. Use
Word>Preferences>File Locations to set your Workgroup Templates location to
that location on each of the affected workstations. This makes it easier to
find and re-attach the template: Word will automatically look in the correct
location when the documents move from machine to machine.

Hope this helps

Two problems involving long documents. I've tried to search for these
topics, but haven't found an exact fit.
1) I am editting a technical manual in which we often refer to
different sections of the book in the text. I was wondering if there
is any way to link the various references so that when we change a
section name, all the references will automatically change. Using
find/replace is not ideal because some section titles are also words
that we use commonly in the text, though not as references to
sections. Is there a macro I could use? I'm not much of a code
writer, but I do know how to use the VBA macro writer. Thanks
2) We have now split the document into three different volumes. We
would like to make style changes effective over all three volumes.
like attaching a custom template to all three would work. Is this
correct? thank you. robert lamb

--

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. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[macropod]

Hi Robert,

For cross-references to an external document, you first need to bookmark the text you want to refer to in the source document. Then
you can use an INCLUDETEXT field to pull the text from the source document into your target document. See 'INCLUDETEXT ' in Word's
help file for more info. You can use the same update procedure I previously described for this.

Cheers

--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]


| Hi Robert,
|
| I hope you're using Word's Styles for this, and that your headings are in a suitable Heading style. If not, I strongly recommend
| doing so. Then it's really quite easy to cross-reference to them - via Insert|Cross-reference>Heading, and choosing the type of
| reference you want (eg the text or page number). Now, if the title (or page) changes, the links can be updated by pressing Ctrl-A
| then F9. If you've got a proper TOC, that'll get updated at the same time.
|
| Cheers
|
| --
| macropod
| [MVP - Microsoft Word]
|
|
| | Two problems involving long documents. I've tried to search for these
| | topics, but haven't found an exact fit.
| | 1) I am editting a technical manual in which we often refer to
| | different sections of the book in the text. I was wondering if there
| | is any way to link the various references so that when we change a
| | section name, all the references will automatically change. Using
| | find/replace is not ideal because some section titles are also words
| | that we use commonly in the text, though not as references to
| | sections. Is there a macro I could use? I'm not much of a code
| | writer, but I do know how to use the VBA macro writer. Thanks
| | 2) We have now split the document into three different volumes. We
| | would like to make style changes effective over all three volumes.
| | >From what I have read in help and bend word to your will, it seems
| | like attaching a custom template to all three would work. Is this
| | correct? thank you. robert lamb
| |
|
|

 

[robertwlamb]

thank you both.
We are using heading styles, so it should be fairly straight forward.
I'll post a follow up if I have any more questions. thanks. rob

 

[robertwlamb]

Two follow ups:
we are using numbered lists, so automatically updating may not do. Is
there a manual update other than moving styles over with the
organizer?
Also, we are using a subversion host site online to share the
document. Do you think that if we put the template on the host site
and keep it in the folder we download to on each of our computers,
word will store the unique path name that it will then be under when
it is on each of our machines/ in other words, will word on my
machine find the file at the path name on my machine, while the copies
that my co-workers are using find it through the pathname stored on
their machine? or will we have to re-attach it each time? thank you.
rob

 

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

Hi Robert:

we are using numbered lists, so automatically updating may not do.

It will break your numbering restarts. If you never "{restart" numbering,
it will be OK.

Is
there a manual update other than moving styles over with the
organizer?

No. All ways of updating styles use Organiser, whether you see it or not.

Also, we are using a subversion host site online to share the
document. Do you think that if we put the template on the host site
and keep it in the folder we download to on each of our computers,
word will store the unique path name that it will then be under when
it is on each of our machines/ in other words, will word on my
machine find the file at the path name on my machine, while the copies
that my co-workers are using find it through the pathname stored on
their machine? or will we have to re-attach it each time? thank you.

If each user has the path name registered in either their user's User
Templates location or their user's Workgroup Templates location on each
login ID, then Word will find the template on another user's machine.

Those two trusted locations operate a little like a "Hyperlink Base", where
the explicit path is replaced with a token that says "The template folder
configured on the local machine".

Otherwise, no: The stored path will be explicit and unique to the user and
you will have to re-attach each time.

Can you not have a quiet chat to your Documentation Manager? Styles varying
during a project is actually bad management. The styles should all be
defined before the project begins. Any changes to the styles should then be
made once only, as a final step during the Proof Editing stage immediately
before publication.

Authors should not be wasting their time fiddling around with formatting or
pagination while they are writing. I often supply authors, editors and
reviewers with a "Draft" template that has everything set up with wide
margins and double-line spacing so reviewers have room to write. I don;t
actually apply publication styles until just before I publish.

Cheers

--

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. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410