Using 'master-files' in StarOffice/OpenOffice/LibreOffice
Assembled cognoscenti ; I have a 'literary project', which resembles a book; in that I have decided to approach it, as a number of modules, each consisting of one StarOffice document, .odt format. Apparently there is some kind of meta-document called a 'master-file'; ( the same nomenclature seems to exist in LibreOffice and OpenOffice) which seems to be just a file of links to the component documents; so far so good. Problem is the result thus far, (after extensive consultation with the relevant help-files and googling), is litttle better than concatenating the individual documents. -' chapters' don't start on odd pages or even at top of page and - 'chapter' headers (originally the document headers) get completely lost ! I don't regret my original decision, because it isolates the layout of each document and thus reduces work. Probably the same result can be achieved in a single document; if one is much more proficient at 'driving' word processors than myself, but I would prefer to continue with this approach for the time being. So has anyone done something similar with greater success ? thanks Rohan McLeod
Rohan McLeod <rhn@jeack.com.au> wrote:
Apparently there is some kind of meta-document called a 'master-file'; ( the same nomenclature seems to exist in LibreOffice and OpenOffice) which seems to be just a file of links to the component documents; so far so good.
Word processors have had this feature for a long time. I remember it in WordPerfect 5.1.
Problem is the result thus far, (after extensive consultation with the relevant help-files and googling), is litttle better than concatenating the individual documents. -' chapters' don't start on odd pages or even at top of page and
Have you placed new page commands in appropriate places? I doubt that simply combining the files will result in extra page breaks; you have to add those if you want them in all systems that I've used.
- 'chapter' headers (originally the document headers) get completely lost !
Perhaps you could try defining them in the master document, i.e.: Preliminary matter -> header definitions -> chapter inclusions. I know how to do this in LaTeX but I'm not a word processor user.
Jason White wrote:
Rohan McLeod<rhn@jeack.com.au> wrote:
Apparently there is some kind of meta-document called a 'master-file'; ( the same nomenclature seems to exist in LibreOffice and OpenOffice) which seems to be just a file of links to the component documents; so far so good. Word processors have had this feature for a long time. I remember it in WordPerfect 5.1. Problem is the result thus far, (after extensive consultation with the relevant help-files and googling), is litttle better than concatenating the individual documents. -' chapters' don't start on odd pages or even at top of page and Have you placed new page commands in appropriate places? If the worst comes to the worst , I would consider this ; which seems to amount to manually editing the master-file; but since the feature is advertised as ' applicable to writing a book'; I am hoping to find a way for it to happen automatically. I doubt that simply combining the files will result in extra page breaks; you have to add those if you want them in all systems that I've used. Yes;I have called 'combining' files 'concatenating' files eg copy and paste; the whole reason I am looking at 'master-files' is to automate this. It is hard to see what purpose master-files serve, if they merely emulate cut and paste. - 'chapter' headers (originally the document headers) get completely lost ! Perhaps you could try defining them in the master document, i.e.: Preliminary matter -> header definitions -> chapter inclusions. ..again If the worst comes to the worst .....etc. see above thanks for your interest Jaso; regards Rohan McLeod
Rohan McLeod <rhn@jeack.com.au> wrote:
Jason White wrote:
Have you placed new page commands in appropriate places? If the worst comes to the worst , I would consider this ; which seems to amount to manually editing the master-file; but since the feature is advertised as ' applicable to writing a book'; I am hoping to find a way for it to happen automatically.
I don't think it's designed to insert page breaks (or to force new chapters to start on recto pages) automatically, unless you have a style or command set to that effect somewhere in the document.
I doubt that simply combining the files will result in extra page breaks; you have to add those if you want them in all systems that I've used. Yes;I have called 'combining' files 'concatenating' files eg copy and paste; the whole reason I am looking at 'master-files' is to automate this. It is hard to see what purpose master-files serve, if they merely emulate cut and paste.
They let you maintain individual chapters as separate files - I think that's all they're supposed to do. It's like a #include in C.
