To recap, I install the entries [field codes], then install them into a concordance file before I create the index? I pray this question makes sense Jason
Wrong way around. 1. Create your concordance file. 2. Use the Automark option which will create your field codes throughout your document. 3. Create the Index (the keywords and page numbers at the end of the document).
I hunted all over to get info on adding an Index to my document. I got all sorts of useless info until I got here. Thank you, thank you. I look forward to continuing to watch your series of tutorials. Great job!
Thank you! I'm taking my Word Expert exam and Indexing was the only feature I was struggling with, as it isn't a feature that I have previously used. This video has made it easy for me to understand the methodology and the procedure.
Jason, Thanks for your immediate response to my inquiry about several Index subentries in Word. You saved me at least more days of frustration. I consulted Microsoft and talked with several techs about why there is no way to Index Photos. All of those entries have to be restricted as Figures; that's not the way I write my manuscripts. I number and caption all my Photos. Any rate, the techs admitted, there is no way to include Photo topics in Word in an Index. Also, you are right about being restricted to a Table of Contents.
This is correct. Tables, images and equations are first captioned (you can have 2 levels of captions) and then collated into a Table of Figures. I'm glad you figured it out (pun intended).
Outstanding job. Well organized (outline), expertly delivered, professional editing. My friend, _THAT_ is how you deliver valuable content. I know a thing or two about content delivery so... well, right on.
Excellent presentation! I wasn't aware that capitalized versions of the word (for example, when the word appears at the beginning of a sentence) would be excluded. Thanks for a well-organized lesson.
Thank you very much. Like the other chap, I searched all over and your's is the one that gave me the information that I was looking for. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 😄
Thank you, using this for my first college report and unlike other tutorials I have watched it makes total sense! All along videos looked easy but when I actually did as instructed it would mess up my report
Hi, This was very informative. I am currently working on Records Retention Bylaw and need to build a index with x-ref to terms. Thank you for explaining it so clearly and demystifying it for me.
Hi Jason, thank you for these videos - they are clear, relevant and focussed. I have a question I hope you can answer for me: I have an 80-page document that I want to add an index into (never having done indexing before!) but it already has front and back matter included. Does this mean I cannot use the concordance file method or "mark all" to build an index because it will pull in page numbers that are not wanted? Or do I need to edit these entries afterwards by reading through and manually deleting them?
Hi Julie. To create an index for a selected area rather than the whole document: 1. Mark entries using the Mark tool or a concordance, in the usual way. 2. Select the portion of the document you wish to include in the index (i.e. exclude the front and back matter). 3. On the *Insert* ribbon, choose *Bookmark* (in the *Links* group). type a bookmark name (no spaces allowed) and click *Add* . Close the dialog. 4. Go to the place where you want to place your index. Create the index (on the References ribbon). 5. If necessary, right-click the index and choose *Toggle Field Codes.* You will see something like *{ INDEX \e ...........}* . 6. Place the cursor after the word INDEX, add a space and type *\b "yourbookmarkname"* . Word will then only index the area identified by the bookmark. Obviously, change yourbookmarkname to the bookmark name you entered in step 3. 7. Right-click on the INDEX field again and choose *Update Field* . I hope that helps. Let me know how you go. Jason
Doing my own index, which I just learned how to do last week because of your videos (thanks much!). I'm 2/3 of the way through a 155,000-word book - slow going but manageable. One question: I have substantive material in footnotes that I want to include but I can't find any way to include an "n" for the note number in the index. Example: if I want to index substantive material in footnote 3 on page 334, how do I make the index show 334n3? TIA.
Unfortunately with the functionality that Microsoft gives you, there is no way to index footnote content, or customise the page numbering in the way you have outlined. It may be possible with VBA if you have some money to invest. Head to Freelancer, Upwork or Fiverr (in that order) and search out your own experts or post your project and filter the results. Good luck and all the best.
Thanks for your postings. Is there any way to add a subentry under a subentry? I'm needing subentries under my subentry. For example, Main entry > subentry> subentry...does not seem to be a way to do a subentry to the subentry.
