Using master/subdocuments in Word 2007 vonbosau 12/18/2008 5:41:01 PM I edit a master document with subdocuments (created by someone else in this format). It worked (more or less) in Word 2003. However, I cannot open it in Word 2007 - clicked View>Outline, then Show Document, but when I click on Expand Subdocuments, the whole thing crashes ("Word has stopped working...Word is trying to recover your info.." then it all Goes Away). First, am I missing something or is this hopeless (e.g., document is corrupt)? Second, is it possible in either Word 2003 or Word 2007 to merge all the subdocuments into a single document (thus avoiding this problem)? This is a complex document (book with equations, figures, tables, a TOC, index, etc.) and unfortunately the option of using desktop publishing is not available to me - it must stay formatted in Word. Any advice/assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Laura von Bosau

Re: Using master/subdocuments in Word 2007 grammatim <grammatim[ at ]verizon.net> 12/19/2008 12:51:26 PM The most practical thing to do is simply to copy each of the (former sub)documents into a new document, and abandon the idea of Master Document. Insert a Section Break after each one. From your description, it doesn't sound like a particularly complex book. On Dec 18, 12:41 pm, vonbosau <vonbo...[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: [Quoted Text] > I edit a master document with subdocuments (created by someone else in this > format).  It worked (more or less) in Word 2003.  However, I cannot open it > in Word 2007 - clicked View>Outline, then Show Document, but when I click on > Expand Subdocuments, the whole thing crashes ("Word has stopped > working...Word is trying to recover your info.." then it all Goes Away). > > First, am I missing something or is this hopeless (e.g., document is corrupt)? > Second, is it possible in either Word 2003 or Word 2007 to merge all the > subdocuments into a single document (thus avoiding this problem)? > > This is a complex document (book with equations, figures, tables, a TOC, > index, etc.) and unfortunately the option of using desktop publishing is not > available to me - it must stay formatted in Word. > > Any advice/assistance is greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance. > > Laura von Bosau

Re: Using master/subdocuments in Word 2007 Cindy M. <C.Meister-C[ at ]hispeed.ch> 12/22/2008 9:58:15 AM Hi Laura, [Quoted Text] > I edit a master document with subdocuments (created by someone else in this > format). It worked (more or less) in Word 2003. However, I cannot open it > in Word 2007 - clicked View>Outline, then Show Document, but when I click on > Expand Subdocuments, the whole thing crashes ("Word has stopped > working...Word is trying to recover your info.." then it all Goes Away). > This Adobe file will give you information about how to best work with the Master Document facility http://www.techwr-l.com/files/masterdocs.pdf You'll notice one key point is that the Master should only be used as a "one- off", for printing the combined result. You shouldn't do any editing in the Master, nor should you edit sub-documents with the Master open. > First, am I missing something or is this hopeless (e.g., document is corrupt)? > Second, is it possible in either Word 2003 or Word 2007 to merge all the > subdocuments into a single document (thus avoiding this problem)? > The Master is probably corrupt; you can hope the sub-documents are still intact. You should certainly be able to combine all the documents into a single document via the Master Document facility. Create a new master, then use the "Remove Sub -document" button to remove the links to the original sub-document files (the text remains in the "Master"). Alternately, you can use the Insert/File command. The biggest difference is that the Master Document feature will help retain separate page layout and headers/footers of the individual documents. Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)