Have been doing some more experimenting to generate an Effective Pages List with some success.
I knew I could do multiple TOCs so that lets me have a 'normal' TOC for the document + whatever other TOC I'd like. I can set a TOC to use particular Heading Levels so by reserving a Heading Level only to be used in relation to the Effective Pages I can isolate that field.
I can put a Date field on each page and format it using the reserved Heading Level - I used level 9 because it's about as far away from any other heading levels I might use elsewhere in the document as I can get. The EPL TOC can be formatted to only use Heading 9 and not any others. You should also change the TOC Level to '1' for Heading Level 9 so that the TOC isn't indented unneccessarily.
NB: I chose a 'Date' field because 'PrintDate' will change every time the document is printed even though there were no changes, 'CreateDate' will insert the document's creation date (I suppose it could be updated manually on each each amendment page though), and 'SaveDate' updates all SaveDate fields when the document is saved. That would change the date for all pages instead of just the revisions.
This will generate an EPL with a couple of limitations:
* The list is in reverse order ie Date..........Page No. instead of Page No......Date. I'd prefer Page / Date sequence but I can live with it backwards if it means never having to manually type the damned thing!
* I tried to use a text box overlaid onto the footer area with the text inside formatted to HL9 however the TOC doesn't see the date field within the text box. This was to make it look like part of the footer where this sort of bumph usually appears.
* The Date field on a revised page must be updated when the page is revised.
* The EPL TOC will always have to be updated prior to saving. No big deal because all TOCs should be updated prior to saving so that the TOC is kept in accordance with the altered document. Not sure if Word can automatically update TOCs. Still, it's not hard: Right click in the TOC field and choose Update Field.....Update Entire Table.....OK, same as you would do for a 'normal' TOC.
* Not limitation but a formatting option: The TOC field can be inserted within a multiple column page format. This reduces a the wasted space a lot & helps one's eyes to perceive both the date & page no. together instead of having to travel across the entire width of the page.
I'd still like to try to have the HL9 formatted date in the footer area so I'll keep trying. Maybe if I extend the page's bottom margin into the footer area so that the page boundary overlaps the footer boundary I can achieve the effect. Also I think I can include a revision number either by having it as part of the text with the HL9 Date field, or by adding another Heading Level in the TOC and formatting the Revision Number text to the additional HL (HL8 following my earlier reasoning)