master document page numbers not working correctly

[sldesigns]

I'm using word:mac (2004) with a master document and multipl
subdocuments. Having trouble figuring out the page numbering. All othe
info I've found is for different versions of Word and don't work.
Basically, I just have a few pages in one document without numbers, an
all the rest of the pages I want to be numbered with different setting
for even/odd pages.
I've set up a footer in the master document that way, then opened eac
document, set up an even and an odd footer, specifed to continue fro
previous section, and made the change to the entire document (on th
subdocument).
What I'm getting is sometimes all even or odd footers (with correc
numbering, though) and sometimes strange numbering (11 coming afte
35).
Any words of wisdom? I thought this would be easy!
Thanks

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

How did you find info re master documents and not come across these links
(well, at least the first few)?

Why Master Documents corrupt:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm

How to recover a Master Document:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm

Steve Hudson [Word Heretic] on how to make Master Documents work safely:
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/wordhomepage.html

I don't use Master Documents (which I took one look at and decided were
*not* easy). That third link might help you out with your question, if no
one else comes along.

If you have continuous section breaks in the subdocuments, those have been
known to trip up page numbering, and the only solution seems to be delete
the continuous section breaks, sort out the page numbering, and reinsert the
continuous section breaks.

The other thing to consider is whether the page numbers are correct in the
subdoc opened as standalone, but wrong in the master document. If wrong in
the subdoc itself, probably easier to fix.

You might also check these links for potential approaches not involving
Master Documents:

Creating a Table of Contents Spanning Multiple Documents
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=148

See the ³Number Pages Across Files² section at this link:
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister/MiscFram.htm

IncludeText Fields can partially substitute for the Master Document
feature‹for an introduction to them, see here:
http://daiya.mvps.org/includetext.htm

Word experts generally advise combining long documents into one file, if
possible, and you will find more information on controlling those big files
here:
http://daiya.mvps.org/bookword.htm

 

[sldesigns]

The thing is, I don't think the Master is broken. I think I'm no
setting it up properly. And Word won't let me create a macro, so
can't use the handy page numbering ones in the links provided in th
last post (a whole issue I don't have time to address right now!)

The documents I found are basic working with Master docs. The one
liked the most told me how to use the Master footer with each subdo
using it's own header -- sounded ideal. But it's for a differen
version of Word where there was an option to specify whethe
headers/footers followed the master or not. I tried taking out th
footer from a couple sub-docs to see, but it didn't seem to work.
also wanted the header to remain centered -- not critical, but b
setting odd even, it does both footers and headers, even if there isn'
a header set in the master.

Help! What do I need to do to make sure page numbering works? I can'
combine into one since there are 24 subdocs with different authors
I've already gone through each individual sub doc and set up odd an
even footers so they'll look the same

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

The point about Master Documents corrupting is that it is very difficult to
set it up properly and use it without it breaking. It's not you, it's the
feature.

I'm afraid I already suggested everything I could think of--check continuous
section breaks and fix it by subdocument. It sounded to me like you set it
up right (except I don't use MDs so don't really know what right is), but
you could try starting out fresh and recombining the files into a new MD.

Did you check the Steve Hudson link to see if it offers any help?

Personally, I would consider Word not letting you create a macro something
worth addressing pronto. Perhaps you should post a new thread about that.

Odd/Even cannot be applied to only header or footer, but you can duplicate
the same header in both the Odd and the Even settings.

What do you need to do with the final document? Might help in suggesting
alternatives.

 

[sldesigns]

Thanks for the reply! I did some more editing and formatting in th
subdocs, then set up a new master. In the master only minimal setting
were applied -- odd/even page numbers and margins were it. That time i
worked. Taking out some additional sections in subdocs fixed all but on
page number issue (one page out of 192 is wrong, but all flows properl
after it).
The goal of the master was to have a lot of documents editable b
different departments, then bring together and paginate so that certai
pages were even without a lot of blank pages. TOC doesn't work yet bu
oh well.

Will try to work on the macro issue after this project is done!

thanks