Re: Cross-References in Word

Subject: Re: Cross-References in Word
From: Jean Weber <jean -at- wrevenge -dot- com -dot- au>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 16:52:07 +1000

Jessica Nealon <Jessica -dot- Nealon -at- McKesson -dot- com> wrote:

In my Word (2000) manual, I decided to put a lot of cross-references to
increase its usability in PDF form. Rumor has it that cross-references turn
into links in the PDF.

Yes, they do, if you've specified the appropriate settings in Distiller.

The problem is that my beautiful cross-references turn into "Error!
Reference source not found. on page Error! Bookmark not defined." in big,
bold, underlined text. This seems to happen at will. Somebody here thinks
that is has to do with the source of the reference shifting pages as edits
are made and the size of the document changes. However, we really can't
seem to find a pattern. Has anyone figured this out? Has anyone solved
this problem?

To properly trouble-shoot your problem, we need some more information.

When this happens, do *all* of the cross-refs turn into error messages, or only some of them?

Is the entire document in one file, or are some of your x-refs to other files?

What are your x-refs pointing to? Headings? Figures? Tables? Other? Some of each?

Is there any pattern to which ones turn into errors? For example, are the problems always with x-refs to one type of target (such as headings)?

Do the problems occur after you have edited the text in the items x-ref'd, or added text (a new paragraph, for example) just before a heading?

Very common problems with x-refs to headings occur when you change something just *before* the heading, or if you add something to the end of the heading text. The x-ref gets confused and throws up an error message. (Long technical explanation omitted here.) The only way I know to fix this is to re-do the x-ref. However, I do have a simple trick to avoid the problem in the first place. (Makes note to self: must add the trick to the next revision of my book.)

If you think this might be the case of your problem, let me know and I'll explain my trick.

If there really is no pattern to the appearance of x-ref error messages in your document, then the problem may be something else entirely.

Regards, Jean
Jean Hollis Weber
mailto:jean -at- wrevenge -dot- com -dot- au
The Technical Editors' Eyrie http://www.wrevenge.com.au/
-----------------
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