Publishing a Multi-Author Handbook on Deadline
An HR team must publish a 45-page employee handbook in three days. Six contributors have sent chapters in different files. Headings are formatted manually: some are bold 14 pt, others use Heading 2 with different fonts. The table of contents was typed by hand and is already wrong. There are 23 screenshots, 8 tables, and a footer with page numbers. One contributor edited with tracked changes and also applied direct formatting to whole paragraphs; another changed the company logo but did not add alt text. The HR head wants the document to look consistent, be accessible, and allow two reviewers to comment without changing the text. The team has Word available and no design software. The handbook has 12 chapters and must be ready for a Friday morning all-staff launch.
1. Outline the order of operations to produce a consistent, accessible handbook by the deadline. Explain why manually fixing each heading is a poor first step.
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Order of operations:
- Work on a copy and accept or reject all tracked changes; keep the original for audit.
- Clear direct formatting from the whole document, then apply the built-in Heading 1/2/3 styles and a body-text style.
- Modify the style definitions once - font, spacing, colour - so all 45 pages update together.
- Insert an automatic table of contents and update it; insert page numbers in the footer as a field, not typed numbers.
- Add alt text to the 23 screenshots and the new logo; set table header rows to repeat across pages.
- Restrict editing to comments for the two reviewers.
Why not fix headings manually: manual fixes do not scale to 45 pages and break whenever text moves; the hand-typed TOC would still be wrong. Styles give one control point, so a later change updates headings and the TOC together. A manual pass would have to be repeated after every review.
2. How should the team handle the two reviewers and the changed logo without creating version chaos?
Read the worked answer
Keep one master file and use co-authoring or a review copy, not six email attachments. Send the master with Track Changes on and Restrict Editing → Allow only comments, so reviewers can comment without altering text. Put the new logo in the header, add alt text, and lock the header from editing. If cloud co-authoring is unavailable, collect comments and use Compare → Combine to merge, keeping a version log (v01, v02) with date and owner. Do not accept changes until the HR head signs off. This preserves an audit trail and prevents competing copies from becoming the 'latest' version.