OK, so you have four csv files, which means it's just raw data that hasn't yet been turned into any kind of table.

Before any kind of processing can occur (manual or automated), there are some basic issues you need to resolve. For example:
• How are your headings/titles to be identified from those data?
• What determines where the content for one heading ends and the next one begins?
• Can the content relating to a given heading/title span more than one page?
• Does each heading/title begin a new page or can it start part-way down a page?
• Can two or more headings/titles and their content occur on the same page?
• What format is the output to take (e.g. normal print, booklet print)?
• Does it matter whether the data is stored in the application in the same format as the final printout (i.e. does it matter whether you can see all columns side-by-side in the electronic file)?


You need to work through all of those issues before you can decide on which of the applications you have access to is best suited to the job. Your proficiency in each of these applications is another important consideration, since you might spend less time getting the job done in an application that isn't ideal than it'll take you to master the ideal one.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

The way my data works isn't easily caught in terms like chapters, so to be a bit clearer I will redefine some things.
I will have 66 chapters and about 1200 sections, each section containing several lines. (estimated no. of pages is 3000-4000)

I will go through your questions 1 by 1

• How are your headings/titles to be identified from those data?
every line in the csv starts with the chapter, then a section id (resets every chapter), a line id (resets every section) and the content itself (with tab as separator).

• What determines where the content for one heading ends and the next one begins?
Every line contains what chapter it is part of, so when that changes, a new heading needs to start.

• Can the content relating to a given heading/title span more than one page?
Section usually span several pages, lines (in the csv) never do.

• Does each heading/title begin a new page or can it start part-way down a page?
To reduce paper use and thus price, I mean to reduce as much white-space as possible, so it is fine if a chapter starts part-way through a page and with the sections it is even preferred that they do.

• Can two or more headings/titles and their content occur on the same page?
If a chapter happens to end, there would be content of two chapters on 1 page.

• What format is the output to take (e.g. normal print, booklet print)?
I mean to send it to a publish-on-demand business. I don't think I understand your question in more detail. Ultimately I will need to send them a pdf.

• Does it matter whether the data is stored in the application in the same format as the final printout (i.e. does it matter whether you can see all columns side-by-side in the electronic file)?
No. As long as I can check that in the final printed book it will be side-by-side (also across the 2 pages), the visibility in the 'original' electronic file doesn't matter.

Hope you have enough answer here.

In a standard document, pages are printed one after the other. In a booklet print, which uses two pages per side of a sheet, so that when they're folded up like a booklet, the pages printed on a given sheet can be many pages apart. For example, if you're using a duplex printer, you might have pages 1 & 88 printed on one side of the paper and pages 2 & 87 on the other side.

PS: It would be helpful if you could attach a file to a post with some representative csv data for a few pages from each file (perhaps as a single zip archive). You do this via the paperclip symbol on the 'Go Advanced' tab.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]