This article will take your Master Document further with some nifty Word features that I find are rarely used or, for that matter, most people are not even aware of their existence. The Document Map and Thumbnail feature.

Document Map

The Document Map will display as a separate panel along the left side of your Word document giving you a brief listing of your general headings. It is similar to the Outline View except for two obvious things.

1. You are able to continue to work in your standard Print Layout View document. The Outline View doesn’t give you the visual Print Layout or WYSIWYG view of what the final print of your document is, which is the predominant preference.
2. The Outline View gives you the complete text document, while the Document Map appears on the left sidebar with a single line of information that comprises the heading, without all the subsequent information that details that heading, allowing you to locate information quickly and easily when navigating for a specific location in a document.

This is how you access the Document Map:

1. Select Document Map from the View menu (a checkmark is placed next to Document Map).

2. You can navigate Document Map by doing the following:

a. When using your Style Headings, the Document Map will break down the outline into its heading for navigating. It is the feature that you will see when you collapse the view of your headings in the Outline View. Except, once again, you are still able to work in the Print Layout View of your document when using Document Map.

b. You can go directly to the information you are looking for by clicking on the heading name in Document Map. Similar to the Find (Ctrl+F) feature, but you don’t need to know the page or section you are looking for or processing through each occurrence of a word till you arrive at your destination. You also don’t need to scroll or Page Down, with the possibility of passing the information right by. Click on the heading in Document Map and your arrive at your destination instantly.

3. To exit Document Map, select Document Map in the View menu (you will see the checkmark disappear).

Thumbnails

You’ve seen thumbnails in Adobe whenever you open PDF documents. Did you know you have that feature in Word? You betcha! This feature gives you mini pictures of your document. If you work on documents that have a distinct look throughout by using tables and / or images, this feature may come in handy. However, you will find with straight text, it is not quite so functional. You are limited to manually clicking on pages to find what you are looking for. It’s probably just easier to Page Up and Page Down. Like I said, your document would require distinct visual interest to each page for this feature to be handy.

1. Select Thumbnails from the View menu (a checkmark is placed next to Thumbnails).
2. To exit Thumbnails, select Thumbnails in the View menu (you will see the checkmark disappear).

If you like learning new things and seeing what works and what doesn’t, I hope you find this article interesting and informative. And, hey, you may actually find these two Word features useful in some of your projects.

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A master document will help you with large documents by organizing lengthy sections or chapters. It keeps your complete document manageable and consolidated with all the required information in an easy retrievable and uncluttered fashion. This way you can work on each individual part exclusively and yet organize your information simply through the use of the master document.

Creating the Master Document

1. Open or create a document you want to be the master document.
2. Select Outline from the View menu.
3. Place your cursor at the text you want to be a heading.
4. Click the Promote to Heading 1 button in the Outline Tools toolbar by clicking on the green double-arrow (this will promote the selected paragraph to the highest level of the outline).
5. Repeat for each heading. You can promote your paragraph incrementally to a higher level by clicking on the green single arrow that points the to the left (Alt+Shift+Left) or demote the paragraph incrementally by clicking on the green single arrow pointing right (Alt+Shift+Right). Note: Level 1 is obviously the highest level and as much as you click to promote it, it will not elevate further.
6. When you have completed your document , click on the Save As in the File menu.
7. Select the location to save the file and click the Save button.

Adding a Subdocument to the Master Document

1. Open or create the master document (see directions listed above).
2. Select the Outline from the View menu.
3. There are two ways of adding subdocuments: a) within the mater document itself or b) inserting an existing document located in your files. Note: you may need to click on Show Document to reveal the following additional buttons of features.
   • Creating a subdocument from text within the master document, select the headings and text you want in the subdocument. Click the Create button in the Master Document toolbar of the Outlining menu. Note: you cannot embed a subdocument within body text; it must be imbedded after a heading. Also, ensure that Expand Subdocuments is turned on before using this feature.
   • To add an existing file to the master document as a subdocument, first click at the location of where you want the existing document to be placed. Click Insert button in the Master Document toolbar of the Outlining menu, then browse for the existing file to embed as your subdocument and click the Open button. Note: once again, ensure that Expand Subdocuments is turned on before using this feature.

More Outline Tools

You can easily move paragraphs up and down, without Cutting and Pasting, by clicking on the blue up arrow button (Alt+Shift+Up) and the blue down arrow (Alt+Shift+Down). Just by placing your cursor within that paragraph and clicking on the blue up or down button will move the entire paragraph up or down past each subsequent paragraph located above or below it. How much easier does that get?!

The blue plus and minus buttons will allow you to expand or collapse the entire subdocument. Note: the cursor must be located within a heading of that subdocument to execute. This will clean up your document so you can view only what you are presently working on by eliminating the clutter and distraction of the rest of the document.

Once you get used to using this dynamic feature, you will find much more control over viewing and managing large documents. Stayed tuned for other features you can use in creating the more complex documents of a master document.

With love and appreciation for your patience and continued readership,