Report Writing Using Word 2007

Shiny

In previous years I always split my chapters into separate
word documents as it usually died if I merged them all into
one.

I'm just wondering does Word 2007 still have this problem due
to it being XML based and more efficient?

Has anyone written a large 10,000+ word document plus a lot
of images in a single file?

2Scoops

It should be able to handle it without being corrupted, but separate files still makes a lot of sense. A lot of people around here swear by LaTeX for large report writing.

Shiny

Yeah I had considered LaTeX but didn't have time to get used to it
this year. I will probably use it next time round unless word 2010
temps me for another couple of years. :rolleyes:

r3nu4l

As a professional medical writer I can tell you that Word 2007 is capable of handling such documents BUT it is good practice to separate your documents into chapters in any case.

There are at least two reasons for this (and probably more! ).

Firstly, it is simpler for review. You can send one chapter to a reviewer while continuing with another. Secondly, it makes filing easier as you can have a spearate folder for each chapter. Thirdly, should there be any corruption (for example - accidentally removing a USB drive before dismounting properly and therefore corrupting it) at least you won;t have lost the entire file!

As a writer my documents are submitted to a review committee including medical, marketing, regulatory and legal review BEFORE going to peer review, it therefore makes sense to have each distinct chapter in separate documents.