Master Document Prints Incorrectly; Subdocuments Print Correctly.

J

Jason

When viewing a Master Document in Print Preview, it appears to have the
correct margins, styles, spacing, etc. When I print it, the margins are
incorrect, forcing the text far to the right, cutting off the right side of
the text, the fonts are incorrect, etc. When I print one of the Subdocuments
individually, everything prints correctly. I have attempted to print the
Master Document from different computers on our network, and on different
printers. The Master Document prints incorrectly in all cases. I've
attempted to create and assign a new template to the Master Document, copying
settings from one of the individual Subdocuments, with no success.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Jason
 
C

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.

--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


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J

Jason

Hey Charles,

Thanks for the links; the information was helpful. My document isn't all
that large, so I'll be creating one document to save myself the trouble.

Thanks again,

Jason
 
S

Swami

Oh my God!
Thank you Charles Kenyon.

For about 10 years now, I have been using Word Master layout, tearing my
hair out late at night/early morning trying to get it to work with big
documents that would keep corrupting - and thinking it was ME all along! I
studiously followed the help files but I never thought to assume it was the
nature of the beast. Last year I spent 9 months editing and laying out an
800 page, 14 chapter, 13,000 word index, 12MB one-piece file because I just
gave up using Master and Sub docs -thinking I was just too stupid to use
such a big concept. If only I had asked here!

Many thanks to the heretics!
Swami.
 
C

Charles Kenyon

You are welcome. Some subjects like land mines you don't want to know too
well. It is enough to know to stay away if you can.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 
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