applied tips : may 2008
microsoft word : creating an index
Creating an index of important words.
At the end of a long Word document, it’s often useful to have an index. An index lists the important words and phrases in the document, along with the page numbers where they appear.
Creating an index involves two main steps:
- Defining the word(s) you want to appear in the index.
- Creating the actual index.
This article will cover both of these steps. When you’re finished, you’ll be ready to wow coworkers and friends with professional-looking indexed documents!
Marking words for the index
First you need to define which words you want to include in the index. To do this, select a word or phrase you want to index and press Alt + Shift + X. The Mark Index Entry dialog box appears. The word(s) you selected appear in the “Main entry” text box. Now you have three indexing options:
- Cross-reference: Adds a cross-reference as an index entry instead of a page number. A cross-reference refers you to another entry. For example, if your document is about dogs, you could mark the word “Cocker Spaniel” to read See Spaniels. This will direct the reader to look up “Spaniels” in the index for page numbers that lead to information about Cocker Spaniels.
- Current page: This is the default option, and the most common type of index entry. This option lists the current page number for the selected index entry.
- Page range: Lists a range of pages that are included in the bookmark that you select in the Bookmark list. You must first mark the range of pages with a bookmark before you can select the range of pages.
For this article, we’ll create a “Current page” index entry. Make sure the “Current page” option is selected, click the Mark button, then click the Close button. Word creates an entry that will appear in the index.
After you click Close, nonprinting characters such as tab and paragraph marks will appear in the document. You will also see the field codes that have been inserted to mark the new index entry. You can hide these cryptic characters by clicking the Show/Hide button on the Standard toolbar.
Creating subentries
You can also create index subentries. Subentries are listed below main entries in the index. For example, you could go to a page where “Brittany Spaniel” appears, and create an index subentry by typing “Spaniels” in the Main entry text box and “Brittany Spaniel” in the subentry box. Now Brittany Spaniel will appear in the index as a subentry under Spaniels.
Using Mark All
Another indexing feature is the Mark All button. If “Spaniel” appears in the Main entry text box in the Mark Index Entry dialog box, and you click the Mark All button, every occurrence of Spaniel in the document will be marked as an index entry.
Be careful with this command so that you don’t end up with a bunch of meaningless entries that you don’t want. Make sure you really want to mark every occurrence of the entry.
Creating the index
Once you’ve marked the words and phrases you want to include in the index, it’s time to create the index.
Press Control + End to move to the end of the document and press Control + Enter to insert a page break. Add a heading for the index by typing “Index.” Press Enter.
Next, select Insert > Reference > Index and Tables from the menu (in Word 97 and 2000 select Insert > Index and Tables). The Index and Tables dialog box appears. Click the Index tab, select an index format from the Formats list, then click OK. Your index appears!
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