Re: Working with large documents in Word

["Jonathan West" <jwest -at- mvps -dot- org>]

>
> So why to take risk...at the time of delivery if things goes for a
> toss.....it will be huge impact...The template is very crucial, as u know if
> that gets corrupted...you would end up spending the same time in
> restructuring the doc....

Have you ever come across the word "backup"? It is something you do to
documents and templates so that if they get damaged, you have a good
copy available.

>
> As a matter of fact I have got last moment do or die situations that happens
> after after review some times (many a times)
>
> The Styles / formats / template goes for a toss, reason known only to
> creators of word application.

So you restore the backup copy, and load the styles back into the
document. 2 minutes, tops, to do this.

>
> It will be big time screw up, have practically faced this....sat for hours
> and days to rectify the template...
>
> Best is to avoid using a single doc to hold so many pages of content
> (inclusive of images, flowcharts, styles, macros)

Actually, I would also be inclined to split the document into smaller
parts for editing, for three reasons. One is that if you make a mess
of it, you have onloy damaged one chapter, and it is easier to re-do
it working from the backup copy. Second, splitting into chapters means
you work on smaller files, which usually means Word responds a bit
quicker. Third, it enables the task to be split by assigning different
chapters to different editors (assuming you have a team available for
the purpose).

Whether you then recombine the files for publication, or keep them
split depends on what your needs are. if you are producing a PDF with
hyperlinks between chapters, then you will probably need to combine
the document.

>
> Still if you have space and time...you can experiment as suggested......

What this comes down to is that some people have said that you can use
Word for long documents, if you take the trouble to acquire the
necessary skills, and there are those who say that you can't use Word
for that purpose. Since those who say you can use Word are presumably
actually doing so, who do you think Raj should believe?

Regards
Jonathan West
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