[Mike Shuls]

James,
I'm making a manual very similar to yours only much smaller. I'm a summer
intern with a copius job that takes a while to learn the ins and outs of, so
I'm making a manual for the next intern and any other future interns during
my free time.

I'm using most of what you're using, 3 levels of headers, a autoTOC and
bookmarks (probably an autoindex as well which ill bookmark so that they are
links...)

I was just wondering if you knew any way to add in an object that will
scroll as the user scrolls with a link back to the TOC, or if there's a good
alternative besides keeping the document map open to easily return to the
table of contents...

Thanks, and good luck on your possible 2500 page beast.

-Shuls

"JamesDart" wrote:

Robert;

Thank you for responding, been struggling terribly.

JamesDart wrote:
[..]
It is a Process Manual, meaning it is a Large document designed to show
users how to do specific procedures within the program we are using.

For my document, I am using the following features:
Auto Table of Contents
Heading Styles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)

I would take a step back he *6* heading levels for anything under the
volume of, say, the Bible, is too much IMHO.

I did take a step back and reduced to "4" Heading levels, so that's good to
know that i'm on the right track.

Hyperlinks to outside documents
Hyperlinks to same document
Bookmarks (300 so far)
Cross-References
Insert Picture (mostly Screen shots copied into MSPaint and saved)
"Dragged" images from Visio

I would investigate a bit if exporting from Visio (WMF/EMF format?)
might get better results in terms of file size and overhead for Word.

nods I will do some investigating on this. Any ideas on where I can get
this kind of information, or will it just be trial and error? grins
Getting used to the Trial and Error, frustrating, but I do learn from my
mistakes.

Figure Captions
Field Codes in Header
Field Codes in Footer

Could you elaborate a bit he PAGE and STYLEREF fields, and/or
something more?

Header: For Sections 1-4, there is no Header. For Sections 4-32, I have 3
PAGE fields: "Chapter" (Heading 1), "Module" (Heading 2), and "Section"
(Heading 3). I felt that the 4th Heading, which is the actual
process/procedure/instructions jumbled the Header too much. For Sections
33-37, I have 2 PAGE fields, "Chapter" and "Section." I'm thinking that I
can reduce it to just "Chapter" since these sections are all part of the
Appendix

Footer: Section 1's footer is a PAGE field with the "SAVEDATE" that I am
using as a "Last Edited" reference. Sections 2-4 it the ToC, so there is a
PAGE field for roman numeral page numbers. Sections 5-32, I have a PAGE
field for the pagenumber, "Outline Circle 2" as well as two "pasted" logos,
one on either side of the pagenumber. Essentially, one is my company's and
the other is the Software company's. Sections 33-37 use the same "Outline
Circle 2" PAGE field, but I changed the Format to reflect "A-1" for appendix
A, "B-1" for appendix B, etc.

Auto Table of Figures
Sections
Page numbers restart at the beginning of each Section

Again, this is something I would critically review: it's basically an
outdated practice from the ages of printed manuals and delivered
page-wise corrections. If you intend to do that (instead of, say,
delivering PDF or HTML files), then Word might not be the best tool at
hand for you because it's definitely not page-oriented in its setup.

gasp oh, my. So, what is the recommendation? This "File" is intended to
be used by employees through access in our network. The finished product
(and subfiles) will be placed in the "Public" Folder so that any employee can
access it. It is not intended or designed to be printed. Though, my
supervisor threatens that it needs to be printable for folks to have it
"handy." I disagree, but, then again, she's the boss.

Manual Design:
Being this is my second manual, and I'm self taught, I know this is not a
standard format, hence why i'm asking for help:
Title Page
ToC
Introduction
Part I Section
Chapter 1
...
...
Part VI Section
Chapter 23
Appendixes
Glossary
Screenshots

So far, I have 214 pages and i'm only on Chapter "2" of 23. File size is
already 10,048 kb.

