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#1
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How to format a document comprising text pasted from other documen
Hi there
I have two largish Word 2003 documents - approximately 90 and 60 pages of text and tables - which I would eventually like to make into one. Each document was written by a number of authors from other organisations using (I presume) different programs. We then copied the various sections into the two larger documents. Both documents now have various formatting problems where, for example, making a small edit may result in several pages changing font size and becoming italicised, or page numbering is lost, or some other time-consuming problem occurs. There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to this. Is there any way to now rid the document of the various formats without losing tables, headings, etc? Also, given that the end document will be around 150 pages long, would it be better to divide the document up into eg. linked chapters and appendices so that the smaller documents are easier to work with? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Andrew |
#2
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Hello Andrew,
When you have many documents that have come from unknown sources your best bet would be to highlight each document entirely (Ctrl +A) and then copy it (Ctrl +C) and then open Word Pad and paste it there. This will strip out all the coding and gobbledygook that could be lurking in your document. You can then copy it and go to Word and click on Edit and Paste Special and select unformatted text. This will take away your formatting, but it's much easier to set up your formatting one time rather than every time you make a change to your document. You shouldn't have any problem with a large document in word. I hope this has been helpful to you. "Andrew" wrote: Hi there I have two largish Word 2003 documents - approximately 90 and 60 pages of text and tables - which I would eventually like to make into one. Each document was written by a number of authors from other organisations using (I presume) different programs. We then copied the various sections into the two larger documents. Both documents now have various formatting problems where, for example, making a small edit may result in several pages changing font size and becoming italicised, or page numbering is lost, or some other time-consuming problem occurs. There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to this. Is there any way to now rid the document of the various formats without losing tables, headings, etc? Also, given that the end document will be around 150 pages long, would it be better to divide the document up into eg. linked chapters and appendices so that the smaller documents are easier to work with? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Andrew |
#3
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Well, to begin with, 150 pages is not much for Word to handle, even with
tables and graphics. My usual approach to a problem such as yours is to start more or less from scratch. Print a copy of the document as is (or the two contributing documents before they are combined) so that you can tell which paragraphs are headings and what the original layout was. Then strip out all the direct formatting and apply the style that will be used for the majority of the text (Body Text, say, or Body Text First Indent). Then go through and apply heading and other styles as needed (the Styles and Formatting task pane makes this a lot easier than it was with the Styles dropdown alone). When editing is complete, worry about placement of wrapped graphics and the like. This approach will allow you to, for example, apply your custom outline-numbering formats systematically. Do note that in a case like this smaller documents are never easier to work with--too much trouble to keep pagination continuous, generate TOC, index, etc. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Andrew" wrote in message ... Hi there I have two largish Word 2003 documents - approximately 90 and 60 pages of text and tables - which I would eventually like to make into one. Each document was written by a number of authors from other organisations using (I presume) different programs. We then copied the various sections into the two larger documents. Both documents now have various formatting problems where, for example, making a small edit may result in several pages changing font size and becoming italicised, or page numbering is lost, or some other time-consuming problem occurs. There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to this. Is there any way to now rid the document of the various formats without losing tables, headings, etc? Also, given that the end document will be around 150 pages long, would it be better to divide the document up into eg. linked chapters and appendices so that the smaller documents are easier to work with? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Andrew |
#4
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Thanks for the responses. I suspected that I might have to take this
approach, but was hoping to avoid it. Groan... Andrew "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: Well, to begin with, 150 pages is not much for Word to handle, even with tables and graphics. My usual approach to a problem such as yours is to start more or less from scratch. Print a copy of the document as is (or the two contributing documents before they are combined) so that you can tell which paragraphs are headings and what the original layout was. Then strip out all the direct formatting and apply the style that will be used for the majority of the text (Body Text, say, or Body Text First Indent). Then go through and apply heading and other styles as needed (the Styles and Formatting task pane makes this a lot easier than it was with the Styles dropdown alone). When editing is complete, worry about placement of wrapped graphics and the like. This approach will allow you to, for example, apply your custom outline-numbering formats systematically. Do note that in a case like this smaller documents are never easier to work with--too much trouble to keep pagination continuous, generate TOC, index, etc. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Andrew" wrote in message ... Hi there I have two largish Word 2003 documents - approximately 90 and 60 pages of text and tables - which I would eventually like to make into one. Each document was written by a number of authors from other organisations using (I presume) different programs. We then copied the various sections into the two larger documents. Both documents now have various formatting problems where, for example, making a small edit may result in several pages changing font size and becoming italicised, or page numbering is lost, or some other time-consuming problem occurs. There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to this. Is there any way to now rid the document of the various formats without losing tables, headings, etc? Also, given that the end document will be around 150 pages long, would it be better to divide the document up into eg. linked chapters and appendices so that the smaller documents are easier to work with? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Andrew |
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