- 'chapter' headers (originally the document headers) get completely lost ! Perhaps you could try defining them in the master document, i.e.: Preliminary matter -> header definitions -> chapter inclusions. ..again If the worst comes to the worst .....etc. see above
I think you're demanding of this feature more than it's designed to do.
Jason White wrote:
Rohan McLeod<rhn@jeack.com.au> wrote:
Jason White wrote:
Have you placed new page commands in appropriate places? If the worst comes to the worst , I would consider this ; which seems to amount to manually editing the master-file; but since the feature is advertised as ' applicable to writing a book'; I am hoping to find a way for it to happen automatically. I don't think it's designed to insert page breaks (or to force new chapters to start on recto pages) automatically, unless you have a style or command set to that effect somewhere in the document. Well there seems to be an application called 'Navigator' which does such things automatically to the Masterfile; well that is how I read the following extract from the help>masterfile> Using Master Documents and Subdocuments "
To start each subdocument on a new page: 1. Ensure that each subdocument starts with a heading that uses the same paragraph style, for example "Heading 1". 2. In the master document, choose *Format - Styles and Formatting*, and click the *Paragraph Styles* icon. 3. Right-click "Heading 1" and choose *Modify*. 4. Click the *Text Flow *tab. 5. In the *Breaks *area, select *Insert*, and then select *Page *in the *Type *box. 6. If you want each subdocument to start on an odd page, select *With Page Style*, and select "Right page" in the box. 7. Click *OK*." *********************************************************************************************************** again thanks for your interest Jason, regards Rohan McLeod
Rohan McLeod <rhn@jeack.com.au> wrote:
Well there seems to be an application called 'Navigator' which does such things automatically to the Masterfile; well that is how I read the following extract from the help>masterfile> Using Master Documents and Subdocuments " ******************************************************************************************************** To start each subdocument on a new page:
1.
Ensure that each subdocument starts with a heading that uses the same paragraph style, for example "Heading 1".
2.
In the master document, choose *Format - Styles and Formatting*, and click the *Paragraph Styles* icon.
3.
Right-click "Heading 1" and choose *Modify*.
You're changing a style definition in the master document.
4.
Click the *Text Flow *tab.
5.
In the *Breaks *area, select *Insert*, and then select *Page *in the *Type *box.
6.
If you want each subdocument to start on an odd page, select *With Page Style*, and select "Right page" in the box.
7.
Click *OK*."
So you've changed the heading style to force a recto page. Now that modified heading style should be applied throughout the document (including all of the imported files), unless you override it somehow in those files, presumably. Of course, it requires you to use the same style for all of the chapter-level headings (the one that you modified above). I would check that this is indeed the case in the chapters.
Jason White wrote:
Rohan McLeod<rhn@jeack.com.au> wrote:
Well there seems to be an application called 'Navigator' which does ..........................snip 3.
Right-click "Heading 1" and choose *Modify*. You're changing a style definition in the master document. 4.
Click the *Text Flow *tab. ............................snip 7.
Click *OK*." So you've changed the heading style to force a recto page.
Now that modified heading style should be applied throughout the document (including all of the imported files), unless you override it somehow in those files, presumably.
Of course, it requires you to use the same style for all of the chapter-level headings (the one that you modified above). I would check that this is indeed the case in the chapters. I'll have a look ; but I'm starting to wonder, if there is some kind of bug in my version of StarOffice-Write ! which at version 9; is quite old (2006); now that I check; again thanks for the interest Jason ; regards Rohan McLeod
Rohan McLeod <rhn@jeack.com.au> wrote:
Of course, it requires you to use the same style for all of the chapter-level headings (the one that you modified above). I would check that this is indeed the case in the chapters. I'll have a look ; but I'm starting to wonder, if there is some kind of bug in my version of StarOffice-Write ! which at version 9; is quite old (2006); now that I check;
Libreoffice 3.5 should only be a matter of apt-get, yum or whatever the packaging tool of choice is for your distribution. If the styles of the headings are all correct, I would suggest testing with Libreoffice 3.5.4, which is what Debian currently has - other distributions should have a similar version by now.
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Rohan McLeod