Marking Changes in Printed Master Documents

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stavors - 23 Apr 2007 14:06 GMT

I have a large document, over 300 pages, which is a Master document
containing a series of sub-documents which in turn contain their own
sub-documents. When a sub-document is edited I want to mark where the change
occurred - I can use track changes for this - but I only want to see the
vertical bar in the margin showing that a change has occurred.

Can this be done and is there any issue when doing it for master / sub
documents as opposed to single documents. We want to do this so we can issue
a sub-doicument for update without having to issue the whole 300+ page
document and try to control multiple editors at once.

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Bear - 23 Apr 2007 23:52 GMT

Stavors:

If I had to do this in a regular document, I'd click Tools > Track Changes >
Highlight Changes > Options and make the changes look the way I wanted.
Notably, I'd make additions have no marks and be auto colored. I'd make
deletions hidden. I'd make changed lines show rev bars.

I hope you've considered the potential risks in using Master Documents and
have made good backups. When I read "a series of sub-documents which in turn
contain their own sub-documents" I involuntarily flinched.

Bear

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Windows XP, Word 2000

> I have a large document, over 300 pages, which is a Master document
> containing a series of sub-documents which in turn contain their own
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> a sub-doicument for update without having to issue the whole 300+ page
> document and try to control multiple editors at once.

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stavors - 24 Apr 2007 09:58 GMT

Thanks - that worked fine although I had to go through Tools > Options >
Track Changes cos of Word 2002.

Pleasea dvise on potential risks that you mention. This is first time I
have used Master and Sub-document sna nd it fits our purpose but I am
concerned if there are risks I should know about.

> Stavors:
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> > a sub-doicument for update without having to issue the whole 300+ page
> > document and try to control multiple editors at once.

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Bear - 24 Apr 2007 21:08 GMT

Stavors:

Many Word experts caution against the use of the Master Document feature.
Evidently, master documents can easily become corrupted and can irreversibly
corrupt your subdocuments.

I hate to simply parrot such warnings. My own experience with master
documents was not horrible. Over the course of a year, I had only one
catastrophic crash, which did minor damage to two or three of my twelve
subdocuments.

I work in a meticulously clean way, though, and deleted unneeded section
breaks immediately on creating the master document. I did not nest
subdocuments as you are doing.

At the very least, you should consider your subdocuments at higher than
normal risk, and back them up rigorously.

Steve Hudson offered these guidelines for using master documents.

~~~~~~~~~~

Steve's Golden Rules of Master Documents:

Rule 1 - No text OTHER than the auto-toc and auto-index in your master.

Rule 2 - Do NOT perform editing via expanded sub-docs from your master -
enter the sub's directly from the file system

Rule 3 - Delete all auto-section breaks.

Rule 4 - Master and subs must have the same template.

Rule 5 - If you change your template styles, rebuild your docs.

Rule 6 - To x-ref twixt separate documents, ignore Rule 2.

Rule 7 - Regularly throw your master out and start again. This is why you
keep the toc in the master, you print it out without updates to use as your
rebuild guide.

Rule 8 - Only create and load the master doc at publishing time where
possible.

Rule 9 - Do NOT save changes after publishing. IE - Get your subbies perfect
beforehand, and forget the updated links etc from the print process. Unwanted
corruption can get saved back into the files.

Rule 10 - Use version control software such as VSS for complete peace of mind.

~~~~~~~~~~

In other words, Steve pretty much just used master documents as temporary
assemblies of the subdocuments. He created them just to perform specific,
limited operations, including publication.

Bear

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Windows XP, Word 2000

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