I am writing a book and I want to use the Master Document function
(Office XP Word) to organize it. Otherwise I have to work with each
chapter as an individual file which is unwieldy. I created a Master
Document, put it in a folder called My Book, then I moved all the
individual files into that folder. As per the instructions, I inserted
chapter 1 into the master doc as a sub document. So far so good. But
here is where I am about to go nuts. When I am writing inside the
subdocument Chapter 1, every time I hit the Tab key to indent, it
reformats that chapter into Heading 2, huge font, bold and italic. The
only way I can avoid this is using the space bar 5 times to indent. The
formatting has been taken over and I can't use normal key functions.
Also, there is a little square to the left of each paragraph. ??? I
moved the file outside of the document to try to short circuit the
formatting craziness but it still behaves the same. Does anybody have
any idea what is going on? Microsoft's site only has the basic
instructions on how to create a master document, nothing about how it
affects formatting. I am about to throw up my hands. Can't microsoft
make something simple that just works and doesn't cost my firstborn
child?

Why is it unwieldy to use one file? See:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/UsingOLView.htm

Most experienced Word users will tell you that using master document
features is a disaster waiting to strike. See:
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/Wh...ocsCorrupt.htm



--
Greg Maxey/Word MVP
A Peer in Peer to Peer Support
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/word_tips.htm

ivorybow wrote:
I am writing a book and I want to use the Master Document function
(Office XP Word) to organize it. Otherwise I have to work with each
chapter as an individual file which is unwieldy. I created a Master
Document, put it in a folder called My Book, then I moved all the
individual files into that folder. As per the instructions, I inserted
chapter 1 into the master doc as a sub document. So far so good. But
here is where I am about to go nuts. When I am writing inside the
subdocument Chapter 1, every time I hit the Tab key to indent, it
reformats that chapter into Heading 2, huge font, bold and italic. The
only way I can avoid this is using the space bar 5 times to indent.
The formatting has been taken over and I can't use normal key
functions. Also, there is a little square to the left of each
paragraph. ??? I moved the file outside of the document to try to
short circuit the formatting craziness but it still behaves the same.
Does anybody have any idea what is going on? Microsoft's site only
has the basic instructions on how to create a master document,
nothing about how it affects formatting. I am about to throw up my
hands. Can't microsoft make something simple that just works and
doesn't cost my firstborn child?

--
Sorry, I don't have an answer because I don't use Master Documents. However,
you may need the reason I don't more than you need an answer. "Master
Document" is a term of art in Word referring to a "feature" that not only
doesn't work but also destroys documents. The consensus (with the limited
exception of Steve Hudson) among those offering advice on these newsgroups
is that using the Master Document feature is a good way to destroy your
document. It can destroy parts of your document that you are not even
working on! I think John McGhie said it succinctly when he said that there
are two kinds of Master Documents: Those that are corrupt and those that
will be corrupt soon. See
http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm for information on the
Master Document feature and workarounds. See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...ocsCorrupt.htm for more
information on what goes wrong, and
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...MasterDocs.htm for ideas on how
to salvage what you can. See
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ma...masterdocs.doc for
Steve Hudson's instructions if you are willing to follow them very
carefully.

--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
"ivorybow" wrote in message
ups.com...
I am writing a book and I want to use the Master Document function
(Office XP Word) to organize it. Otherwise I have to work with each
chapter as an individual file which is unwieldy. I created a Master
Document, put it in a folder called My Book, then I moved all the
individual files into that folder. As per the instructions, I inserted
chapter 1 into the master doc as a sub document. So far so good. But
here is where I am about to go nuts. When I am writing inside the
subdocument Chapter 1, every time I hit the Tab key to indent, it
reformats that chapter into Heading 2, huge font, bold and italic. The
only way I can avoid this is using the space bar 5 times to indent. The
formatting has been taken over and I can't use normal key functions.
Also, there is a little square to the left of each paragraph. ??? I
moved the file outside of the document to try to short circuit the
formatting craziness but it still behaves the same. Does anybody have
any idea what is going on? Microsoft's site only has the basic
instructions on how to create a master document, nothing about how it
affects formatting. I am about to throw up my hands. Can't microsoft
make something simple that just works and doesn't cost my firstborn
child?

Thanks everyone for the answer. I have already found out that Master
Doc is a disaster. It has completely ruined my chapter one. The
formatting has gone crazy and an hour of work last night has failed to
restore it. I am going to have to print it out, run it thru my OCR,
save it in a different name, delete the master doc and start over.
Thanks Microsoft for once again foisting expensive garbage on a
captured audience.

--
Sorry, I don't have an answer because I don't use Master Documents. However,
you may need the reason I don't more than you need an answer. "Master
Document" is a term of art in Word referring to a "feature" that not only
doesn't work but also destroys documents. The consensus (with the limited
exception of Steve Hudson) among those offering advice on these newsgroups
is that using the Master Document feature is a good way to destroy your
document. It can destroy parts of your document that you are not even
working on! I think John McGhie said it succinctly when he said that there
are two kinds of Master Documents: Those that are corrupt and those that
will be corrupt soon. See
http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm for information on the
Master Document feature and workarounds. See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...ocsCorrupt.htm for more
information on what goes wrong, and
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Genera...MasterDocs.htm for ideas on how
to salvage what you can. See
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ma...masterdocs.doc for
Steve Hudson's instructions if you are willing to follow them very
carefully.

--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
"ivorybow" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks everyone for the answer. I have already found out that Master
Doc is a disaster. It has completely ruined my chapter one. The
formatting has gone crazy and an hour of work last night has failed to
restore it. I am going to have to print it out, run it thru my OCR,
save it in a different name, delete the master doc and start over.
Thanks Microsoft for once again foisting expensive garbage on a
captured audience.