Using Word2003. Not a Word expert.

I'm preparing a series of bifold, duplex booklets that share a lot of
common pages. The full 'master' is 40 pages, and there are 4 page, 8
page, 16 page, 20 page, 28 page variations that are a subset of the 40
page master.

This seems like a good usage of IncludeText, and it "sort of" works.
Below is an example of what I'm trying to accomplish.

Page01.doc thru Page40.doc

IncluderOfFourPages.doc has:
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page01.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page11.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page21.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page31.doc" }

The problem is when I "refresh" the "master" with Ctrl-A and F9, I'm
getting
Error! Not a valid filename
for some or all of the references.

It seems to work at least once when I build up the subpages initially.
Eventually, I start getting the Error! message as if it is corrupted.

Am I doing something wrong? Leaving out a step? Is there something
with the booket that confuses Word-2003? It is quite close to working,
but frustrating.

A year or so ago, I was working on a similar project, and it seems
like there was a "magic step" involved to get the "refresh" to work ok
.... but I can't remember what it was. I would encounter the above
"Error! Not a valid filename" and it seemed there was something I
could do to fix it so the "refresh" would work ok. Can't recall what
it was. ???

Are all the documents in the same directory? Are you saving copies somewhere
else? You haven't included a full path and Word works relative to the
'current directory' - this usually has a default of MyDocuments or similar,
but changes while you work to wherever you last opened or saved a file. It
is not necessarily the directory where the document you are currently
working on resides!

--
Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP
Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org


"Lynn Allan" wrote in message
...
Using Word2003. Not a Word expert.

I'm preparing a series of bifold, duplex booklets that share a lot of
common pages. The full 'master' is 40 pages, and there are 4 page, 8
page, 16 page, 20 page, 28 page variations that are a subset of the 40
page master.

This seems like a good usage of IncludeText, and it "sort of" works.
Below is an example of what I'm trying to accomplish.

Page01.doc thru Page40.doc

IncluderOfFourPages.doc has:
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page01.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page11.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page21.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page31.doc" }

The problem is when I "refresh" the "master" with Ctrl-A and F9, I'm
getting
Error! Not a valid filename
for some or all of the references.

It seems to work at least once when I build up the subpages initially.
Eventually, I start getting the Error! message as if it is corrupted.

Am I doing something wrong? Leaving out a step? Is there something
with the booket that confuses Word-2003? It is quite close to working,
but frustrating.

A year or so ago, I was working on a similar project, and it seems
like there was a "magic step" involved to get the "refresh" to work ok
... but I can't remember what it was. I would encounter the above
"Error! Not a valid filename" and it seemed there was something I
could do to fix it so the "refresh" would work ok. Can't recall what
it was. ???

Are all the documents in the same directory?

Yes.

Are you saving copies somewhere else?

No.

You haven't included a full path and Word works relative to the
'current directory' - this usually has a default of MyDocuments or
similar,
but changes while you work to wherever you last opened or saved a
file. It
is not necessarily the directory where the document you are
currently
working on resides!

I get the same problem if I include the full pathname:
{ INCLUDETEXT "X:\MyDocs\Page01.doc" }

I can try this in the "My Documents" folder, or set the default to
this subdirectory.

Something odd that will perhaps help diagnose. When I initially build
the 'IncluderOfFourPages.doc with the initial { INCLUDETEST }
fieldcodes, it seems to work fine, and the file size is perhaps 92,000
bytes. I will open IncluderOfFourPages.doc, it appears fine. Then I do
Ctrl-A to select all, then F9 to "refresh". Then there are one, many,
or all of the { INCLUDETEXT } fields give the message:
Error! Not a valid filename.

The filesize has shrunk to about 52,000 bytes ... like it has lost the
text that was included.

Thanks for your reply ... I'm baffled.

--
Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP
Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org


"Lynn Allan" wrote in message
...
Using Word2003. Not a Word expert.

I'm preparing a series of bifold, duplex booklets that share a lot
of
common pages. The full 'master' is 40 pages, and there are 4 page,
8
page, 16 page, 20 page, 28 page variations that are a subset of
the 40
page master.

This seems like a good usage of IncludeText, and it "sort of"
works.
Below is an example of what I'm trying to accomplish.

Page01.doc thru Page40.doc

IncluderOfFourPages.doc has:
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page01.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page11.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page21.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Page31.doc" }

The problem is when I "refresh" the "master" with Ctrl-A and F9,
I'm
getting
Error! Not a valid filename
for some or all of the references.

It seems to work at least once when I build up the subpages
initially.
Eventually, I start getting the Error! message as if it is
corrupted.

Am I doing something wrong? Leaving out a step? Is there something
with the booket that confuses Word-2003? It is quite close to
working,
but frustrating.

A year or so ago, I was working on a similar project, and it seems
like there was a "magic step" involved to get the "refresh" to
work ok
... but I can't remember what it was. I would encounter the above
"Error! Not a valid filename" and it seemed there was something I
could do to fix it so the "refresh" would work ok. Can't recall
what
it was. ???

Hi Lynn,

I get the same problem if I include the full pathname:
{ INCLUDETEXT "X:\MyDocs\Page01.doc" }

You need to use double-backslashes in the file name. Also,
make sure that the option to update linked file paths is
NOT activated in Tools/Options/General/Web options/Files.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update
Jun 8 2004)
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
:-)

I think part of my problem was having an invalid INCLUDETEXT in an
INCLUDETEXT ....

Oops .

Thanks for the help.

Seems like the problem I'm experiencing is erratic ... but seems
related to needing to wait until the document is entirely loaded.
There is a status message about "virus checking" and then an animation
is active for perhaps 10-20 seconds. If I try to "refresh" the links
with right-mouse-button "update link" before this is all done, then I
get the message:
Error! Not a valid filename
and the file is corrupted.