Master document misbehaviour

[rgutter]

Is there any way to stop Word 2000 from appending a new page section
break at the end of subdocuments?

The Master Document ends up with continuous section breaks between the
subdocuments, which I can understand. But it actually adds new page
section breaks at the end of the source documents!

It insists on doing so even when I add them as read-only:

Sub CreateMasterDocument(strBaseFileName As String, _
strPath As String, _
intPages As Integer)

Dim oDoc As Document
Dim iPage As Integer

Set oDoc = Documents.Add
oDoc.Activate
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdMasterView

ChangeFileOpenDirectory strPath
For iPage = 1 To intPages
Selection.Range.Subdocuments.AddFromFile _
Name:=strBaseFileName + "-" + Format(iPage, "0000") _
+ ".doc", ReadOnly:=True
Next iPage

ActiveDocument.SaveAs _
FileName:=strBaseFileName + "-0000.doc", _
FileFormat:=wdFormatDocument

ActiveDocument.Close
Set oDoc = Nothing

End Sub


Any suggestions?

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Sorry, I don't have an answer because I don't use Master Documents. However,
you may need the reason I don't more than you need an answer. "Master
Document" is a term of art in Word referring to a "feature" that not only
doesn't work but also destroys documents. The consensus (with the limited
exception of Steve Hudson) among those offering advice on these newsgroups
is that using the Master Document feature is a good way to destroy your
document. It can destroy parts of your document that you are not even
working on! I think John McGhie said it succinctly when he said that there
are two kinds of Master Documents: Those that are corrupt and those that
will be corrupt soon. See
http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm for information on the
Master Document feature and workarounds. See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm for more
information on what goes wrong, and
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm for ideas on how
to salvage what you can. See
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/masterdocs.doc for
Steve Hudson's instructions if you are willing to follow them very
carefully.

 

[rgutter]

Thanks for your response. I'm aware that many experts eschew Master
Documents, and I can see why. I think I can get by with INCLUDEFILEs in
my case anyways - a lot less problematic.

I have around 600 pages, each around 250Kb (there are dozens of GIFs in
each page), so I'd end up with a 150Mb document for printing. Do you
have a feeling for whether Word is likely able to handle this?

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Word will be much more robust if the gifs are included as linked files
rather than embedded. I've had a 10,000 page document with cross-references
and a Table of Contents that was handled well.

 

[rgutter]

Thanks, Charles. I'm just a bit leary of my client's reaction (or the
print shop's) if I produce a final deliverable that consists of a
single Word document and 24,000 support files. But if I have to...

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Well, then on a copy of your final document, run a macro to convert the
linked files to embedded ones. You'll end up with one big file.

 

[rgutter]

Yes, that's what I do. Thanks.