Writing a book using Word 2

[TipGiver]

Hello
I am about to start writing my book. I will be using Word 2003 or 2007. I think mostly of the 2007 because it does better formattings.
The book will have everything... introduction, TOC, some words for the purpose of the book, chapters, solved exercises, appendices, bibliography, etc

Should all these in a single word file ?
( The cover will be in different file )

Thank you

 

[Madawc]

PS, you also have 'Word Count' and Spell Check, which can include words you add to the Custom Dictionary. If English is your second language you might find the Grammer Checker useful. A friend who's a native English speaker would be better, maybe worth paying someone to do a careful read through.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Windows XP & Crystal 10

 

[macropod]

Hi TipGiver,

Whilst Word is certainly capable of doing what you want, even if the final product has to be converted to another format at the end of the process, I'd strongly recommend breaking the book up into separate fiels, each representing a chapter.

The separate chapter documents can all be linked together for the compilation of a Table of Contents and sequential footnote numbering and the like, if need be. The advantage is that they won't suffer the performance hit that large documents with lots of graphics can suffer from. Plus, you'll be less likely to lose everything if you have a system failure or the document you're working on becomes corrupted - it happens (but you'll make regular and frequent backups, anyway, won't you).

Cheers

[MS MVP - Word]

 

[Stella740pl]

Madawc,

The OP mentioned above that even though English is not his/her first language, it's not going to be a problem, since the book will be in their native language.

 

[TipGiver]

MakeItSo,
Thank you for your valuable help. I am not sure but i think that i can specify a custom page in word and this to be more than 30cm of width. Also by "side" i meant the "spine". You said the correct word . I'll see what can i do with Adobe products.

Madawc,
I am not sure that the conversion from doc or docx (2007) to PDF will be the best. I see that the converssion misses some formattings especially in tables. I have used the PDF_Factory (print as file and saves it as pdf). I will try the WORD's 2007 embedded 'save as pdf' feature to see if this is more accurate.

macropod,
I use almost all Office products. More of course Word, Excel and Visio when needed. Since now, the word files where nothing special. They where formatted very well and looked great, added header/footer and page numbers. Now that i talk abot 'book', i will have to learn more and use more settings. I like the idea of splitting into multiple files. Joining the parts at the end, you mean open a new Doc and insert word files ?
These days (when i have some free time) i am trying to find out the way to create two sections, so i can have numbering i, ii, iii, etc and when chapter1 begins to change to 1, 2,3, etc.

Anyway i'll get it

Stella740pl,
;-)

 

[macropod]

Hi Stella740pl,

What you do in terms of 'joining' multiple documents depends on what you're trying to achieve.

If all you want to do is to create a document with the 'front material' and an an integrated Table of Contents, then combining a TOC field with RD fields pointing to each of the source documents will do the job.

Conversely, if you want to consolidate all the material into one document, you could use a target document with INCLUDETEXT fields pointing to each of the source documents.

Alternatively, you could go down the Insert|File method at the end of the creation process.

Note: Word has/had a 'Master Document' feature for managing multiple documents. The general consensus it to avoid it - that way lies document corruption.

Cheers

[MS MVP - Word]

 

[fumei]

If you use 'Header' style for chapter headings, you automatically get a 'Table of Contents' that keeps updating.

This is not strictly accurate.

This is the default. The TOC is generated to whatever Style it is set for, which means it can be set to ANY style. It will update to whatever style it is set for.

For example, my teaching documents have the TOC generated to:

Level 1 - ModuleName
Level 2 - TeachingPoints
Level 3 - LabExercises

with ModuleName, TeachingPoints, LabExercises all being Styles.

I never use the default Heading 1 style.

I would agree with macropod, Master Document is still to be avoided.

faq219-2884

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[mickeyj2]

Hi,
Good luck on your book. I was once like you and initially turned to Word for many desktop publishing tasks. Mine was creating manuals, etc.

I know someone had suggested FrameMaker, but if you're looking for an entire suite, FrameMaker has been replaced with Adobe's InDesign, which is what I currently use. It's great for creating books, etc., and you can configure a TOC, Bibliography, etc.

Hope this helps.

 

[TipGiver]

macropod,
I guess "Hi Stella740pl" should be "Hi TipGiver"
The covers (front back and spine) will be a different file. Can be created with photoshop, word or whatever.
I like the idea to have many .doc files. Preface, introduction, 10 Chapters (in 10 different files), bibligraphy. The problem that i see is that in the end they all should be joined (merge better?) into one file... so it can be printed. I have to run some tests to see how it is done, the whole situation

mickeyj2,
Thank you. I have seen the Adobe CS3 and i was suprised not to find out the FrameMaker. I didnt know that the InDesign is the new tool. Thanks for that too. I will have to stick with word that i am more familiar with. Bt i can search for some tutorials for the InDesign!

