Changing all the headers

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Author Message George A. Everding, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: geverding Post Number: 714 Registered: 11-2004 Posted on Friday, February 21, 2014 - 05:23 pm:    Help...since becoming responsible for only one section, I have forgotten how this was done (plus I'm getting old) It seems to me I could change all the section headers with one macro in MasterSpec. Was this a macro built into Specware or Masterworks, or a Microsoft Word built-in macro? I don't think it was a custom thing we invented, I think it came with the software. One of my client architects was asking me about this today, and no light bulb came on. George A. Everding AIA CSI CCS CCCA Allegion PLC (formerly Ingersoll Rand) St. Louis, MO Christopher Borcsok Senior Member Username: ckb Post Number: 28 Registered: 06-2013 Posted on Sunday, February 23, 2014 - 08:54 pm:    Not built in to MS Word so far as I know... I've ended up writing my own custom macros for it. Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 721 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 02:56 am:    I use fields in the headers and footers. They get the information from a separate document for all sections. John McGrann Senior Member Username: jmcgrann Post Number: 111 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 08:11 am:    I think what you're remembering is part of Masterworks, under "Multi-File" project tools. John T. McGrann, Jr., AIA, CSI, CCS, LEED AP Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 508 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 10:22 am:    Sheldon - can you elaborate a little on your approach? George A. Everding, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: geverding Post Number: 715 Registered: 11-2004 Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 10:40 am:    John, yes it was Multi-File. I found some documentation at home over the weekend, and that's exactly how we did it. Do you happen to know if Masterworks and Multi-File is still part of MasterSpec? It's been three years since I was a user. Thanks. George A. Everding AIA CSI CCS CCCA Allegion PLC (formerly Ingersoll Rand) St. Louis, MO J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 685 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 11:10 am:    I use Sheldon's method, setting up my files using a template which sets a number of formatting issues. The template has the fields (look in Properties). I can then change this "variables from a Windows file folder. Select the files you want to change, right click, and select the properties. This is much, much faster than trying to change the variables using Multifile (yes, it is still a part of Masterworks that comes with MasterSpec). If you want to change more than a handfull of variables (like shift something from right side of page to left or from bottom to top, using Multifile is still the best way to go. I have not yet tried the "Custom Macro" feature in Multifile, but it could be very helpful if it works the way I think it ought to work. John McGrann Senior Member Username: jmcgrann Post Number: 112 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 11:35 am:    George: Yes, Masterworks is still available at no additional cost with a current MasterSpec subscription. I'm going to have to revisit using fields and text merge approaches. Masterworks isn't as fast or as stable as I need it to be when pushing towards a deadline. John T. McGrann, Jr., AIA, CSI, CCS, LEED AP Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 509 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 11:41 am:    One thing I noticed though...when I am changing footer information, it is typically for the next package (eg; "95%" or "construction documents" or "bid set") The act of opening each file to change the date does give me another opportunity to scroll through and double check the section, so I don't see it as an inconvenience as much as a "last check" opportunity. The more times my eyes review a section, the better! W. Dean Walker, AIA, CSI, CCS, SCIP Senior Member Username: wdwalkerspecs Post Number: 52 Registered: 08-2006 Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014 - 03:55 pm:    Robin, I totally agree with you. I have caught many "whoops" when I scroll through the document when changing the date or issue. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1557 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Tuesday, February 25, 2014 - 03:24 pm:    MasterWorks comes with MasterSpec, but you have to install it on your computer to use it. This is very easy to do. Chris Grimm, CSI, CCS, SCIP, LEED AP BD+C, MAI Senior Member Username: chris_grimm_ccs_scip Post Number: 234 Registered: 02-2014 Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2014 - 01:01 pm:    I've had a few glitches with the Masterworks header/footer method in the past, many versions ago and I think they've fixed it. Also had something to do with inconsistent document properties (user error). So, back in the day, to eliminate inconsistency I wrote my own macro that didn't depend so much on that. I've tried many ways and I still find my macro that uses an autotext entry to be the most reliable and quick method, except of course if you are using a database-enhanced system like e-SPECS or an XML-based system like SpecsIntact. David Lorenzini has been telling me about another way, using fields that link to another document for the data so you can just change it there and all the headers change when you open the files. Maybe he can share the details, and what version of Word it works in without hurdles to get the fields to update. In Office 2010 I think it changed to where it can't automatically update fields, and in 2013 version it is broken further. I have a macro to force an update of all fields in the document and header and footer. But if I'm going to be running a macro anyway, might as well be using the autotext one that just replaces the header with one stored in memory. I also tried using OLE (object linking and embedding) for the text that can change, and while it does update each time I open the documents, it takes a while to open, and often crashes. So I'm going back to my macro method again. Click! Header is updated. Or run it on all files in a folder. I don't mess with the footers unless a project really requires it. Works great to have project info in header, and spec section info in the footer. Only one of them to change. All static data in the header, all dynamic data in the footer. Also it jives better with current SectionFormat/PageFormat. Very easy to flip through a set of specs and see the section #'s and titles this way. And the project/issue data is prominently up top. It surprises me how many times I've seen firms jumble up this information.