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Dear Mr. Yaseen Mohammed,
When you have a large number of closing documents, all in word, and individually created, we have to think in an ideal solution that enables us to create a new method to prepare and manage your closing documentation, and this optional is very essential to precede our work easily.
Copying and pasting those documents into one large word template can be one of those options, and using that template uses a "mail merge" to populate all of the prospect's information can be extremely useful as there are many places that information needs to be added. In addition to this, this large document can be efficient for secretarial uses to enter information onto and when this happens my document is updated with that information to avoid double bookings.
But when the case begins with large number of different templates (roughly40) for different situations, and many of the documents are the same throughout the templates, the inquiry to do an update to come around for a specific document can be the best choice, and you must update them in all40 templates. So, your task is to find a more streamlined way of updating these specific documents.
Master Document uses in Word file edition:
- Word2010 features a master document feature that enables you to collect multiple Word documents into a single Word file. With older versions of Microsoft Word you may sometimes run into problems with unusually long documents. In that case it is best to split the document into multiple Word files. This creates difficulties with page numbering and it is difficult to create an appropriate table of contents and index.
- Master Document can be considered as a main document which would contain a set of separate sub files or subdocuments. Using master document it is easy to manage complex or merged documents such as a book with several chapters. It mainly contains information or links to other documents which are referred as subdocuments. This enables in easy maintenance of long documents with many pages.
- Master Documents lets you do many things and facilitate your tasks at once:
i) - You can open the whole (master) document and see the whole project as a single file or open a chapter (sub-document) and just edit that part. All changes in the sub-document become part of the master document
ii) - You can even send sub-document to other people for work, when they return that part you can combine it back into the master document.
iii) - Another advantage of master documents is formatting. The master document styles and page settings are copied to the subdocuments. The master document holds links to sets of other Word files. These sub-document contents are not inserted in the master document as such. Rather, the master document creates links to the various subdocuments.
iv) - You are able to make changes to the sub-documents separately while all of these changes are added to the master document as a default. This works well for integrating separate Word documents of related subject matter. By creating a table of contents and an index in the master document, you end up with an integrated document.
v) - Also, when several different people are writing a single document on separate computers, the master document offers the perfect solution to deliver various sections of the document to the individuals working on the project.
1- Begin creating the master document from scratch by opening a new blank document. Title it as a master document and then save it. You can include the file name and then append with “Master Document”.
2- Next, go to the View tab above the Ribbon and select Outline, found in the Document Views section. This opens a Navigation panel to the left of the blank document. Here you can start to enter the various headings for the document.
In the Outline Tools section in the Outlining tab, utilize the dropdown menu of Level styles and then use the green arrows to alter the headings. At this stage we’re most interested in the Level1 headings; these are the ones that determine the sub-document structure.
3- After entering all of the desired headings, click Show Document. You can find this in the Master Document section in the Outlining tab.
4- The styles for text can be changed using the Promote and Demote buttons below the “Outlining” tab. Promote increases the heading level (towards Level1) and Demote option decreases the heading level (towards Level9)
5- In order to format the headings, you can move the cursor over these buttons and the options available for each of these buttons are displayed helping the user to understand its usage. There are options available to Move the headings above or below in a list, to collapse or expand and item and promote or demote the body text.
6- There are several different options to access in the Master Document section.
n Select the entire outline and click Create in the Ribbon. It will look something like the screenshot below. Each one is a separate file attached to the master document. If you have the documents on the desktop, they are automatically added as sub-documents.
n Click Collapse Subdocuments to see the links to each subdocument. Ctrl+Left click on the link and it will open the title to the document just as you placed it in the master document outline.
n You can then add the content from scratch or, if the document is already created, simply cut and paste. Do this for each subdocument heading and link and you have created a master document. This is simply the basic approach.
7- There are options to create chapters under the headings, a table of contents or an index. Word will automatically insert a continuous section break within the master document.
- These section breaks will be inserted before and after each subdocument. There are a variety of different options for master documents in Word2010. And this demonstration relates more to existing documents in a simple master document format. The rest of the features are a different subject.
To Convert an Existing Document:
Another way to create a Master document is to convert an existing document to master document. To do this, follow these steps:
- Open an existing document and Click View to handle with Outline tab.
- Once in the Outline view, the contents in the document can be formatted in the same way as done while creating a new master document. Make sure the chapters are Level1 headings etc.
- Use the Master Documents. Create button to separate into sub-documents. Check that the sub-documents contain all the text they should.
- You can collapse the text and sub-headings in Outline view so you can see the major headings and sub-document separation easily.
- After making changes to the Heading and body text the file can be saved in the same location or, more wisely, in a new location by clicking the Office button Save As option.
- Once the file is saved exit the Outline view by clicking Outlining Close Outline View button.
