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#1
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What's the best way to approach my large project using Word?
Hi everyone,
I'm a former graphic designer who is now creating training manuals for my employer. I am much more familiar with InDesign than I am with Word. For the moment, my employer wants to stay with Word rather than buy me a copy of InDesign. His decision is mainly based on price, but from the price of other types of software out there (DocToHelp, etc.) that technical writers use, I think he may reconsider since they are almost the same. However, I need to demonstrate that going with InDesign is the right decision in other ways. I dont know enough about Word to say for sure, so Im asking for some help from those of you who have used Word for similar projects. Here are the parameters of the project: 1. I will be creating a series of training manuals for 8 different departments, with a 7 month timeline. Graphics (screen shots, mostly) will be used in some parts of the manuals. 2. We would like to be able to publish the documents we create on the company intranet. Ideally, these documents would be able to link to each other when necessary. Heres what I dont know about Word and need your help with: 1. Is there any way that Word can know when youve updated one of the linked documents and automatically update that link for you? 2. Im thinking that the best way to do this project is to save each section as a separate document, so that I can control it better. The idea of dealing with a 50 page Word document and trying to find out exactly where things are seems daunting compared to doing that in InDesign. However, if any of you have other suggestions on a better way to approach the project, I am quite willing to listen! So, how would you approach this if it were your project? Many thanks, Sarah W |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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What's the best way to approach my large project using Word?
Might talk your employer into Publisher, not nearly as pricey as InDesign. It
has the advantage of ease of graphics. Word documents can be inserted into Publisher. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/pu...487821033.aspx -- Mary Sauer MSFT MVP http://office.microsoft.com/ http://msauer.mvps.org/ news://msnews.microsoft.com "Sarah W" wrote in message ... Hi everyone, I'm a former graphic designer who is now creating training manuals for my employer. I am much more familiar with InDesign than I am with Word. For the moment, my employer wants to stay with Word rather than buy me a copy of InDesign. His decision is mainly based on price, but from the price of other types of software out there (DocToHelp, etc.) that technical writers use, I think he may reconsider since they are almost the same. However, I need to demonstrate that going with InDesign is the right decision in other ways. I don't know enough about Word to say for sure, so I'm asking for some help from those of you who have used Word for similar projects. Here are the parameters of the project: 1. I will be creating a series of training manuals for 8 different departments, with a 7 month timeline. Graphics (screen shots, mostly) will be used in some parts of the manuals. 2. We would like to be able to publish the documents we create on the company intranet. Ideally, these documents would be able to link to each other when necessary. Here's what I don't know about Word and need your help with: 1. Is there any way that Word can know when you've updated one of the linked documents and automatically update that link for you? 2. I'm thinking that the best way to do this project is to save each section as a separate document, so that I can control it better. The idea of dealing with a 50 page Word document and trying to find out exactly where things are seems daunting compared to doing that in InDesign. However, if any of you have other suggestions on a better way to approach the project, I am quite willing to listen! So, how would you approach this if it were your project? Many thanks, Sarah W |
#4
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What's the best way to approach my large project using Word?
Thanks, Peter and Mary for your responses!
I guess my thinking on Publisher was from a printer's standpoint. Meaning, it's a pain in rear to work with it when you're trying to print something. InDesign is much easier to deal with in terms of professional printing, at least at the printer where I worked. If I did use Publisher, I assume you're saying that Publisher addresses my other needs of linking documents to each other, updating linked files, and putting files up on the intranet? I'll do some research on that, but if you can give me the quick and easy anser, I'll take that too. ;-) "Peter A" wrote: In article , mary- says... Might talk your employer into Publisher, not nearly as pricey as InDesign. It has the advantage of ease of graphics. Word documents can be inserted into Publisher. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/pu...487821033.aspx I agree. Publisher does not have the ultimate typesetting capabilities of InDesign but it's a very capable program, much better than Word for layout and typesetting. -- Peter Aitken Author, MS Word for Medical and Technical Writers www.tech-word.com |
#5
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What's the best way to approach my large project using Word?
You're right, Sarah. If you are going to print it, Publisher can cause lots
of grief. Word and Publisher can handle your linking needs, but it is a lot more work than InDesign, and a much different mindset. That's a tricky question. Good luck. -- GTS "Sarah W" wrote: Thanks, Peter and Mary for your responses! I guess my thinking on Publisher was from a printer's standpoint. Meaning, it's a pain in rear to work with it when you're trying to print something. InDesign is much easier to deal with in terms of professional printing, at least at the printer where I worked. If I did use Publisher, I assume you're saying that Publisher addresses my other needs of linking documents to each other, updating linked files, and putting files up on the intranet? I'll do some research on that, but if you can give me the quick and easy anser, I'll take that too. ;-) "Peter A" wrote: In article , mary- says... Might talk your employer into Publisher, not nearly as pricey as InDesign. It has the advantage of ease of graphics. Word documents can be inserted into Publisher. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/pu...487821033.aspx I agree. Publisher does not have the ultimate typesetting capabilities of InDesign but it's a very capable program, much better than Word for layout and typesetting. -- Peter Aitken Author, MS Word for Medical and Technical Writers www.tech-word.com |
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