Autotext. Subdocuments name in the master document

[petermichaux]

Hi

No answer in the general questions discussion group so I will hopefully have
better luck in here!

I have many subdocuments (>100) in a master document. I would like to
include some autotext or a field in the footer of the master document that
will show the name of the subdocument's filename. I know that I can include
the master documents name everywhere or the date or many other things but I
cannot find a way to include the subdocuments name. Any tips? I am open to
other suggestions but I don't want to have to manually make different footers
for each subdocument section. I also don't want to edit each subdocument.

Thank you,
Peter

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Sorry, I don't have an answer because I don't use Master Documents. However,
you may need the reason I don't more than you need an answer. "Master
Document" is a term of art in Word referring to a "feature" that not only
doesn't work but also destroys documents. The consensus (with the limited
exception of Steve Hudson) among those offering advice on these newsgroups
is that using the Master Document feature is a good way to destroy your
document. It can destroy parts of your document that you are not even
working on! I think John McGhie said it succinctly when he said that there
are two kinds of Master Documents: Those that are corrupt and those that
will be corrupt soon. See
http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm for information on the
Master Document feature and workarounds. See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm for more
information on what goes wrong, and
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm for ideas on how
to salvage what you can. See
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/masterdocs.doc for
Steve Hudson's instructions if you are willing to follow them very
carefully.

If I were using IncludeText fields, I would put FileName fields in the
included documents and set the IncludeText fields to not update fields in
the original.

 

[petermichaux]

Thanks for the info! Because of your post I changed the way I was doing
things. No master documents for me.

Thanks again,
Peter

 

[Charles Kenyon]

You are welcome. BTW, my understanding is that Master Documents are the best
way to handle _some_ (a few) problems, but only when handled with precision
that is usually lacking in the office.