Word 2003 Crashes With Indexes and TOC

[randy1430]

Looked around here but can't quite find this. I've frequently had
trouble for years with Word when using some of the features like
subdocuments, TOC, etc as it freezes and crashes. Nothing to do with
my computer as I've seen people address this problems but I'd think it
would be resolved by now. Word 2007?? People must write books using
Word and couldn't have this issue?

Anyway, I have an 11-pg document now though it will get to 50-75
pages. It has a TOC and an index in back. Probably 100 index entries
now. The app CONSTANTLY freezes and crashes Word. It's basically
unusable right now. If not freezing, takes 10-15 minutes to save.
I've tried:

1. Changing the background updating, saving in Word.
2. Clearing out everything in computer (cache, cookies, etc.)
3. Disabling Norton Antivirus while running. Including for a while
the document checking in Norton though that's back on now since it was
still happening.
4. Saving with new name
5. Using only Word while working on this. No other apps open.

I have an HP, 1.25 MB RAM, 100 GB drive. I use Access tables with
500K records and other intensive applications and don't have this
issue. Any suggestions?

 

[Bear]

Randy:

I suspect the problems may arise from the content of your document. How
large is the file overall? Are there many tables, or one long table?

How many sections? Have you tried copying all the content EXCEPT the section
breaks and last paragraph mark into a new document?

Many expert Word users will advise you against using the master document
function of Word. It's probably better to use separate chapter documents, and
use RD fields to compile overall TOC and Index documents.

Bear

 

[randy1430]

Randy:

I suspect the problems may arise from the content of your document. How
large is the file overall? Are there many tables, or one long table?

How many sections? Have you tried copying all the content EXCEPT the section
breaks and last paragraph mark into a new document?

Many expert Word users will advise you against using the master document
function of Word. It's probably better to use separate chapter documents, and
use RD fields to compile overall TOC and Index documents.

Bear

Well, it says it's 108,000 KB. Much bigger than I thought. No, I'm
not using Master Document, it's just 1 document now. 10-12 tables.
Some basic color in the tables as this is going to be a user manual at
end. I didn't make each chapter it's own document though. (I only
have 11 pages and 5-6 chapters. Each chapter is only going to be 3-4
pages.) But if I have to make each chapter it's own document, which
seems slightly odd, I've not looked at RD fields and what this would
entail. I don't often compile documents such as this.

 

[Bear]

Randy:

That is a largish file. You should try to find out why. Are there lots of
embedded figures? Could you link them instead? Are you using Word's Version
feature (and saving many versions of the doc in one doc file?) etc.

Search this site for articles on file bloat or file size. You might also
check the Word MVP pages.

http://word.mvps.org/

Bear