Word's "Master Document" feature

[Connie Giordano]

The whole debate on "Word can't handle long documents" seems to be edging towards urban legend status.  Plenty of us have been able to do multi-hundred page documents with tons of graphics with relatively few problems.  Most of the problelms I encounter have to do with forgetting some minor detail or being on deadline... not with whether Word can do something.

I have two sincere questions though:

1)  Doesn't Framemaker require a disciplined approach, strict rules and a healthy set of workarounds to  make it work the way people want it to? I have never used it - in fact my current contract is the ONLY gig I've had in 15 years where the tool was even available. And if it does, then in fact it really is no more superior than any other tool in the communicator's arsenal.

2) has anyone worked with Master documetns in Word 2007?  I couldn't find any feedback on the Word MVP site, and I'm curious to find out if it works...or maybe it only works if you use the whole collaboration tool set with Infopath and Sharepoint.  


Connie P. Giordano
The Right Words
Communications & Information Design
(704) 957-8450 (cell)

www.therightwords.com
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."   - Walt Disney


>  -------Original Message-------
>  From: Combs, Richard <richard.combs at Polycom.com>
>  Subject: RE: Word's "Master Document" feature
>  Sent: 01 Jun '07 09:45
>  
>  > when it comes to serious, professional technical
>  > communication, Word comes up short when compared with almost
>  > any other tool.
>  
>  Any? Really?
>  
>  > If it weren't for the fact that everyone has Word and knows
>  > (on some level how to use it), that it will outlive us all,
>  > and that it can be made to resemble anything or do anything
>  > you like, it would be little more than a toy.
>  
>  Let me rephrase that for you: "If it weren't for that fact that it can
>  do everything I need done, it would be useless."
>  
>  But I suppose there's no point in arguing about religion.
>  
>  Oh, back to the original topic for a moment -- It's been years since
>  I've done long docs in Word, but I seem to remember that the complex
>  secret to using this feature successfully is one simple rule: Don't edit
>  any of the subdocuments from within the master document. Always open the
>  subdocument on its own to edit and save it. The master document is
>  primarily a vehicle for generating the output.
>  
>  Richard
>  
>  
>  ------
>  Richard G. Combs
>  Senior Technical Writer
>  Polycom, Inc.
>  richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
>  303-223-5111
>  ------
>  rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
>  303-777-0436
>  ------
>  
>  
>  
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