Ken, only 2 levels are offered. If you want more, perhaps the Table of Contents is a more logical option. Either way, it can't be done with an Index. Sorry.
I have a document with the word Franklin that I want to index. I use it as the name of President Franklin and as the name of a ship, the USS Franklin. How could I differentiate those two names in my index? I also want to put the name of the ship as a subentry to the main entry called Ships but the other Franklin would be listed for the President's name. Also, can I delete just one occurrence of an index mark? I'm also noting that not all entries are picked up. I have an entry as Mark All but several pages later, that same term does not show the XE notation. I learned the most about indexes from this video. Good job.
I'll be glad to straighten this out for you. 1. To create two different index entries for 'Franklin' based on the context, you have no choice but to methodically go through the document and index each occurrence one at a time. You can use the subentry feature ion the Index dialog to list 'USS Franklin' under 'Ship'. of course, in the unlikely event that the terms 'President Franklin' and 'USS Franklin' are used consistently throughout the document then you can select each phrase and Mark All. 2. To delete a single occurrence of a marked entry, first ensure that you have are displaying hidden text then use the Find feature (Ctrl F) and search for ^d XE "your term". Use the Fine Next button and once you have located the correct occurrence, delete it. 3. To solve the mystery of the missing XE entries, the most likely cause is that indexing is case sensitive. You might consider using the concordance method for the bulk of your indexing as this allows you to consolidate all case variations under one index entry. This video explains how to set up a concordance - czcams.com/video/jnYWmfxDOag/video.html. The best results come from using a combination of concordance and manual marking. I hope that helps. Jason.
Thanks so much for these 3 videos. They were very helpful. I think I've solved most problems but a central one emerges at 4:01 of video #2 I was wondering about the concordance file. How does it interact with the index? Is it a separate file? In your video you go to a file named concordance and it seems that you are indexing your own concordance. Not sure why this method is necessary at all if there's an auto-index function. Can't a person work backwards from the auto-index, thereby avoiding marking up and manually inserting XE tabs? My main question is about the concordance, however. assuming I follow your method. How does one "merge" a conordance file with the 300 page document I have; why is it two columns; how do you get different colors as in your demonstration? I've watched video #2 twice now and can't figure out how to create a concordance page. Excellent videos. You're a great teacher!
Hi Jonathan, thanks for your questions. The concordance file is a separate document. You can call it anything. It contains a list of words or phrases you want to see in your index. The left column contains the item you want to mark within the document (i.e. an XE field is created for each item). The right column contains the item as you want it displayed in the Index. The advantages of using a concordance are that you have a comprehensive list of everything you have indexed, rather than searching through your main document for XE fields. It also handles variations. Manual marking is case sensitive, so marking 'Author' would not pick up 'author' and vice versa. The concordance allows you to to create 4 separate entries for Author, Authors, author and authors (1 per line in the left column) and consolidate them under one index item called "author" (placed in the right column for each of the 4 lines). The disadvantage of using a concordance file is the lack of a cross reference feature, e.g.for 'writer' show 'see author'. However, after using a concordance to handle the bulk of the indexing, you can always add the cross references by marking those items manually. Once your concordance document is ready, in the main document, you choose Insert Index on the references ribbon, then click the Automark button and select your concordance file. This creates all the XE entries within your main document using the information contained in the concordance file. Once you have marked everything that you want to include in the index (using manual marking and/or a concordance file) you create the actual index choosing Insert Index and configuring the options. As far as I can tell, Word on Windows brings the original formatting into the index but Word for Mac does not. I've checked out the switches and options for the Index and XE fields but there is nothing that controls the formatting. Just another Microsoft inconsistency! I would suggest that a uniform-looking index is best anyway! You can modify the Index1 to Index9 styles to provide a consistent look for your index. Let me know how you go.
Thank you for your video. I found it very helpful. When using a concordance method, is there a way to add the cross-references, like "see also..."? I can see that you can easily add cross-references when marking each entry individually, but how do I add cross-references when using a concordance file?
