RE: Master Index for Multiple Word Files-SUMMARY

["David Chinell" <dchinell -at- msn -dot- com>]

Sharon:

Thanks for posting the summary. I had a subsequent
exchange with John Posada, and he helped me get my
feet back on the ground.

The most workable strategy is to put the "manual
code" prefix in the page numbers of the documents
themselves, then use the RD fields as described.

If your page numbers have no prefix at present,
you can add one using the dummy Heading style as
was described in one of your posted solutions.

If you're already using chapter numbers as a
prefix (I do, and that's one of the things that
was throwing me off) then you can add the manual
code as a text prefix to the chapter title
autonumbers.

I'll bet you're off and running, but if you need
any details, feel free to contact me any time.

Bear

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-10308 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-10308 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On
Behalf Of Sharon Key
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 1999 1:00 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Master Index for Multiple Word
Files-SUMMARY


I received a number of responses, but only two
seemed to get to the heart of
the matter.  Here they are.

Sharon Key
Data Research Associates
St. Louis, MO  USA
==================================================
======
You can create a master index in a document (or an
index in each file that
contains index entries for all documents) by using
the RD field.  You would
insert an RD statement after your Index field for
each document.  The syntax
is:  {RD "c:\fullpath\doc name.doc"}.  Be sure to
include the quotation
marks. However, just doing this will give you an
index which does not
distinguish which document the page number is
referring to.

So you will need to do is figure out a way to
differentiate the different
documents in the index.  What I did was to define
the page numbers for each
manual to be specific to that manual.  For
example, I used U-53 for page
number 53 in the Users' Guide and G-53 for page 53
in the Getting Started
manual.

This was done through the following steps (for
each document to be included
in the index):

1.  Manually define a coding system to
differentiate the documents.
2.  In a hidden line of text in the very beginning
of the document (before
the page numbers start), define (and apply) a
heading style that is not used
elsewhere in the document.  When defining the
style, make it a numbered list
style, and define the numbering to be the code for
the document (i.e. G).
3.  Format your page numbers (Format Page Number
option from the
headers/footers toolbar), select Include Chapter
Number and specify that
each chapter started with heading style defined in
step 2.
4. Now, your page numbers should look something
like G-53 (assuming your
document code is G).
5. Do this for all 15 documents, using a different
code for each document.
==================================================
===
You can use RD fields to tell Word to include a
remote document in its indexing efforts. The
problem is that the resulting index wouldn't show
which manual or document the entry came from. It
will just show the page number.

I've tried to come up with a workable way to
accomplish your master index, but I simply can't.
If you DO get an answer I'd love to know it.

THE RD PART

Here's how the RD fields work... I suggest you try
it out to get a feel for it before you go on.

Create an index document -- this is a regular old
document, but it's the one in which you'll hold
your master index.

At the front of the index document, insert an RD
(remote document) field for each file you want to
include in the index. This field does nothing more
than tell Word to include the named document in
its indexing efforts.

RD fields are hidden text, so you won't see them
unless you're showing your marks. They'll look
something like this:

{ RD "c:\\manual1\\chapter1.doc" }
{ RD "c:\\manual1\\chapter2.doc" }
{ RD "c:\\manual2\\chapter1.doc" }
etc.

You can't just type this in, you have to use
Insert > Field, select RD, and type in the
filename. It's probably easier to insert a dummy
field, duplicate it as needed, then paste in the
actual paths as you go.

When you specify a document as the argument of an
RD field, you'll probably want to enclose the
filename in quotes, use an absolute path, and
substitute double slashes for single slashes.

Create the index field as you normally would.
Every time you update the index field, Word opens
the remote documents and finds the index entries
therein.

THE HORRIBLE PART

Stop here. Every idea I came up with will kill
you, or at least shorten your life.

How WILL the user know which manual to look in?
The best deal I've seen in Master Indexes is to
have little three-letter abbreviations for each
manual, and present these in the body of the index
as if they were page number prefixes.

Great. How do we get them there?

Method 1: Create a separate index for each manual.
Use Replace to put the little abbreviation in
front of each page number. Manually collate the
fifteen  indexes into one. OUCH.

Method 2: Create a working copy of every manual in
your entire library. Delve deeply into Word's SEQ
fields and use them to create brand new page
number prefixes that include the spiffy
abbreviation WITHOUT disturbing the original
pagination. (I'm actually typing this with a
straight face.)

Method 3:

1. Create an index for volume one.

2. Unlink the index field, use Replace to add the
abbreviation, save as Doc1.

3. Create an index for volumes one and two.

4. Unlink the index field, use Replace to add the
abbreviation for volume 2 to all page numbers,
save as Doc2.

5. Use Tools > Track Changes > Compare Documents
to compare Doc2 to Doc1.

6. Accept the new insertions as valid volume 2
entries. Reject the changes to the old volume 1
entries.

7. Do this over and over, adding one more volume
each time, until you've got all fifteen.

See what I mean? None of these is really workable.


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