- The possible ways to add subdocuments (existing Word files) to an existing master document can be by:
1-- Open an existing Master document or create a new master document.
2-- Put your cursor at the place in the master document where you want to insert the sub-document.
3-- In the Outlining ribbon choose ‘Show Document’ then ‘Insert’ and choose the existing Word document that you want to include in the master document.
Master Documents in Excel:
If you have a large number of excel files, you will go through each file one by one and enter. It would be great if you could link all these files to a single excel file which contained all excel files. So, you can then update this single file and all the other files would update.
Usually, I open a blank workbook and choose from the upper ribbon the Insert Option, and click on a Hyperlink tab that will lead to open Insert Hyperlink dialog box. It is easily to find the list of other files of excel which can be selected and highlighted as main links on this master workbook.
By use of hyperlink, you can create a shortcut or jump that opens a document stored on a network server, an intranetor the Internet. You can open the workbook that is stored in the another directory
A- Merging Excel Data Into Word Documents
It’s probably not surprising that going from one Microsoft Office program to another is simple, as the pieces of software were built to interact with each other. Not only are Word, Excel and the other programs strikingly similar in the way they flow and work, but also you can actually merge different documents from different programs together in one, then make edits in the merged-from program directly in the merged-to program.
1- You have to open Microsoft Word. In order to merge Excel data into an existing Word document, click the File tab and browse to the document. Scroll to the section where the Excel spreadsheet should be merged. It may be helpful to press “Enter” a few times for some blank space or press “Enter-Ctrl” for a blank page.
2- Click the Insert tab, and then click the small "Object" menu within the Text group on the Ribbon.
3- Choose “Object” from the two drop-down options, and then click the “Create from File” tab.
4- Browse to and double-click the Excel spreadsheet to merge. When you are returned to the Object window, click “OK” to merge the data into the Word document.
5- Although you’ve completed the merge from Excel to Word, you can perform functions such as formatting how the text looks – such as if your spreadsheet was created in one set of fonts and colors and you prefer it match your Word document – as well as actually changing the cell contents.
6- This is helpful if you need to redact information that was in the Excel spreadsheet or numbers and figures have changed between the time you created the spreadsheet and when you merged it with Word. To do this, double-click anywhere on the merged spreadsheet. This opens an Excel window-within-a-window directly on the Word page. Make your changes, then click off the spreadsheet and the changes are set.
B- Consolidate data from multiple worksheets in a single worksheet
To summarize and report results from data on separate worksheets, you can consolidate the data from each separate worksheet into one worksheet (or master worksheet). The worksheets you consolidate can be in the same workbook as the master worksheet or in other workbooks. When you consolidate data in one worksheet, you can more easily update and aggregate it on a regular or ad hoc basis.
There are two main ways to consolidate data: to consolidate by position (to combine data from multiple source areas that is arranged in the same order and uses the same row and column labels) or by category (to combine data from multiple source areas that is arrange differently, but the same row and column labels are used).
You can consolidate data by using the Consolidate command (Data tab, Data Tools group). You can also consolidate data by using a formula or a PivotTable report.
In each worksheet that contains the data that you want to consolidate, set up the data and make sure of that:
- Each range of data is in list format: each column has a label in the first row and contains similar facts, and there are no blank rows or columns within the list.
- Put each range on a separate worksheet, but don't put any ranges on the worksheet where you plan to put the consolidation.
- Make sure that each range has the same layout.
- By Position or Category Consolidation:
1- In the master worksheet, click the upper-left cell of the area where you want the consolidated data to appear. To avoid overwriting existing data in the destination worksheet with the data you are consolidating, make sure that you leave enough cells to the right and below this cell for the consolidated data.
2- On the Data tab, in the Data Tools group, click Consolidate.
3- In the Function box, click the summary function that you want Microsoft Excel to use to consolidate the data. The file path is entered in the Reference box followed by an exclamation point.
4- If the worksheet that contains the data that you want to consolidate is in another workbook, click Browse to locate that workbook, and then click OK to close the Browse dialog box.
5- Then, in the Reference box, click the Collapse Dialog button to select the data in the worksheet, and click the Expand Dialog button later on of your selection
6- In the Consolidate dialog box, click Add to add all of the ranges that you want.
7- To specify how you want to update the consolidation, select Create links to source data Check box to set up the consolidation so that it updates automatically when the source data in another workbook changes, or clear this check box to update manually.
8- In Category consolidation, select the check boxes under Use labels in that indicate where the labels are located in the source ranges: the Top row, the Left column, or both. Any labels that don't match up with labels in the other source areas result in separate rows or columns in the consolidation. Make sure that any categories that you don't want to consolidate have unique labels that appear in only one source range.
Good luck,
Lubna
To create a master document, you start with an outline and then you create new subdocuments or add existing documents to it.