Unfortunately you can't cross reference with the concordance method. However, you can use a concordance for all the benefits it does offer, then add your cross references manually (by marking) afterwards. A combination of the 2 methods works well. Jason
Hi, I have a long document. When you mark enough words on one page, because of the "XE" inserts, the text starts to get pushed onto the next page. If you don't constantly clear (click the Show/Hide button) these inserts, won't Word start assigning the "wrong" page to your selections as you proceed through the entire document?
Word creates the index and associated page numbers when YOU decide to create or update the index. So once you have marked everything you want to include, click the Show/Hide icon to hide all the fields, then create/update your index. The page numbering will be correct. I hope that helps.
Wow do you really have to do a capital letter and small letter entry for each term in the concordance table? That seems really counter-intuitive and labor intensive! Also, do indexes update automatically if you, say, add another page or text into the document?
You don't have to create every combination every time, just the one(s) that you use. It's one of the things that Microsoft did right. If the concordance was not case sensitive, it would save you a bit of time and you would have a shorter concordance but you would also lose the flexibility and there would be heaps of people complaining! It's better to have the option than not. You can bring the index up-to-date at any time by right-clicking the index and selecting Update.
@@JasonMorrell Thanks for the reply! Sorry I don't get what you mean by "just the ones you use". Because the way I'm understanding this is like... I would have to do it for every single word because if the word shows up with a capital in the beginning of a sentence, then that's one instance, and when it appears in the middle of a sentence with a small letter then that's another instance. Is that right?
@@JasonMorrell Thanks.. that definitely seems like I have to do it for everything then! lol since I would want to find every instance of every term whether it's at the beginning or middle of a sentence
Tut, the table of contents and the index features are both found on the References ribbon. You can create either or both. Here is a TOC video: czcams.com/video/Z0o1FN17CYs/video.html
Thank you for informative video. However I still do have two questions; 1) Do you have to paginate pages before marking entries? 2) I have to make an index of surnames, mostly of Slavic origin. Slavic languages use grammatical cases, so each noun has versions with different suffixes. (Example: Djokovic (nominative), Djokovica (genetive)) To find all the versions, one has to type Ctrl + F and then Djokovic. But I noticed one cannot mark all the versions at once, even with Mark All option; Word would mark only the nominative case. Is there a solution to this? In other words, is there a possibility to mark just a part of the word, not the whole word? (example: instead of Truman you select just Trum and try to mark all). Thank you in advance!
Hi Michel. (1) No you do not need to paginate pages before marking entries. (2) No, you cannot mark part of a word. You must select a whole word or a phrase.
@@JasonMorrell Thank you for a quick reply, but unfortunately mine Word apparently does not mark just parts of the word. A also tried with concordance file but the problem stays the same.
You can achieve this using a concordance. On the left column, list Djokovic and Djokovica. In the right column, list Djokovic for both. The index will only show Djokovic. Word only adds an XE field code (a marked entry) for the first occurrence on each page.
How can I create in the index a link not only to the page, but to the page with a particular note...example: Pokemon....12, nt. 3? Thank you...nobody explains it
Jason -- I need help. I'm creating a large family photo book with thousands of photos. Each photo needs to be labeled with the names of the people in the photo. The label must be grouped with its photo so I can move it around on the page or move it to different pages as I construct the book. Once I have all of the photos (with their respective labels) on their final page I want to use AutoMark to create a concordance index at the end of the book. I have tried 2 methods to create the index but have problems with each one. Please help. TEXT BOX. Put the names in a text box and group it with the photo. Problem: AutoMark will not search the text. FLOATING TABLE WITH ONE ROW Put the names in the table and position it under the photo. AutoMark will search the table. Problem: Can't group the table with the photo so it will be extremely difficult to move photos around and keep them with their label. Any ideas?
