Dear fellow word users,

Word 2013 on 64 bits windows 10 OS here.



I have a big thesis divided in several chapters (one document for each chapter). My figure, table, equation and page numbering runs through all the thesis. To automatize field updating, I first used master documents. But I quickly learned the golden rule of master documents: "there are two types of master documents, those that are corrupt, and those that will be corrupt soon". I made several saves and used the ten golden laws of master documents. So, I didn't lose my data and was finally able to make a first version of my thesis. However, this took ages due to the various inconvenient features and bugs of master documents (such as mixed sections breaks, that impact negatively headers of the various documents).

So, I'm looking for a flexible method to successively number all figures, tables, equations, pages for all my chapters without using a master document, to generate my last print without inconvenience (that is, once I proof-read the pdf of the whole document, and spot problems in it, I can quickly fix them and generate a new pdf of the whole document).

For example, my second chapter starts at Figure 15, Table 4, equation 18 and page 31. How to make it automatically start here without manually configurating start numberings of each chapter, and without using the inconvenient master documents?

Thanks in advance,
Best regards!

There are ways to do it but they really aren't worth the trouble.

I would recommend you merge all the separate documents into a single Word document. Is there a reason you don't think that is workable?

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Doing so would result in a buggy/laggy document. I already tried. The number of pages is reasonable (260) but the number of figures is large (more that 150, and they are often in tif format to keep maximum quality).

For the moment I kept the numbering of my previous master document for all figures, tables and equations, so they are correctly numbered throughout all documents. I generated the lists of figures and tables, and the table of contents, in separate files by using RD.

Then I simply plan to merge all files in pdf format for the final print. But for that, I would need page numbering to continue one file after the other and I don't find any RD or field-based way to do it. Can you describe me one of these, or another convenient solution? Or maybe I should number my pages using a pdf page numbering utility when I have my final print? But then what to do to get correct page numbers in lists of figures/tables and table of contents?

I've worked in documents with 650 pages and 300+ linked graphics without much lag so it is not outside the realms of possibility. Linking the graphics made a big difference though so I can understand why you were finding it slow.

Anyway, if you want to continue down the path of separate docs, you will need to configure the headings numbers for each doc. Remember not to refresh the styles from the template because that will reset the heading numbers.

You will also need to configure the 'start at' property for page numbers for each document (if you want the master TOC to be correctly numbered). You can fiddle the field results but the TOC can't be fooled.

And for the Figures and Table numbering, you can use the method described on http://word.tips.net/T001843_Automat...Documents.html.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

I didn't know the figure linking function? I'll use it for my next large document . But here I'm already trapped with my embedded tif images.

For Figure/Table/Equation numbering everything is ok for the moment. This method was described as a bit complex, which I read "can lead to corruption". Since I only have fifteen files or so to treat and I don't have much time if corruption or silly lag occurs, I'll go to the manual "start at" route for page numbers.

Thanks for the answer.

I consider this thread as solved since I had the answer to my question. But I don't know how to actually mark it solved, is it a moderator option?

You could create all your documents individually, then combine them via INCLUDETEXT fields. IIRC, the numbering in the combined document will perform as you require.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Now I have new problems. I used the INCLUDETEXT function in a footer field. But I have a big TOC for the document (in a separate document that I made using RD fields) and sub-TOCs for each chapter. And I had the bad surprise that all these TOCs only list page numbers of original documents (starting at one for each document), not the footer field with INCLUDETEXT functions.

What to do so that all my TOCs list the actual contents of footer fields instead of the native page numbers?

Shoud I do all these things manually?

Your post isn't exactly clear. What do you want to achieve - continuous page numbering or per-chapter page numbering? For the latter, add the \! switch to the INCLUDETEXT field.

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

What I want to achieve is display of page numbers in my tables of contents. For example, first section of chapter 2 starts at p. 54 in the whole document. However, in both tables of contents (the one of the whole thesis and the one of chapter 2), it is listed as in p. 2 because it is in p. 2 of the individual chapter 2.

Another remark regarding the INCLUDETEXT method: when there are more than 12 documents, INCLUDETEXT fails at the 12th document with the message: "Fields Are Nested Too Deeply"...

For continuous numbering, you can either:
• start the page numbering in the source documents at the appropriate number for each of them*; or
• bookmark all of each source document except for its final paragraph break and include the bookmark reference in the INCLUDETEXT field.

The nesting error suggests you're embedding multiple INCLUDETEXT fields in other INCLUDETEXT fields. There is no need to embed them.

* You can have Word manage the sequential numbering by inserting a field coded along the lines of:
{SET LastPage {NUMPAGES}}
in each source document except the last, then using an INCLUDETEXT field to reference that in each successive document, coded along the lines of:
{={INCLUDETEXT "Path & Filename1" LastPage }+{PAGE}}
{={INCLUDETEXT "Path & Filename1" LastPage }+{INCLUDETEXT "Path & Filename2" LastPage }+{PAGE}},
etc. in each of the source documents after the first.

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

Dear Macropod,

I actually used the footer field method exactly as described in >> this link <<. I think that word interprets the bookmark as a nested INCLUDETEXT instruction and after to much documents, it throws nesting error.

Anyway, I manually sat the initial page number of all my files, in the end it was easier... Combining field-based page numbering and automated table of contents accross several documents doesn't seem an easy task for word...

Best

The technique described in the link is the same as I suggested in post #10. Done correctly, there should be no nesting errors. That said, there are variations on the field coding that would further reduce that possibility, too. For example:

To create the reference values-
• in the first document:
{SET LastPage {NUMPAGES}}
• in the second document:
{SET LastPage {={INCLUDETEXT "Path & Filename1" LastPage }+{NUMPAGES}}
• in the third document:
{SET LastPage {={INCLUDETEXT "Path & Filename2" LastPage }+{NUMPAGES}}
and so on.

Then, to create the outputs -
• in the first document:
{PAGE}
• in the second document:
{={INCLUDETEXT "Path & Filename1" LastPage }+{PAGE}}
• in the third document:
{={INCLUDETEXT "Path & Filename2" LastPage }+{PAGE}}

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

Just by curiosity (since now I manually solved my problem!), why do you use the "SET" function to create reference values?

I followed exactly the method as described in the link to minimize errors since I'm experienced with programming, but not with the use of word fields. And in this method, I didn't saw the "SET" function. I only saw there was a difference between the field coding of the last page (reference value) and of all other pages: "NUMPAGES" was used instead of "PAGE".

The other question is: how to indicate to the table of contents to list the output of these field codes instead of the raw page number of each files?

Best!

The SET field creates a bookmark. In the examples I posted, that bookmark's name is LastPage and its value is whatever is returned by the NUMPAGES field. The reason for using a NUMPAGES field instead of a PAGE field is that the NUMPAGES field gets the count of all pages in the document whereas the PAGE field only returns the number of the page it is on.

A Table of Contents cannot display a calculated page value; if you want the actual page numbers that you're assigning to the source documents, you'll have to use Word's own page numbering tools to set the 'starting from' value in each of those documents. The link you posted appears to have a macro for doing that.

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

I am afraid to use a macro on my word files due to the fact that any tiny error may corrupt all of them and make my computer crash (bad experiences with excel macros ...). I can of course make saves of my files, but I'm afraid to lose more time using (and adapting to my particular/specific case) a macro than by manually re-using "starting from" for my 14 documents if a problem occurs during proof-reading.