Word vs. InDesign? Help!

[Sarah W]

Hi everyone,
I'm a former graphic designer who is now creating training manuals for my
employer. I am much more familiar with InDesign than I am with Word. For the
moment, my employer wants to stay with Word rather than buy me a copy of
InDesign. His decision is mainly based on price, but from the price of other
types of software out there (DocToHelp, etc.) that technical writers use, I
think he may reconsider since they are almost the same.

However, I need to demonstrate that going with InDesign is the right
decision in other ways. I don’t know enough about Word to say for sure, so
I’m asking for some help from those of you who have used Word for similar
projects.
Here are the parameters of the project:
1. I will be creating a series of training manuals for 8 different
departments, with a 7 month timeline. Graphics (screen shots, mostly) will be
used in some parts of the manuals.
2. We would like to be able to publish the documents we create on the
company intranet. Ideally, these documents would be able to link to each
other when necessary.

Here’s what I don’t know about Word and need your help with:
1. Is there any way that Word can know when you’ve updated one of the linked
documents and automatically update that link for you?
2. I’m thinking that the best way to do this project is to save each section
as a separate document, so that I can control it better. The idea of dealing
with a 50 page Word document and trying to find out exactly where things are
seems daunting compared to doing that in InDesign. However, if any of you
have other suggestions on a better way to approach the project, I am quite
willing to listen!
So, how would you approach this if it were your project? Can I use Word
effectively to do the project?

Many Thanks!

Many thanks,
Sarah W

 

[Graham Mayor]

InDesign is a page layout application. Word isn't. That distinction aside,
Word is capable of doing what you want. You may just have to adapt your
technique.

1. Linked Word documents will be updated every time you update the links.
That would be automatic if the target and linked documents were both open.
Or you could manually update the links (F9) or use a macro such as that at
http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm

2. You could use a series of IncludeText fields to insert a range of
documents that you wish to keep separate.

If you are working with a lot of screen shots, SnagIt will save you a lot of
time and won't break your employer's bank.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Sarah W]

Thanks for the info, Graham. I really appreciate it and will look into your
suggestions!