Yes, I have an idea. 1. Set the Text Wrap option on the image to "In line with text". 2. While the image is still selected, click the launcher on the bottom-right corner of the Paragraph group (on the Home ribbon), click the "*Line and Page Breaks*" tab and check "*Keep with next*". Close the dialog. 3. Place the cursor in the label following the image. Re-open the paragraph settings and check "*Keep lines together*". This simple process will keep the image and all the text of the label together even if that means placing both on the next page. You can play around with this. For example, to have 2 images and labels side by side you could create a 2x1 table, switch off the table borders, then in each cell insert an image and label, and change the settings accordingly. Because you have so many, I would make use of the F4 key which repeats the last single action you performed. So you could start at the beginning of the document, select the first image and set the paragraph settings. Then move through the document, select each image one at a time and press F4 to apply the same settings. Saves a lot of time. Then sweep through a second time for the labels. The F4 key only works on Windows PC. I'm not sure what the Mac equivalent is. I hope this helps. Let me know how you go (or if I've missed the mark completely). Jason
I'm not exactly sure what you mean. It doesn't matter whether the marked items are regular text or styled in some way (e.g. bold). The index itself can be styled to your preferences by modifying the *Index 1* , *Index 2* ... styles. (On the Home ribbon, click the *launcher* in the bottom-right corner of the Styles gallery, then click the *Options* button at the bottom of the Styles window/pane and change *Recommended* to *All Styles* , then locate *Index 1* in the list, right-click and *Modify* .) If I've missed the mark, give me a fuller description and i'll help where I can.
Jason, I’m working on a genealogy project and used your method to create an index of the people’s names…. Is there a way to change the list so that a person’s name is sorted listed by last name ? In the document peoples names are entered first, middle and last. Appreciate any suggestions you can offer me. Thanks
@@JasonMorrellHello Jason, yes, as a 50+ year experienced computer programmer, I find this ESSENTIAL missing “feature” almost as UNBELIEVABLE as the fact that indexing isn’t semi-automatic (as it clearly ought to be). I could design a better way to index in my sleep. I have spent three days already, manually indexing my existing book and I have still not finished. I could have written a program to do it in half the time. Google docs has no indexing feature at all, which I find equally amazing.
Tut, a table of contents is normally placed at the beginning of a long document and it lists all the sections and topics. An index is found at the back of the book and contains a list of keywords that the reader may check to find a page number for a specific item of interest. I hope that clarifies.
I am unable to print without the field codes. I have the Field Codes off, but when I print, they are on the printed document. Really want to get rid of those Gremlins!
Also, still in File | Options | Advanced ... ... under the ' *Show document content* ' section, uncheck the box labelled ' *Show field codes instead of their values* ', ... and under the ' *Print* ' section, uncheck the box labelled ' *Print field codes instead of their values* '
If you want to create two or more indexes (e.g. an index for each major section) then: 1. Select each section one at a time (click the start point, hold SHIFT then click the end point). 2. Bookmark the section. The Bookmark tool is found on the Insert ribbon. Note: you cannot use spaces in the bookmark name. 3. Create a separate index for each section. And the \b "yourbookmarkname" switch inside the field braces but after the XE field code (you may need to first right-click the field and toggle the field code on). Each index will then only pick up the marked entries from each bookmarked section. Let me know how you go. Jason,
In that exact format ... no. You can mark text within a caption for inclusion in an index. Or you can just use captions and tables of figures in the way they were designed to be used! All the best.
@@JasonMorrell thanks for your quick reply. It doesn't have to be in that format. I just want to include figures in the INDEX so that readers can go back to that page to look at that figure. How would you mark text within a caption for inclusion in an index? Can you provide a link? Thanks very mich.
The same as you do for regular text. 1. If necessary, right-click the image and choose Insert Caption. Add your description and click OK. 2. Press Alt Shift X to open the *Mark Index* dialog. 3. In the document , highlight the caption text (or the portion that you want to include in the index). 4. In the dialog press *Mark* or *Mark All*. 5. Create your index.
@@JasonMorrell Thanks again for the instruction. but would that only gives page number in the INDEX? Would it indicate figure in the index such as f1? Is there a way to show something like it is from the figure? Thanks again.
You cannot mark something that includes another field (in this case, the figure number). You would need to highlight the description then add the "Figure 1:" at the beginning. Be aware that if you update your document and the figure numbers change, ths will not be reflected in your index as you have manually added it. My strong recommendation would be to create a regular Table of Figures and then if you still really want the index, then mark the key word(s) in your caption. After all, people refer to the index for a particular thing. They will not be referencing the index for "Figure x". Put square pegs into square holes.
