Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Understanding Master and Subdocuments.

Understanding Master and Subdocuments

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 27, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


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You may not have heard about master and subdocuments in Word before. They are a feature that has been available for some time but are not widely used by many people. They are used as a way to develop smaller documents and then combine them together into a larger document. The classic example is chapters in a book. Each chapter might be in its own document, but can be combined together, using a master document, into a larger whole that represents the entire book.

Perhaps it is best to view a master document as a container. You can put information directly within the container, but you can also put other containers within the container. These containers, in turn, contain other information. A master document is nothing but a container for text and graphics (like a regular document), but also pointers to individual documents called subdocuments. When you are working with the master document, it appears to contain all the information within the subdocuments, even though the subdocuments are individual files.

There are several advantages to working with master and subdocuments:

  • Individuals or groups can work on the subdocuments, while someone else works on organizing the subdocuments within the master document.
  • You can work on multiple documents within their final context, as determined by the master document.
  • You can create indexes, tables of contents, and other lists based on the contents of multiple files.
  • You can create cross-references between the subdocuments.
  • Printing an entire complex document is easier because you simply need to print the master.

Even though there are advantages to working with master and subdocuments, there are also drawbacks. This is to be expected, since managing documents in this manner adds another layer of technological complexity to your documents. Any time this happens, it seems there is always a greater chance of things "getting messed up." This is the first and potentially most serious drawback—that you could end up messing up your document because of the increased complexity.

Another drawback is that it is harder to move the documents to a different location. With regular documents, you can simply move or copy them to a different location. With master and subdocuments, you need to go through a specific process, as described in another tip.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12634) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Understanding Master and Subdocuments.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is five minus 1?

2025-08-24 06:17:47

Barry

@Patrick.
You have probably found the link by now -- or just given up after the comment by Paul!!!
However, for anyone else newly arriving here \i think this is the required link:
https://wordribbon.tips.net/T012636_Moving_Master_and_Subdocuments.html


2024-06-28 09:18:48

Paul Stregevsky

Why would anyone still use Master documents and Subdocuments in 2024? They were a kludge, at best.

Search and replace was a nightmare. Tweaking styles and fixing numbering was challenging. Cross-references broke if a file name was corrected or changed or a heading was tweaked the wrong way.

It was one thing to break up a file when Word struggled to handle large files. But that problem was solved in 2007 when Microsoft introduced the .docx file type, which breaks up each element into a tiny XML element.

Then came SkyDrive--now OneDrive--and team members could finally write, edit, review, and manage a large, complex document at the same time.

My main user guide is 326 pages long and 54 megabytes, with graphics on every page. I've maintained it for 4 years and its size, length, and complexity have never been an issue.

I'm open to hearing the arguments in favor of Master/Subdocuments. To me, they're a relic of a bygone age.


2024-06-27 11:31:51

patrick

With master and subdocuments, you need to go through a specific process, as described in another tip. - Could you provide the link?


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