Master and subdocuments

[bannerdog]

I want to create a logical document that consists of multiple .doc and/or .docx files.

I want a .doc or .docx file to be the outline, or master document. I want the master document to contain references to the other documents.

Suppose I wished to create an anthology of short stories (I don’t, but will use this to explain my goal).
Each short story resides in its own .doc or .docx file.

The master document file contains commentary on each story, and links to the story files.

Perhaps the master document (master.doc) looks something like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------



A Collection of Tales

The Gullible Bugblatter is a whimsical look at people. I first encountered it as a child when I picked up a magazine left in an outhouse.

Blah, blah, blah


<GullibleBug.doc>


My Pet Unicorn is another favorite of mine. Our tomboy heroine comes to realize the evil of treating an intelligent creature as property.


Blah, blah, Blah…


<MyPetUnicorn.docx>
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The texts <GullibleBug.doc> and <MyPetUnicorn.docx> are intended to indicate links to two documents, each of which contains a short story.

When editing master.doc, I do not want to see the content of GullibleBug.doc or MyPetUnicorn.docx. I simply want to see links to them. If I click on a link, then I want the associated document to open for editing.

If I print master.doc, then I want it to print out exactly as if I had replaced each link with the content of the associated file (e.g., opened GullibleBug.doc, selected all, selected Copy, then Pasted over the link to GullibleBug.doc.

This allows me to A) reuse the short story .doc files as I wish, B) view the high level content (master.doc) without having to wade through the content of each short story, C) print as if I had a single document (with the content of the subdocuments inserted at the appropriate locations

How can I achieve this?

Thanks!

[zyzzyva57]

See if this helps you...

[bannerdog]

Originally Posted by zyzzyva57

See if this helps you...

zyzzyva57, thanks very much! That link was perfect.

Well, nearly so. It was for Word 2003, but the instructions required only minor adjustments to work for Word 2007.

Thanks again!

P.S. Shouldn't it be xyzzy? It's been many years, but I am pretty darn sure of it.

[zyzzyva57]

See if this helps: go to Start > then do it in 2007, and the program will show it to you in 2003, pretty darn cool, eh?

[bannerdog]

Originally Posted by zyzzyva57

See if this helps: go to Start > then do it in 2007, and the program will show it to you in 2003, pretty darn cool, eh?

I don't know what you mean by "then do it in 2007".

No such entry exists on the Windows 7 Start menu. Are you refering to the Windows 7 Start Menu (not a "Start" option at the URL you referred me to)? Also, typing that text into the Windows 7 Start Menu search field returns no results.

By "the program" are you referring to Microsoft Word (rather than the Windows OS or software on the web site)?

I am also not sure what you mean by "show it to you in 2003". Do you mean that Microsoft Word 2007 will change its interface to that of Microsoft Word 2003?

You understand that I am using Word 2007, but that the instructions you referred me to are for Word 2003 (not the other way around), right?

And, I did figure out how to do it in Word 2007. It just took a little playing with the UI.

Thanks

[zyzzyva57]

Since you got what you needed, great