Hi - once I get this working it will save me hours of work! However, after creating the concordance (named 'concordance'), I used Auto-mark in the original doco, but it did not mark any fields. I can manually mark them and that works. Using Word 365 and doco is saved in OneDrive. I tried filing 'concordance' in same subfolder in OneDrive and also on PC in Documents folder - no joy. Any suggestions?
Here are some things to check: 1. The concordance file has 2 columns. Column 1 is the word or phrase you wish to mark in the main document. Column 2 is the entry you wish to see in the index. 2. Auto-marking with a concordance is case sensitive. So if your concordance contains 'Banana' and your document contains 'banana', nothing will be marked. Same with plurals such as banana vs bananas. You can include several case and singular/plural combos in your concordance all pointing to the same index entry. 3. Check that field codes are visible on your doc. Click the pilcrow icon (looks like a backward P) on the Home ribbon. Pressing Alt F9 (or Alt Fn F9) on a PC also toggles the whole document between showing/hiding field codes. 4. The location of the concordance file is irrelevant as long as you have access to it on your computer. 5. You can update the document any time by going to References | Insert Index | Automark. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. It's a pretty straight-forward tool.
@@JasonMorrell Well, this is interesting... When I saved 'concordance' in the same OneDrive folder as my doco, I got an error. However, when I saved it in my downloads folder (on my PC instead of cloud), it worked! OneDrive has always been problematic for me. Now... new question. I see that it also added field codes to my table of contents and table of figures. Any way to automatically change that? I can manually delete and it will still have saved me about a week's work, but would be nice as I will be making new editions regularly.
Glad you got problem #1 sorted! Onto problem #2. SOLUTION #1 1. Remove the table of contents/figures. 2. Create your index. 3. Re-create your TOC / TOF. SOLUTION #2 Index just a portion of your document, not all of it. 1. Select the main part of your document (i.e. exclude the TOC / TOF). 2. On the Insert ribbon, click Bookmark (in the Links group). Type a bookmark name. Spaces are not allowed. Click Add and close the dialog. 3. Create your index in the normal way. Or modify the one you have. 4. Click inside the braces { }. Place the cursor after the word INDEX, add a space and type \b "yourbookmarkname" . Word will then only index the area identified by the bookmark. Obviously, change yourbookmarkname to the bookmark name you entered in step 2. 5. Right-click on the INDEX field again and choose Update Field . If you want to clear your document of all field codes for the marked entries, go to the Find and Replace dialog and type ^d XE into the Find box and leave the Replace box empty. Then Replace All. I hope that helps. Let me know how you go.
@@JasonMorrell Well, now, that's interesting! I used the second option - selecting just the text, bookmarking, then creating the index and it worked! The ToC and list of figures have the field codes added, but they don't show in the index. Too cool!
That's it. Some people like to create mini-index pages for each chapter in a longer document. That kind of thing. It's quite versatile. Anyway, all the best. Keep rocking it!
Write your questions or feedback below. I respond to every one.
To recap, I install the entries [field codes], then install them into a concordance file before I create the index?
I pray this question makes sense Jason
Wrong way around.
1. Create your concordance file.
2. Use the Automark option which will create your field codes throughout your document.
3. Create the Index (the keywords and page numbers at the end of the document).
I hunted all over to get info on adding an Index to my document. I got all sorts of useless info until I got here. Thank you, thank you. I look forward to continuing to watch your series of tutorials. Great job!
Thank you Don. I appreciate the kind words and I'm glad I was able to straighten things out for you,
One of the most exhaustive content I've found on "Indexing". Good work.
Cheers David. Appreciate your comment.
Thank you! I'm taking my Word Expert exam and Indexing was the only feature I was struggling with, as it isn't a feature that I have previously used. This video has made it easy for me to understand the methodology and the procedure.
Brilliant. I'm glad it helped you. All the best in your exam and for the future.
This video taught me how to do a Word book index in less that 15 minutes. Wonderful stuff, well done!
Thanks Joe. I'm glad it helped and saved you lots of wasted time and chasing your tail.
Hi Jason, thank you for the clear instructions for indexing using a concordance file. And in a lovely familiar Austtralian accent!
