Templates and master Documents

[DebS]

We have six or seven large documents that were each created from the same Template. The documents will be used as a training manual, so they are heavily formatted and include Styles and lots of screen shots.

I'm trying to use a Master Document to build one Table of Contents for all the documents. However, when I view the Subdocuments, the formatting has changed! Fonts have gone from Arial to Times New Roman (and others), and the Numbered Lists appear to be one "Continued List" rather than the numbering restarting over with each section of the document.

Several people have worked on these documents, but it appears that they are all choosing the appropriate Style for headings and numbered lists.

Any clues as to why this is happening? Would using different PC's that may have different default Font settings cause this problem?

Thanks for any help!

[Redbeard]

I have not used Master Documents, but I understand that their advantage is that different users can access and edit different sections of the document at the same time. This has advantages while you are building the document.

Master Documents have many problems that I have seen related on other bulletin boards. Your problem may or may not be a known problem.

If you do not have different users simultaneously editing, you are better off using one document. This document can be accessed by many others, but only one, the first person accessing the document, can edit.

[DebS]

I did read that Master Documents are 'buggier' than most other Word features, but we're trying to find a way around the 'single editor'. Individual people work on their parts of the manual, and we need to find a way to merge these individual files into one manageable document, with one master Table of Contents.

If we merge all files together into one document, we'd exceed Word's maximum file size imitation. And, the document corrupts easily and locks up frequently.

The biggest problem so far is the renumbering. Instead of groups of numbered items (1-8, 1-6, etc), it starts the first item as number 1, and then renumbers all items until it reaches the end of the document (1-800).

I didn't create the Master Document using the same Template, and that might be my problem. But any additional comments/suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks much!

[Redbeard]

Why not a series of documents with a mock TOC in the first doc that includes hyperlinks to different docs that contain the "chapters" or topics referenced in the first document? This will get around the max file size. You will then be able to separately edit the chapters.

Fred