131. Create a Master Document  BEFORE YOU BEGIN 130 About Master Documents
When you're using a master document, the Navigator window shows its true colors. It becomes a "table of contents" for the entire document, giving you functions for reorganizing those contents and creating and updating indexes. It also serves as a launch pad for subdocument windows because you cannot edit a subdocument's contents from within the master document's window. | 1. | Create a New Master Document
From Writer's menu bar, select File, New, Master Document . Writer creates a new, blank master document that looks just like a normal document. In addition, Writer opens the Navigator window. For safety, you should save this master document now: Choose File, Save , and then in the Save As dialog box, choose a location, enter a new name , and click Save .
| | 2. | Add Files to the Master Document
The Navigator window's first entry is always Text , which refers to the text content of the new master document you just created. For example, you might enter a title and an introductory paragraph into the master document. However, although the Text element always exists, it can be blank.
To add an existing Writer document, from the Navigator window, click and hold the Insert button, and choose File from the popup menu. The Insert dialog box opens. Choose the documents to be added to your master document, and then click Insert .
To create a new document for immediate enrollment in the master document, click and hold Insert , and from the popup menu, select New Document . A fresh window is created, and the Save As dialog box appears. Choose a location for the document and click Save . With the new document window open , the Navigator window switches to content view for that document; to return to the table of contents, activate the master document window.
| | 3. | Rearrange Subdocument Order as Necessary To change the order in which a subdocument appears in the master document, from the Navigator window, click and drag its entry in the list to its new location. A horizontal line indicates where the document will be moved in the list when you release the mouse button. 131. Create a Master Document   | | 4. | Edit Subdocuments as Necessary
Although the master document window shows the contents of the entire volume as they will appear collectively, you cannot make changes to the contents of subdocuments appearing within this window. (Here, you can edit the Text element of the master document only.) Instead, you edit a subdocument by launching it within its own separate window.
Think of the Navigator window for the master document as the launch pad for any subdocument. For example, to edit Chapter 2, from Navigator , simply double-click that subdocument's name. A document window appears with the contents of Chapter 2. Make your changes. To finalize the edits, save the subdocument with the usual File, Save command.
| | 5. | Update the Master Document View
Changes made and saved to subdocument files are not automatically reflected in the master document window. To force an update here, activate the master document, and then from Navigator , click and hold Update , and from the popup menu, select All . A dialog box will confirm; click Yes . Writer reloads every subdocument in the master document, and updates any linkssuch as footnote and index entries. Click Save to finalize these updates.
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