Using Word2003. Moderate amount of Word Experience but far from 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 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
for a while. Below is an example of what I'm trying to accomplish.

Separate pages:
Page01.doc
thru
Page40.doc

IncluderOfEightPages.doc has:
{ INCLUDETEXT "Pg01.doc" } { INCLUDETEXT "Pg06.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Pg11.doc" } { INCLUDETEXT "Pg16.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Pg21.doc" } { INCLUDETEXT "Pg26.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Pg31.doc" } { INCLUDETEXT "Pg36.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.
All the files are in the same directory. I've tried having the full
pathname+full filename.

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

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 IncluderOfEightPages.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.

I'm baffled. I've heard of file corruption with MasterDocument +
SubDocument, but not this problem.

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. ???

Presumably you have not moved any of the files involved?

--
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.

"Lynn Allan" wrote in message
...
Using Word2003. Moderate amount of Word Experience but far from 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 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
for a while. Below is an example of what I'm trying to accomplish.

Separate pages:
Page01.doc
thru
Page40.doc

IncluderOfEightPages.doc has:
{ INCLUDETEXT "Pg01.doc" } { INCLUDETEXT "Pg06.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Pg11.doc" } { INCLUDETEXT "Pg16.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Pg21.doc" } { INCLUDETEXT "Pg26.doc" }
{ INCLUDETEXT "Pg31.doc" } { INCLUDETEXT "Pg36.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.
All the files are in the same directory. I've tried having the full
pathname+full filename.

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

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 IncluderOfEightPages.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.

I'm baffled. I've heard of file corruption with MasterDocument +
SubDocument, but not this problem.

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. ???

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.