preserving formatting when iserting file (03 SP3)

Topic

New Reply

Is it possible to insert a document file at the end of another document file and be absolutely sure that neither document will affect the formatting of the other? In this case the one that will end up at the front of the combined documents will always be the same. The document which will end up at the end of the combined document will come from various authors using various formats.

I have created a template which my colleagues will use to create the first section of a Request for Proposals. It contains some standard terms and conditions as well as a Table of Contents and some elementary fill in the blank descriptive data. They will then add 3 or more sections including the special terms and conditions, specifications, bid forms and other documents. All of these latter sections may come from various sources and include tables, and objects. Each section must preserve its original formatting.

Is it possible to make this template in such a way that even the most innocent and naïve Word user is unlikely to screw up the insertion of the subsequent sections.

Reply | Quote

Replies

I think that if you use the Insert File command you will always be at the mercy of formatting possibly changing because material in the imported file may use styles that are differently defined in the source document and in the target document. It might be better to get the person inserting the material to select all of their source document (except perhaps the last paragraph mark) and then copy and paste. That way, when you paste you get the option to use the source formatting – see screenshot below.

But this doesn’t sound completely fool proof to me, so others may have better ideas.

Ian

Reply | Quote

In short, No. Unless you first standardize all of the style definitions in all of the documents that will be combined, there will be glitches because style definitions are global throughout the document.

Changes to margins and columns, headers and footers, can be isolated using section breaks. However, you may need to address the headers and footers manually to prevent inserted documents from overwriting your intended headers and footers, or vice versa. Whether this is a training issue or a macro development issue, either way it’s tricky.

Reply | Quote

Thank you. I had pretty much come to the same conclusion.

In fact if it were not for certain political considerations I would not have even bothered you all with the question, but I need to be on very firm ground and even then I will have to be tactful. Don’t you think the office environment would be a lot more productive with about 40% less testosterone and 20% less caffeine? [

Reply | Quote