Master Documents?

[D Lowe]

Hello,

I am writing a reasonably large document (2-300 pages) and now I come to add
tables and diagrams the size is becoming unwieldly. I would like to work
out the best way of dealing with large documents in MS-Word and I'm hoping
some of the folks in this group can point me in the right direction.

I am using MS-Word 2000 (9.0.3821 SR-1) on Windows XP Professional.

I have found a number of references on academic sites indicating that you
should use Words "Master Document" feature to split the large document up
into a master document, and a number of sub documents. In my case, this
would be a master document and 8 sub documents corresponding to the
chapters. I have done this and it seems to work OK. I have a minor problem
with the Table of Contents/Page Numbering beginning from 1 in each section,
but nothing major.

This link (http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm)
indicates that you should not use Master Documents under any circumstances.
To quote from the article:

'A master document has only two possible states: Corrupt, or just about to
be corrupt. And that is why we say that the only possible fix to a master
document is "don't use it!"'

This article gives a pretty damning verdict on Master Documents. However,
the feature sounds like exactly what I need. What are the alternatives for
managing large documents using Word?

Many Thanks
Duncan

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Duncan

Word can cope with very large documents of hundreds, even thousands of pages. 200-300 pages is not a problem for Word. It won't be a
problem for you, either, if you do the following:

1. Use appropriate styles for your text. In particular, use the built-in heading styles if you possibly can (see
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html )

2. Use Outline View to move around your document quickly, and to re-arrange major portions of your document easily (see
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Formatting/UsingOLView.htm)

3. At Tools > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat as you type tab, un-tick everything you see unless you're absolutely certain that you
want it. Certainly un-tick everything under "Apply as you type" and "Automatically as you type".

4. Try using Document Map (View > Document Map). Other people have reported problems with this, but I've found it very useful. But
to make it work, you must use appropriate styles.

5. Work out a sustainable way of managing pictures. For me, that means either having them in-line (not floating) and, if necessary,
to enclose the picture and its caption in a frame.

6. Avoid file sizes larger than necessary by doing the following:
(a) Link, rather than embed, your pictures. To do this, when you go to paste a picture, do Edit > Paste Special and choose to link.
(b) If you have huge pictures (eg photos), then re-size the pictures to the final size outside Word (eg in a graphics or photo
editing application). Then use the final sized picture in Word, not the big original.
(c) Tools > Options > Save. Un-tick "Allow Fast Saves".
(d) Tools > Options > Save. Un-tick "Embed True Type Fonts".
(e) File > Properties. Un-tick "Save Preview Picture"
(f) Don't use File > Versions.

7. If you experience a noticeable slow-down, close Word, re-start Word and re-open your document. A noticeable slow-down has been
suggested as a symptom of impending document corruption due to low memory.

8. Try working in Normal View rather than Page Layout view. This is excellent for documents without lots of graphics (you can't see
the graphics in Normal View). Normal View sacrifices display of graphics for speed of screen display.

9. Save early, save often, keep backups.

And, go to http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate/default.aspx?CTT=6&Origin=EC790020111033 to get the latest security patches for
your version of Word.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word
Melbourne, Australia

 

[Joseph N.]

(f) Don't use File > Versions.

Shauna, your responsive post is a great guide to using Word (or,
really, any word processor). I hope you keep it and repost it often.

One question I had was about your admonition not to use versioning.
Why not?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

One other caveat: avoid very long tables. And see
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/FastTables.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Hi Duncan

Word can cope with very large documents of hundreds, even thousands of

pages. 200-300 pages is not a problem for Word. It won't be a

problem for you, either, if you do the following:

1. Use appropriate styles for your text. In particular, use the built-in

heading styles if you possibly can (see

http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html )

2. Use Outline View to move around your document quickly, and to

re-arrange major portions of your document easily (see

http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Formatting/UsingOLView.htm)

3. At Tools > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat as you type tab, un-tick

everything you see unless you're absolutely certain that you

want it. Certainly un-tick everything under "Apply as you type" and "Automatically as you type".

4. Try using Document Map (View > Document Map). Other people have

reported problems with this, but I've found it very useful. But

to make it work, you must use appropriate styles.

5. Work out a sustainable way of managing pictures. For me, that means

either having them in-line (not floating) and, if necessary,

to enclose the picture and its caption in a frame.

6. Avoid file sizes larger than necessary by doing the following:
(a) Link, rather than embed, your pictures. To do this, when you go to

paste a picture, do Edit > Paste Special and choose to link.

(b) If you have huge pictures (eg photos), then re-size the pictures to

the final size outside Word (eg in a graphics or photo

editing application). Then use the final sized picture in Word, not the big original.
(c) Tools > Options > Save. Un-tick "Allow Fast Saves".
(d) Tools > Options > Save. Un-tick "Embed True Type Fonts".
(e) File > Properties. Un-tick "Save Preview Picture"
(f) Don't use File > Versions.

7. If you experience a noticeable slow-down, close Word, re-start Word and

re-open your document. A noticeable slow-down has been

suggested as a symptom of impending document corruption due to low memory.

8. Try working in Normal View rather than Page Layout view. This is

excellent for documents without lots of graphics (you can't see

the graphics in Normal View). Normal View sacrifices display of graphics for speed of screen display.

