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MS Office Forum / Word / Long Documents / February 2006When to split a long document into separate files?
Hi there, I have some doubts about whether to split a long document that I'm writing at the moment into separate files. From what size, and maybe, for what type of content, is it worth to separate a word document into separate files? for example: one file for each chapter. The type of document I'm writing will be about 300 pages; with lots of figures, which I insert inline and linked to .tiff files; and quite many equations, which, I think, they are embedded objects from equation editor; I don't use textboxes, and I don't use sections, because I've read they could lead to corruptions??? What do you recommend for this type/size of document? Cheers Martin. The short answer is, break it up when it becomes more convenient to work with: if you find that it's becoming tedious to scroll or slow to load, then break it up. But you probably won't need to. 300 pages is no big deal. Sections and textboxes are not common causes of corruption. Perhaps you've read about the problems with masterdocuments: these are notoriously prone to corruption, to which sections are relevant. But in ordinary documents sections are not an issue. > Hi there, > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Cheers > Martin. Thanks Jezebel, You know, I started this document in only one file, and it got corrupted, I couldn't save it, each time I try to save it word would crash. At that moment, the document only had about 50 pages! but no template, no styles, lots of figures, which I use to insert (not linked) inside textboxes, in order to be able to move them around. So then I read lots of tips about how to work with word without corrupting the document, and I radically changed the whole document. One file for each chapter, linked inline figures, no text boxes (I use tables instead if I need to put text in a box), no bullet or numbered lists, I use templates, styles... however it's a bit of a pain to have to deal with many files, mainly for cross-referencing to an item that is in another file. So now, I was thinking to put the chapters again in a single file... :-) with some doubts about whether it would be alright. Martin. > The short answer is, break it up when it becomes more convenient to work > with: if you find that it's becoming tedious to scroll or slow to load, then [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >>Cheers >>Martin. Hi Martin: I think Jezebel's right: Word will be fine up to about 5,500 pages in a single file. It will start to slow down at 1,000 pages, and may be too slow to work conveniently by 2,500 pages. Really, the size of the file on disk is your biggest problem. Anything over 32 MB is pushing the friendship, anything over 100 MB will take forever to save :-) The changes you have made are part of good document housekeeping. Bulleted and numbered lists are fine if you set up styles to apply them and apply the bullets and numbering by applying the styles -- stay OUT of the Format>Bullets and Numbering dialog in a long document or it will corrupt. Tables are fine provided you do not allow them to span more than about 20 pages, and turn off the "Automatically resize to fit the contents" option in the table. Also: Set your tables Inline with Text, NOT floating. Generally, "floating" anything is bad news: it uses a lot of CPU and memory and contributes to problems. Hope this helps On 10/2/06 10:44 AM, in article eTdMFLdLGHA.3732@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl, > Thanks Jezebel, > [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] >>> Cheers >>> Martin.  SignaturePlease reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email me unless I ask you to. John McGhie <john@mcghie.name> Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410 Thanks John, very helpful. Martin. > Hi Martin: > [quoted text clipped - 73 lines] >>>>Cheers >>>>Martin. Hi, > The changes you have made are part of good document housekeeping. > Bulleted > and numbered lists are fine if you set up styles to apply them and apply > the > bullets and numbering by applying the styles I'm afraid I've had a lot of problems with bullets and numbering in long documents (100 pages plus, 10Mb plus in Word 2003) even where *all* instances of bullets and numbering are set up and applied via Styles. The only solutions I've found are to repeatedly delete and recreate the styles and to delete and recreate the text in some instances. Paul > Hi Martin: > [quoted text clipped - 84 lines] >>>> Cheers >>>> Martin. Hello Paul > I'm afraid I've had a lot of problems with bullets and numbering in long > documents (100 pages plus, 10Mb plus in Word 2003) even where *all* > instances of bullets and numbering are set up and applied via Styles. The > only solutions I've found are to repeatedly delete and recreate the styles > and to delete and recreate the text in some instances. The following articles might be of interest to you: Ins and outs of bullets and numbering in Word http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011376791033.aspx See the section on "Numbering, bullets, Headings, Outlines" (by Shauna Kelly) http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/ How to restart style-based numbering (by Margaret Aldis) http://word.mvps.org/faqs/numbering/ListRestartMethods.htm Word's numbering explained (by John McGhie) http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.word.formatting.longdocs/msg/6bb ef235ea616aec?hl=en& HTH Robert Signature/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS \ / | MVP X Against HTML | for / \ in e-mail & news | Word It isn't enough to set them up through styles. You have to follow specific steps, and only those steps. See: How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in your Word document http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html. (For bullets see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/bullets/controlbullets.html, the subject is related.) This is based on ... Word's Numbering Explained http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm Additional information you may find useful or need is at: How to Create a Template, Part II http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm SignatureCharles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 105 lines] >>>>> Cheers >>>>> Martin. |
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