Thank you so much, your clear and simple explanations of index-making will be a great help. No more looking blankly at my MS Index screen! :-)
I'm glad I was able to help, Katietoo.
Jason, Thanks for your immediate response to my inquiry about several Index subentries in Word. You saved me at least more days of frustration. I consulted Microsoft and talked with several techs about why there is no way to Index Photos. All of those entries have to be restricted as Figures; that's not the way I write my manuscripts. I number and caption all my Photos. Any rate, the techs admitted, there is no way to include Photo topics in Word in an Index. Also, you are right about being restricted to a Table of Contents.
This is correct. Tables, images and equations are first captioned (you can have 2 levels of captions) and then collated into a Table of Figures. I'm glad you figured it out (pun intended).
Outstanding job. Well organized (outline), expertly delivered, professional editing. My friend, _THAT_ is how you deliver valuable content. I know a thing or two about content delivery so... well, right on.
I really appreciate your kind words. They mean a lot.
Well done, Jason. Best instructive video I found. Looking forward to viewing #2 and #3.
Good stuff Eileen. Keep going!
Excellent presentation! I wasn't aware that capitalized versions of the word (for example, when the word appears at the beginning of a sentence) would be excluded. Thanks for a well-organized lesson.
Appreciate it Dave
Thank you very much. Like the other chap, I searched all over and your's is the one that gave me the information that I was looking for. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 😄
You're very welcome. I'm glad to help.
Thank you from Thailand.
No worries. Glad to help.
This is very helpful. I am indexing my own book and I am so glad I found this. On to the next video on concordance. Big thumbs up!!
Keep going Ellie.
Very helpful, well explained, great screen graphic support
No worries. I'm glad it helped.
Fantastic! This is so helpful! Thank you.
Great video. I love that it's straight to the point. Thank you.
Appreciated. Thank you.
I am using your videos to supplement my Word course. Thanks!
Good on you. Keep it up.
Jason, thank you so much. This is very helpful. I look forward to viewing your video on concordance files.
Glad to help. Thanks for your feedback.
Great and calm explanation. Thank you for being thorough.
Thank you Anika. Useful feedback
Thank you ! I learned something new today.
That's great! I hope you have a fantastic weekend.
Thank you, using this for my first college report and unlike other tutorials I have watched it makes total sense! All along videos looked easy but when I actually did as instructed it would mess up my report
That's a bummer. Did you manage to fix it?
Could you describe how your report is messed up - what do you see?
@@JasonMorrell when I tried doing an index, biography or table of contents the way shown by other channels, it would make my report disappear
@@wonky_shoebox7514 Oh okay. I thought you meant my method messed up your report! Panic over!
Excellent video! You're a great teacher, too!! Thanks!
Cheers buddy!
Thanks for saving a lot of my time...
You're welcome @meditationandhealing5333 . Have a fantastic 2023.
Thank you so much for this video. I'm watching while indexing, and it's very helpful.
You're very welcome Carol
This was truly helpful - clear, easy to follow, and a confidence builder! Thank you
Thanks for the kind words Helen.
Thank you for this gift.
You're very welcome
Helpful, thanks!
No worries.
Thank you - Best instructions!
Thank you ArcticWolf. You're very welcome
This is an excellent tutorial! Thank you for posting it!
Appreciate it. Thank you.
Hi, This was very informative. I am currently working on Records Retention Bylaw and need to build a index with x-ref to terms. Thank you for explaining it so clearly and demystifying it for me.
Thanks Joanne. I'm glad I was able to clear things up for you. Good luck building your index.
Very helpful. Thank you.
Cheers Icy. My pleasure.
Looking forward to the other two INDEX videos
That's good to hear Sylvia. You'll find the links in the description.
Thank you! Much appreciated
Cheers Josh. I appreciate your comment.
It's the best index tutorial I could find. Thanks a lot. If I have 1 subentry written in italic, bold and normal, do I need to mark each of them?
Hi Jason, thank you for these videos - they are clear, relevant and focussed. I have a question I hope you can answer for me: I have an 80-page document that I want to add an index into (never having done indexing before!) but it already has front and back matter included. Does this mean I cannot use the concordance file method or "mark all" to build an index because it will pull in page numbers that are not wanted? Or do I need to edit these entries afterwards by reading through and manually deleting them?