9. Save early, save often, keep backups.

And, go to

http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate/default.aspx?CTT=6&Origin=EC7900201
11033 to get the latest security patches for

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hi Joseph,

Shauna, your responsive post is a great guide to using Word (or,
really, any word processor). I hope you keep it and repost it often.

I'd like to add John's article about template-creation:

Creating a Template (Part II, by John McGhie)
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm

One question I had was about your admonition not to use versioning.
Why not?

I guess the general consensus is:

A Doc-file is an object fragile enough without the overload of the
different versions in it. You really do want to save your work, and save
it often. If you work with a file a lot, saving as a new file each an
every day isn't too catious. And if the corruption-demons hit you, I
wouldn't count on the previous version beeing still workable if it's in
the very same file!

2cents
..bob
...Word-MVP

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Versioning increases the file size, too.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Larry Randall]

If you MUST attempt to use Word "Master Documents", save a
copy on your CD burner or floppy VERY often! If it's on
your hard drive, wierd things can happen.

A better alternative is to use WordPerfect and save the
final version as a Word document. (WordPerfect manages
Master documents and Sub documents, and has for years.)
Another alternative is to use Adobe Acrobat to assemble a
book from Word files. That is the only "bulletproof" way
to create a large,multisection document using Word.

See my reply this date to "Using SEQ Field in TOC Field"
on the "Numbering" User Group on this site for a good
explanation of my experience with large documents. (I
make my living creating large and small documents - with
most of my experience in the large document category.)

LR

 

[Joseph N.]

A better alternative is to use WordPerfect and save the
final version as a Word document. (WordPerfect manages
Master documents and Sub documents, and has for years.)

That's an interesting approach. If the user has Lotus' SmartSuite
already installed, Word Pro also handles master and sub documents
without problems IMO.

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hi Joseph,

That's an interesting approach. If the user has Lotus' SmartSuite
already installed, Word Pro also handles master and sub documents
without problems IMO.

I've never seriously worked with either WordPro nor -Perfect, but both
thoughts seem horrible to me!

If you work with large documents in a manner where you really might be
forced to use M/S-document-feature in Word, you will have to work in a
very controlled manner. And transforming the stuff you have then to a
totally different file format will NOT be a controlled way. IMHO

2cents
..bob
...Word-MVP

 

[Joseph N.]

I've never seriously worked with either WordPro nor -Perfect,
but both thoughts seem horrible to me!

If you work with large documents in a manner where you really
might be forced to use M/S-document-feature in Word, you will
have to work in a very controlled manner. And transforming the
stuff you have then to a totally different file format will NOT
be a controlled way.

The point is that one might not need to use M/S document features.
Word is a fine choice and, obviously, a lot of people use it.
There are few people, however, who would say that it is the best
choice, and certainly not for all purposes. I do agree with you,
however, that creating a complex document in WordPerfect or Word
Pro and then converting it to Word is not a good idea. It would
be better to print it as a PDF; or to leave it in its native
format; or, if a primary objective is to wind up with a Word
document, then to use the various techniques in Word that are
available to compensate for the problems said to be inherent in
master and subdocuments (and, thereby, to stick with Word alone
and not mess around with other programs).

 

[Duncan Lowe]

Thank you all for your responses. They have proved very useful.

Duncan

Hi Duncan

Word can cope with very large documents of hundreds, even thousands of

pages. 200-300 pages is not a problem for Word. It won't be a

problem for you, either, if you do the following:

1. Use appropriate styles for your text. In particular, use the built-in

heading styles if you possibly can (see

http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html )

2. Use Outline View to move around your document quickly, and to

re-arrange major portions of your document easily (see

http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Formatting/UsingOLView.htm)

3. At Tools > AutoCorrect Options > AutoFormat as you type tab, un-tick

everything you see unless you're absolutely certain that you

want it. Certainly un-tick everything under "Apply as you type" and "Automatically as you type".

4. Try using Document Map (View > Document Map). Other people have

reported problems with this, but I've found it very useful. But

to make it work, you must use appropriate styles.

5. Work out a sustainable way of managing pictures. For me, that means

either having them in-line (not floating) and, if necessary,

to enclose the picture and its caption in a frame.

6. Avoid file sizes larger than necessary by doing the following:
(a) Link, rather than embed, your pictures. To do this, when you go to

paste a picture, do Edit > Paste Special and choose to link.

(b) If you have huge pictures (eg photos), then re-size the pictures to

the final size outside Word (eg in a graphics or photo

editing application). Then use the final sized picture in Word, not the big original.
(c) Tools > Options > Save. Un-tick "Allow Fast Saves".
(d) Tools > Options > Save. Un-tick "Embed True Type Fonts".
(e) File > Properties. Un-tick "Save Preview Picture"
(f) Don't use File > Versions.

7. If you experience a noticeable slow-down, close Word, re-start Word and

re-open your document. A noticeable slow-down has been

suggested as a symptom of impending document corruption due to low memory.

8. Try working in Normal View rather than Page Layout view. This is

excellent for documents without lots of graphics (you can't see

the graphics in Normal View). Normal View sacrifices display of graphics for speed of screen display.

9. Save early, save often, keep backups.

And, go to

http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate/default.aspx?CTT=6&Origin=EC7900201
11033 to get the latest security patches for