 

[macropod]

Hi TipGiver,

Linking the contents for printing via INCLUDTEXT fields isn't at all difficult. Plus, once you've got the links established, you can use the target document to edit the content of the source documents, including moving content between them (eg if you decide something belongs in Chapter 4 instead of Chapter 3).

Cheers

[MS MVP - Word]

 

[TipGiver]

Hi macropod,

I created 2 files. One is the master.doc and the other the test.doc. I have some text on the test.doc. I inserted an IncludeText field in the master.doc and wrote the filename property. It brings the contents of the test.doc and it adds a gray background color when i am in that field. Making changes in either of these files, they are not reflected back to the master or in the test file.

Please let me say again what i think is good enough to do, in case of missunderstanding. Create many many different files. This will be like a template. The odd page will be the right page and it will have a gutter at the left. When everything is finished, all files whould be joined into one single file ("master" file). This is where the TOC will be added, + header ( section name on it ) and the footer to have the page number.

 

[macropod]

Hi TipGiver,

The grey backgound is simply a display artifact to indicate that you're working in a field. You can control/disable it via Tools|Options|View.

For the changes in the target document to update the source file, simply position the cursor in the field and press Ctrl-Shift-F7.

For what you want, linking the files this way means the TOC, headers and pagenumbering can be created in the target document alone.

Cheers

[MS MVP - Word]

 

[TipGiver]

The Ctrl-Shift-F7 do not seem to work.
I right click the area and hit 'Update Field' and it gets the changes from the file ( test.doc ). But it fails sometimes with the formattings. Maybe the solution is to uncheck the 'preserve formatting during updates' when adding the field "".

By 'target document' you mean the master.doc that will contain all the separate files? I did a test right now. I set as header1 a word in the test.doc .. and added TOC in master.doc. OK! It did it. But the header that i put in test.doc, was not transfered in the master.doc.

( Thanks for your help )

 

[macropod]

Hi TipGiver,

Ctrl-Shift-F7 should work - unless that key combination has been re-assigned or disabled on your system. I've just tested & confirmed its use on my own system. And yes, for most fields, the 'preserve formatting' option (the '\* Mergeformat' field switch) just gets in the way.

As for the page headers, the INCLUDETEXT fields should also import those, but you'll need to have Section breaks before & after the links to the source documents for this to work properly, with each Section's header unlinked from the previous one. Depending on what you're doing, you may even find it necessary to bookmark the source document headers and point the INCLUDETEXT fields to those bookmarks. Having said that, I'd probably be inclined to do all the header/footer stuff in the target document anyway.

I avoid the term 'master.doc' so as not to confuse things with Word's 'Master Documents' feature.

Cheers

[MS MVP - Word]

 

[TipGiver]

Hi,

I am glad to find the "StyleRef" and select the "Heading1". This way i can and to the header/footer what i have marked as Heading1.

I am not sure what yu mean by 'target document'. You mean the document that will include all the other docs? (the one that i called master.doc)

Lets call the 'master.doc' from now on 'book.doc' in order not to confuse it with Word's 'Master Documents' feature.

> I hanen't opened the book.doc. I do changes to a part ( say chapter1.doc ). I then open the book.doc but the changes of chapter1.doc are not reflected back to the book.doc, unless i right click the field and hit 'Update Field'. Can this be done automatically when i open the book.doc?

 

[macropod]

Hi TipGiver,

Yes, when I refer to the 'target document', I'm referring to what you now want to call 'book,doc'.

The inks should update automatically if you;ve got the 'update automatic links at open' option checked under Tools|Options|General. If that doesn't do it, doing a Print Preview should, as should selecting the whole document (eg Ctrl-A) and pressing F9.

Cheers

[MS MVP - Word]

 

[TipGiver]

( time for your star )

That option, yes it is checked but it doesnt do that automatically. The F9 seems to work!

 

[TipGiver]

star for MakeItSo too

 

[MakeItSo]

Thanks TipGiver!

Oh btw: This is how I formatted my header/footer:
Header even pages (left): book title
Header odd pages (right): chapter name
I have also inserted a line at the bottom the header for better optics.
Footers: page number, even: left, odd: right

Perhaps an idea for you?

[navy]"We had to turn off that service to comply with the CDA Bill."[/navy]
- The Bastard Operator From Hell

 

[TipGiver]

Hi MakeItSo,

this is the most? common way.. and it is what i will follow !!!