Working with Master Documents and Linked Objects on CD

[Mark]

I am trying to create a Master Document for use on CD. It contains linked objects/table/spreadsheets/etc which I also want to be able to access independently of the master (on the cd as a separate file). The problem arises when addressing the linked objects from another computer whose cd drive label may be different (i.e. D:\ as opposed to E:\). How do you dynamically link these objects
The only work-around I can come up with is embedding the objects and including another copy of each on the CD. The drawback here is updating the original object and having to re-embed, since the auto-update will not be linked

Anyone help here would be greatly appreciated

Thanks, Mark

 

[Charles Kenyon]

First,

--
"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 sure 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 <URL:
http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm> for information on the
Master Document feature and workarounds. (This page also has a link to Steve
Hudson's chapter on how he gets Master Documents to work.) See <URL:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm> for more
information on what goes wrong, and <URL:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm> for ideas on
how to salvage what you can.

Generally if you store linked objects in the same folder as the document
calling them you can edit the link to simply the name, with no drive or
path.

You should not be using Word to work directly with the CD. Instead, set up
one or more folders on your hard drive to hold the contents for your CD and
use your burning software to transfer those folders to the CD.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory:
<URL: http://addbalance.com/word/index.htm>

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide)
<URL: http://addbalance.com/usersguide/index.htm>

See also the MVP FAQ: <URL: http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
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I am trying to create a Master Document for use on CD. It contains linked

objects/table/spreadsheets/etc which I also want to be able to access
independently of the master (on the cd as a separate file). The problem
arises when addressing the linked objects from another computer whose cd
drive label may be different (i.e. D:\ as opposed to E:\). How do you
dynamically link these objects?

The only work-around I can come up with is embedding the objects and

including another copy of each on the CD. The drawback here is updating the
original object and having to re-embed, since the auto-update will not be
linked.

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?TWFyaw==?=,

I am trying to create a Master Document for use on CD. It contains linked

objects/table/spreadsheets/etc which I also want to be able to access
independently of the master (on the cd as a separate file). The problem arises
when addressing the linked objects from another computer whose cd drive label
may be different (i.e. D:\ as opposed to E:\). How do you dynamically link
these objects?

The only work-around I can come up with is embedding the objects and

including another copy of each on the CD. The drawback here is updating the
original object and having to re-embed, since the auto-update will not be
linked.The MasterDocument is one issue, which Charles has addressed.

Linked spreadsheets and other objects is another, and not so easily solved, as
Word requires a full, absolute path to linked OLE objects. In this case, you
may have no choice but to provide some way to allow the path to be changed.
Generally, you have four basic options:

1. Edit/Links
2. Make sure the objects are in line with the text, display the field
codes, then use Find/Replace to change the path information
3. As (2), but replace the path with a DocProperty field, and put the full path
in a custom document property. Then the path needs to be changed in only the
one place.

This last can be automated by an AutoOpen macro that checks the path of the
opened document, makes the change, then updates the fields.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep 30 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

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