master and subdocuments not saving changes

[nathaniel]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

I am trying to work with master and subdocuments for the first time.

All my files are in .docx format, and use pretty much the same self-defined styles. My headers are numbered like 1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.1, 2.2 and so on, automatically, as part of the style. When I import my subdocuments, some seem to lose this numbering. Some of the styles also seem to go a bit wonky. If I expand the master document, I can fix all of this, and all seems good - the numbers appear in the expansion, the styles are reflected, yay. When I click save, it says it saves the master document and the subdocuments.

Unfortunately, however, if I close and reopen, all those changes are gone! All the styles go back to as they were before, and the numberigs is again lost. In fact, where the subdocument should be, are just links - I can expand these, but like I say, the changes are gone. I should also mention that the changes I mention above seem to disappear if I double click a subdocument from within the master. How do I make sure these changes are all saved to every document, permanently?

Thanks!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

I am trying to work with master and subdocuments for the first time.

Why? Master and subdocuments are not really recommended, as they tend
to go wrong, sometimes corrupting your doc. Word can handle up to 10,000
pages in a single file, and there are a lot of ways to deal with long
files instead of master and subdocuments. If you do use them, I believe
the general advice is that you *always* need to do all editing in the
subdocuments, and consider the master a throwaway doc that you might
need to re-create more than once.

All my files are in .docx format, and use pretty much the same self-defined styles.

My thinking would be that "pretty much" is not good enough....all
subdocuments and the master should be based on EXACTLY the same template
for maximum avoidance of issues.

My headers are numbered like 1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.1, 2.2 and so on, automatically, as part of the style.

Did you use Word's built-in Heading 1, Heading 2 styles, or create new
styles with a different name? The built-in heading styles should always
be used for outline numbering.

 

[nathaniel]

Why?
Because all my subdocuments are already cross-referenced and lovely with regards to Figures and sections. I'd have to go through 230 pages and fix each one individual if I cut and paste into a new document. Also, I sometimes want to send individual chapters out to my supervisor (this is a PhD), rather than the whole thing.

"pretty much" is not good enough.

I've now applied the same template to all and it's still not saving properly. The headers simply lose their numbers no matter what I do.

Did you use Word's built-in Heading 1, Heading 2 styles, or create new

styles with a different name? The built-in heading styles should always
be used for outline numbering.

Used the built-in. And even if I hadn't (which I have), when I do update it to use the built=in one, why on earth would it not save when I re-open it? This seems to be an issue with saving changes to the master and subdocument, not an issue with how they work when open....

Any other ideas anyone?

 

[nathaniel]

More issues:

I am still having this numbering problem, although I seem to have managed to save some other changes to some of the styles. Does anyone have any ideas.

There is also now an even larger issue of the citation manager not recognizing any of the references across my documents at all. I can't build a bibliography and nor does it see when the same author is called. If I try to update from within the Master, i get "invalid source". THIS SUCKS.

Anyone?