Creating a multi-part document allows multiple people to work on the document at once, without having problems of contention over a single file. It also keeps the document into smaller more manageable sizes reducing crashes and making linked objects from Excel more feasible then with single large documents.

The basic approach is:

• Each chapter of the document is a single word document.
• Each chapter document is linked to a single corresponding Excel workbook to provide its data.
• Each chapter document sets a value for a Word sequence filed called chapter in the chapter title. The chapter is set like this {seq chapter \r 5}, then referenced throughout the document like this {seq chapter \c} (where the {} represent a field code).
• The chapter is included in the document footer as part of the page number like this {seq chapter \c}.{page}
• The chapter number is included in the caption for each figure like this Figure {seq chapter \c}.{seq figure} Caption of this figure
• A master “publication” document contains the front (and end) pages together with all the table of contents, table of tables, table of figures, etc.
• Referenced Document (rd) fields are included in the master publication for each chapter, like this {rd “c:\\digest\\2018\\chapter1.docx”}
• The tables of contents in the master document include all matching entries from every referenced document.
• Each table includes \s and \d switches, so that the page number shown in the table includes the chapter number like this { toc \s chapter \d .}
• Note that other switches are available to fine-tune the text entry in the TOC. See the examples above and also at https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/field-codes-toc-table-of-contents-field-1f538bc4-60e6-4854-9f64-67754d78d05c?ui=en-US&rs=en-IE&ad=IE