Headings and TOC for Multi-Part Documents

J

Jason Doelling

I believe I can't do what I'm trying, but wanted to see if anyone had
recommendations I've overlooked.

I do technical writing for a company and have been tasked with putting
together a rather large, multi-part, living document. I'm good at using the
built-in header styles, page numbering, TOC and captioning and have
successfully set up the core document as I want it. (Roman numerals for
front matter page numbers, etc.) Everything works fine. (Page numbering,
cross-referencing, auto-TOC, TOT and TOF, etc.) Problem is I've been asked
to use chapter numbering in the Appendicies (i.e., Appendix A starts at A-1)
and Attachments (i.e., Attachment 1 starts at 1-1) since those sections will
be built/updated over time by different people and "added on" to the core
document. My nirvana goal is to set up a single template that other authors
can use to develop their sections and then insert their work into the core
Word document, update the captions and TOCs and publish as a single file.

I set up two additional outline list formats that include the Appendix and
Attachment numbers and also created two new sets of Heading styles linked to
the outlining format as well as the built in heading formate. (To keep it
looking consistent.) Everything works great in building the document
content. However, captioning only lets me link to the built-in Heading
styles. (I'd like to create new Table and Figure caption lables that link to
the Appendix and Attachment headers, respectively.) Also, while I can
manually add a cross-reference to the section number in the Appendix and
Attachment footers, the TOC doesn't grab it since it's not part of the "Page"
tag.

An obvious solution is to have a separate file for each section type (core,
Appendicies and Attachments), but then I'm assuming I'd have to manually
build the TOC. (Although I can auto-generate it in each section, cut and
paste "as text" to put it all together.) The project screams for a desktop
publishing solution, but that's a non-starter for numerous reasons. Right
now, if I can just find a working solution for the TOC/TOT/TOF page-number
references I can live with manually inserting a Section reference and
resetting the numbering on the Appendix/Attachment captions.

If Word had the ability to: a) assign section-specific heading styles, and
b) not force the name and text of a caption label to be one in the same, this
would be a slam dunk. In lieu of Microsoft recoding Word just for me, any
other recommendations?

Many thanks ...
 

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