Document writing and collating software - thoughts

[Jaded]

OK - one for the hive mind!

I am about to write a new staff handbook and I have two current documents from different places I am going to use as a template¹ and a rough source²

I'd like to be able to have the existing two docs open and the new one effectively side by side, and be able to order the paragraphs and numbered sections in a way that I want to. It is not a given that each document will have all the sections that the others have. I'm thinking a database or mind mapping software, but there might be something out there that does this...?

1 to make sure I get all the right sections in
2 to get a softer, less corporate wording

[nikki]

I've not used it much and I'm not sure of the licensing situation nowadays, but Scrivener might be worth looking at: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview

IIRC you could divvy up your two existing documents into appropriate chunks and then edit, rearrange and recombine in the one place rather than having multiple documents open.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I have written quite a few staff handbooks.

Don't over think it.

Bear in mind that it is likely that someone else will need to maintain the document - so use a tool that is not only available to everyone, but familiar.

Clarity of wording is more important than lovely prose. If you use a particular phrase or compound noun, use that throughout (yes, this does mean that the language will be 'dry', but, clarity before elegance).

Most staff handbooks are referenced by people who have just joined, so make sure it covers all the stuff they need to know. 'How to find information' is important.

Honestly, unless your handbook is massive (hundreds and hundreds of pages), you can use Word for this. The outline and navigation panes allow for easy rearranging of contents.

[MikeFromLFE]

The documents that I managed were all done in Word and converted to .pdf to prevent tampering (more difficult then than now).

As has been said upthread, your successor needs to be able to take over your documents, and rtf, docx etc 'just work'.

The plan, when I left was to make them available on multiple eInk devices so that they could be centrally managed.
This gets over the bugbear of many staff handbooks and similar tomes - that of making sure everyone, but everyone, is using the latest and most current version.
(But with the archive held for disputes etc). This in the parlance is "Document Control" and is an industry in itself. You should be aware of this as an issue (and you may well already have an in house system).
I'm not up to date with the state of the art for Document Control and versioning, but even in the dark ages they could accept any file type that you could throw at them.

[tatanab]

Agree that it is best to use software that may be familiar to others taking over.

Three years ago I had the task of updating a club handbook of 100 pages with lots of tables.  The only copy available was a pdf.  I later learned that the original had been produced in Publisher, which I have never used and so would have been little help.

I used an online service to translate pdf to Word, which completely screws any formatting.  I then spent many hours reformatting, retyping where needed, and updating the handbook.  I have since released an update to some pages, which is easy to do by updating those necessary and the index/issue status.  The membership gets hard copy, pdf is available on the club website, and of course I have the Word original to update or hand over to the next incumbent.

[nikki]

....or write it with the tool that makes the job easiest for you and then export it out in a format that is more appropriate for sharing and maintenance. They don't have to be the same thing.

[Jaded]

All good points, and I think the end result will be in Word, but my key aim when writing it is to be able to make sure I have captured all the relevant points in each document.

Probably sitting in front of the log fire with the revolver and glass of whisky will get it done!

[Kim]

....or write it with the tool that makes the job easiest for you and then export it out in a format that is more appropriate for sharing and maintenance. They don't have to be the same thing.

This.

Sanest way to do large documents in Word seems to be to write them in a text editor (or whatever) then fight with the formatting afterwards.

[Pingu]

....or write it with the tool that makes the job easiest for you and then export it out in a format that is more appropriate for sharing and maintenance. They don't have to be the same thing.

This.

Sanest way to do large documents in Word seems to be to write them in a text editor (or whatever) then fight with the formatting afterwards.

This.

[Mr Larrington]

When I view one particular recent Word document in anything other than Word, the whole of one paragraph after a “™” character (copied directly from Character Map) is in a different font from the rest of the document   Looks fine in Word though.  What’s that all about, eh?

[Jaded]

Word is carefully crafted from pigs bottoms.

Word 5.1 was the bees knees.

[Afasoas]

There is a `Combine Documents` facility in Word which can do a 'Three Way Merge' which sounds something akin to what you are trying to do:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/combine-document-revisions-f8f07f09-4461-4376-b041-89ad67412cfe?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

Never used it myself so YMMV.

[ian]

Scrivener is what I use – it basically lets you work on lots of documents simultaneously and order them, etc.

It's a bit unique though so not for everyone. You can compile the results to a single Word document.

Or work in something like FrameMaker, which will most assuredly, reformat your sanity.

[Jaded]

Thanks all,

ian, I'm currently looking at Scrivener, because it seems to do what I want.

Only 50 minutes to go on the tutorial...

[ian]

The learning curve is a bit steep, though once you have the basics and everything set, up it's easy to write long, multi-part documents. Used by a fair number of novelists and screenwriters, but suitable for any large, multi-section document or book.