Hi Julie. To create an index for a selected area rather than the whole document:
1. Mark entries using the Mark tool or a concordance, in the usual way.
2. Select the portion of the document you wish to include in the index (i.e. exclude the front and back matter).
3. On the *Insert* ribbon, choose *Bookmark* (in the *Links* group). type a bookmark name (no spaces allowed) and click *Add* . Close the dialog.
4. Go to the place where you want to place your index. Create the index (on the References ribbon).
5. If necessary, right-click the index and choose *Toggle Field Codes.* You will see something like *{ INDEX \e ...........}* .
6. Place the cursor after the word INDEX, add a space and type *\b "yourbookmarkname"* . Word will then only index the area identified by the bookmark. Obviously, change yourbookmarkname to the bookmark name you entered in step 3.
7. Right-click on the INDEX field again and choose *Update Field* .
I hope that helps. Let me know how you go.
Jason
@@JasonMorrell , thank you for your quick response. I will try that :-)
@@JasonMorrell YAY! It worked! Thank you sooo much - you saved me so much time :-) !
@@juliafunnell3446 Cool. Thanks for the update. All the best.
I just came to make sure you got those Pokemon facts right :p Great video!
Well, how did I do? Did I pass?
@@JasonMorrell yes, and with honors, good sir 😎
Very very useful
Cheers Jayanta
Life saver!!
You're very welcome!
very useful thanks
Thank you
Very helpful. Thank you!
No worries. Cheers JW.
Well done
Thank you
Thank you
You're very welcome
Doing my own index, which I just learned how to do last week because of your videos (thanks much!). I'm 2/3 of the way through a 155,000-word book - slow going but manageable. One question: I have substantive material in footnotes that I want to include but I can't find any way to include an "n" for the note number in the index. Example: if I want to index substantive material in footnote 3 on page 334, how do I make the index show 334n3? TIA.
Unfortunately with the functionality that Microsoft gives you, there is no way to index footnote content, or customise the page numbering in the way you have outlined. It may be possible with VBA if you have some money to invest. Head to Freelancer, Upwork or Fiverr (in that order) and search out your own experts or post your project and filter the results. Good luck and all the best.
@@JasonMorrell Thanks for the zippy reply. If Jason the Index Expert says it can't be done, then I need look no further!
Brilliant!
Cheers Pat. Appreciate your kind word.
Great stuff. Many thanks!
Cheers J W.
Nice video
Cheers. Appreciate it.
Thanks for your postings. Is there any way to add a subentry under a subentry? I'm needing subentries under my subentry. For example, Main entry > subentry> subentry...does not seem to be a way to do a subentry to the subentry.
Ken, only 2 levels are offered. If you want more, perhaps the Table of Contents is a more logical option. Either way, it can't be done with an Index. Sorry.
I have a document with the word Franklin that I want to index. I use it as the name of President Franklin and as the name of a ship, the USS Franklin. How could I differentiate those two names in my index? I also want to put the name of the ship as a subentry to the main entry called Ships but the other Franklin would be listed for the President's name. Also, can I delete just one occurrence of an index mark? I'm also noting that not all entries are picked up. I have an entry as Mark All but several pages later, that same term does not show the XE notation. I learned the most about indexes from this video. Good job.
I'll be glad to straighten this out for you.
1. To create two different index entries for 'Franklin' based on the context, you have no choice but to methodically go through the document and index each occurrence one at a time. You can use the subentry feature ion the Index dialog to list 'USS Franklin' under 'Ship'. of course, in the unlikely event that the terms 'President Franklin' and 'USS Franklin' are used consistently throughout the document then you can select each phrase and Mark All.
2. To delete a single occurrence of a marked entry, first ensure that you have are displaying hidden text then use the Find feature (Ctrl F) and search for ^d XE "your term". Use the Fine Next button and once you have located the correct occurrence, delete it.
