Is there anyone who truly understands formatting in linked word
documents? I have six "main" documents each of which is made up
partially from about eight internal linked documents ({LINK
Word.Document.8 ...}). I make extensive use of Word styles. I'm
generally a fairly expert Word "power" user. Is there anyone who can
explain definitively how the styles and formatting of the various
documents inter-relate, and the significance of "Preserve formatting
after update" -- sufficiently well that I can get predictable
formatting? The unpredictable (by me) results are driving me crazy.

Hello. Sorry I didn't see your question sooner, and likely, because
I'm struggling along with dialup at the moment and seriously
considering badmouthing Verizon DSL in a public forum where lots of
people will see it (hee hee)...I may not get back to see your response
for a few days either.

In order to really know what's going on, I'd have to see your
documents. But there are a few things you need to know. I assume you
are using Master/Subdocuments. That in itself is a no-no. Myself and
many others, including the Microsoft Word MVPs will tell you not to
use this feature...to avoid it at all costs. But styles isn't why
they'll tell you that. To properly make master/subs, you need to
create ALL those documents from the same template (or apply the same
template through Tools-->Templates and addins). The problem people
have is they try to do this AFTER the fact instead of while they
develop the document. Here's an issue you're probably encountering:
you have a master document with a heading1 style that is times new
roman 14pt bold. But you have a subdocument that has a heading1 style
that is arial 14pt bold. You think you should be able to pull the two
together, but the styles get all whacked out because you've got two
heading1 styles and only one can prevail. What I usually do is create
my master document. Then I save that master document as a template.
Then I apply that template to all the subdocuments, choosing to update
the styles.

Now, if you're using linked documents, as in Edit-->Paste
special-->Paste link, then perhaps you should be using an IncludeText
field instead. This is very easy to use, and the includetext document
format comes over very nicely into the main document.

I am happy to have a dialog with you here, and will try to get back
here within 24 to 48 hours to see if I can answer any other questions.
Perhaps you can tell me specifically what's going on, and how you're
accomplishing the links in the first place. :)

~Anne

Anne -

You're awesome!!! Don't you want your money???

Yes, I'm using Linked documents. Thought I was clear when I said ({LINK
Word.Document.8 ...}). Did I get there with Paste Link? Honestly, I've
forgotten. I am so desperate for consistency that what I have been
doing is cutting, pasting, editing, and updating existing links. I
paste an existing link and edit in the new file name.

The problem in a few words is "utterly unpredictable formatting." A
word that is bold in the included document perhaps comes over as bold,
perhaps not. A table with no borders shows up with borders. A document
linked into two different master documents shows up differently in
each.

Yes, I had suspected that style differences were to blame. I was
thinking of making a template that was shared among documents. However
I have gotten so paranoid about this that I am afraid to undertake
structural changes for fear of making things irretrievably worse.

But ... YES! IncludeText seems to work 100% better: "just copy in the
d*mned Word document and don't do any Microsoft Magic!" I think this
may be the answer. I will play with it some more.

Thank you again,
Charles