Re: Large Documents in Word

[Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I don't suppose you'd care to share that brilliant system, would you?
<hopeful look>

Part of the rationale I'm being given is that they want the designers to be
able to edit source files. This will obviously require multiple files and
the "enforced track changes", amongst other things you mentioned.


On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 12:47 PM, Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> wrote:

>
> The business rationale for using Word is because "everyone can write, so
> let's maintain our own technical documentation." The drawback is that it
> could be indicative of the desire to phase out specific technical
> communications services, so either you find another way to add value, or
> find another job.
>
> It is possible to maintain a successful workflow using Word. I worked at
> one company where I inherited a brilliant authoring/publishing at one job
> that my Sr. Technical Writer friend spent a few years perfecting.
>
> This system ensured a pristine Word master stored in a source code version
> control system, enforced track changes to support multiple editors
> and reviewers, and manual reintegration by the technical writer.
>
> In my opinion large documents should be authored in chunks with publishing
> managed by a component content management system. You can still use Word as
> the authoring interface. Groups like Thirty Six Software, DITAExchange, and
> Quark have Word based systems for topic based authoring.
>
> -Tony
>
>
> On Monday, November 24, 2014, Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
>> Because of various changes at my company, I may be moving from FrameMaker
>> to Word.
>>
>> The documents I handle run into the hundreds of pages. I've never handled
>> a
>> Word doc over 80 pages that didn't regularly crash or corrupt.
>>
>> I'm looking for people who have successfully handled very large documents
>> in Word. I need to pick your brains to find out how you do it. I'm a
>> moderately experienced user of Word, but I'm by no means a power user. If
>> this move is made, I'm going to need a lot more information.
>>
>> --
>> Lin Sims
>>
>>
>>


-- 
Lin Sims

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