I don't know the scope of your application. But by extrapolating, it
looks like you'll be somewhere in the vicinity of 2500 pages in the end.
That is a monster manual. Is it intended to be read?

laughs Yes, it is intended to be read. Maybe that's the wrong
terminology. It is to used to "train" new employees as well as a "Reference"
for established employees. As mentioned above, I have no intentions of ever
printing this monster. Any shortcuts, tricks, and/or ideas to reduce the
size would be greatly appreciated. Half way through Chapter 3, Only added 20
pages. Granted, I reformatted the original 214 pages to be less graphic
intensive, added more white space.

Question: I am not happy with the product, impressed with it, having fun
with the different "eye candy" Word(c) provides, but as you mentioned, I
think that it was the crux of my issue. Essentially, The following is a
"brief" example:
Header: Chapter: "Heading 1" Module: "Heading 2" Section: "Heading 3"
Top right corner: three graphic pictures .25inx.25in, hyperlinked. 1sr one
is to the ToC, 2nd is to the Section Heading, 3rd is to the Appendix
Heading 1 - "3 Inpatient Admissions"
Heading 2 - "Intake"
Heading 3 - "Admissions - Daily Pre-Admission"
- a little paragraph about the purpose and intent of the section, why it has
to be done, etc.
Heading 4 - "Pre-Admission Checklist"
- and then there's a HUGE table that follows. I found that using a table
made it extremely easy to manipulate, as far as height and length, as well as
"filling" table fields with colors for emphasis.
Footer: Company Logo, Page number, Software Logo

Finally, the question: does using extensive, HUGE tables cause problems?

Here's one my Issues:

Every time I insert a "copied" item, something that is being repeated that
is hyperlinked and cannot be placed in the header or footer, Word seems to
"Time Out", no cursor visible, no typing available, for about 15 to 30
seconds. If i scroll the screen up or down a few times, then attempt to type
again, it seems to respond again.

Is this where "Building blocks" or "Quick Parts" would be of better use?

Are you talking about an external object to be repeated here (picture,
Visio object, etc.)? You could bookmark the first occurrence and insert
a REF field, technically.

Yes, and Wow, didn't even think about that. Awesome, will impliment that
today.

In a very large document, saving all the pictures externally and linking
them into the document will reduce the file size. Though frankly, you
have the burden to make sure that the pictures are all stable relative
to the document (in the same folder or subfolder, preferably), have to
deal with relative vs. absolute links, and of course Word needs to bring
all stuff together at run time, so I'm not sure this helps a lot in your
situation.

Oh, okay. I started to do that initially, but found that in order to "link"
to the picture, I had to create a "save" for every single one. After #15 (of
57 currently) I gave up on that idea and just put the pictures (aka Screen
shots) at the end of the document, linked to the appropriate heading.
Problem was, I would have to create a bookmark for the readers spot, insert
the picture to the "Screen shot Appendix", add a WORD(c) caption to the
picture, create a "BACK" hyperlink to the bookmark, then hyperlink the
bookmark to the picture Caption. VERY time consuming, and, as you mentioned
before, takes a lot of memory.

This document I am creating also has documents within documents, meaning,
for processes, prcedures, and/or instructions that will be referred to more
often than others, I created an external document (some are up to 10 pages)
that was hyperlinked from the main document. This does save space, but at
the same time, when the link is clicked on, it "opens" the document and if
the User doesn't "close" it, well, let's just say there's going to be a lot
of open documents.

In any case, the machine you're working on should be state of the art
and have lots and lots of RAM.

Alas, though the system I am working on is better than the majority of
systems being used at our agency, it is far from "State of the Art." Hence
why I'm trying to find any and all means to reduce the intensity of the
document w/o losing the integrity as well. I like what I have created, but I
worry that I am putting an awful lot of work into something that may end up
too cumbersome or worse yet, unused.

Thank you Robert for responding. I will take what responses you have listed
and put them into action. I also am anxiously waiting for a respone this as
well.

Again, thank you.

James Dart
Special Projects Manager
Sundown M Ranch