Starting with no existing documents
The ideal situation is to start with no existing documents, because you can do everything the way you want from the beginning. Writer provides three ways to create a master document:
Method 1. Quick and easy, but not recommended
Method 2. Not too complicated, but with restrictions
Method 3. Complete control
In each case, you need to have a disciplined approach to make sure the master document works correctly and reliably. Each method below describes the steps to take. Be sure to do the steps in the order given.
Method 1. Quick and easy, but not recommended
Writer provides a quick and easy way to create a master document, but the master document is not associated with a template, so changes to styles and formatting are more difficult to apply reliably.
Note: If the subdocuments were all created with the same template and the styles were not modified in the documents, then the styles are imported into the master document with the subdocuments, and styles and formatting should be correct in the master document. This method works best when these conditions are met.
How to do it:
- Click File > New > Master Document.
- Use the Navigator to insert new documents or existing files into the master document, as described in
Step 5. Insert the subdocuments into the master document.
Method 2. Not too complicated, but with restrictions
This technique works well if you want to use sequential page numbering throughout the final document (not restarting at 1 at any point), and each chapter starts with a Heading 1 on a new page. If you want to restart page numbering anywhere in the document, use Method 3.
How to do it: Follow the instructions in
Recommended method for creating master documents but do not put in the text sections between the subdocuments or try to change the page numbering.
Method 3. Complete control
This method gives you complete control over complex documents with several page styles or restarted page numbering. It is a bit more work to set up, but works reliably. However, the method does not work in some situations. See
Problem solving for details.
This method is explained in detail in
Recommended method for creating master documents.