3. To solve the mystery of the missing XE entries, the most likely cause is that indexing is case sensitive. You might consider using the concordance method for the bulk of your indexing as this allows you to consolidate all case variations under one index entry. This video explains how to set up a concordance - czcams.com/video/jnYWmfxDOag/video.html. The best results come from using a combination of concordance and manual marking.
I hope that helps. Jason.
Thanks so much for these 3 videos. They were very helpful. I think I've solved most problems but a central one emerges at 4:01 of video #2 I was wondering about the concordance file. How does it interact with the index? Is it a separate file? In your video you go to a file named concordance and it seems that you are indexing your own concordance. Not sure why this method is necessary at all if there's an auto-index function. Can't a person work backwards from the auto-index, thereby avoiding marking up and manually inserting XE tabs? My main question is about the concordance, however. assuming I follow your method. How does one "merge" a conordance file with the 300 page document I have; why is it two columns; how do you get different colors as in your demonstration? I've watched video #2 twice now and can't figure out how to create a concordance page.
Excellent videos. You're a great teacher!
Hi Jonathan, thanks for your questions.
The concordance file is a separate document. You can call it anything. It contains a list of words or phrases you want to see in your index. The left column contains the item you want to mark within the document (i.e. an XE field is created for each item). The right column contains the item as you want it displayed in the Index.
The advantages of using a concordance are that you have a comprehensive list of everything you have indexed, rather than searching through your main document for XE fields. It also handles variations. Manual marking is case sensitive, so marking 'Author' would not pick up 'author' and vice versa. The concordance allows you to to create 4 separate entries for Author, Authors, author and authors (1 per line in the left column) and consolidate them under one index item called "author" (placed in the right column for each of the 4 lines).
The disadvantage of using a concordance file is the lack of a cross reference feature, e.g.for 'writer' show 'see author'. However, after using a concordance to handle the bulk of the indexing, you can always add the cross references by marking those items manually.
Once your concordance document is ready, in the main document, you choose Insert Index on the references ribbon, then click the Automark button and select your concordance file. This creates all the XE entries within your main document using the information contained in the concordance file.
Once you have marked everything that you want to include in the index (using manual marking and/or a concordance file) you create the actual index choosing Insert Index and configuring the options.
As far as I can tell, Word on Windows brings the original formatting into the index but Word for Mac does not. I've checked out the switches and options for the Index and XE fields but there is nothing that controls the formatting. Just another Microsoft inconsistency! I would suggest that a uniform-looking index is best anyway! You can modify the Index1 to Index9 styles to provide a consistent look for your index.
Let me know how you go.
Thank you for your video. I found it very helpful. When using a concordance method, is there a way to add the cross-references, like "see also..."? I can see that you can easily add cross-references when marking each entry individually, but how do I add cross-references when using a concordance file?
Unfortunately you can't cross reference with the concordance method. However, you can use a concordance for all the benefits it does offer, then add your cross references manually (by marking) afterwards. A combination of the 2 methods works well. Jason
@@JasonMorrell Ah, got it. That makes sense. Thank you very much for the quick reply!
Hi, I have a long document. When you mark enough words on one page, because of the "XE" inserts, the text starts to get pushed onto the next page. If you don't constantly clear (click the Show/Hide button) these inserts, won't Word start assigning the "wrong" page to your selections as you proceed through the entire document?
Word creates the index and associated page numbers when YOU decide to create or update the index. So once you have marked everything you want to include, click the Show/Hide icon to hide all the fields, then create/update your index. The page numbering will be correct. I hope that helps.
@@JasonMorrell Thanks, that makes sense as clicking the Show/Hide button will "erase" the XE inserts and bring the text back to its original position.
Wow do you really have to do a capital letter and small letter entry for each term in the concordance table? That seems really counter-intuitive and labor intensive! Also, do indexes update automatically if you, say, add another page or text into the document?
You don't have to create every combination every time, just the one(s) that you use. It's one of the things that Microsoft did right. If the concordance was not case sensitive, it would save you a bit of time and you would have a shorter concordance but you would also lose the flexibility and there would be heaps of people complaining! It's better to have the option than not.
You can bring the index up-to-date at any time by right-clicking the index and selecting Update.
@@JasonMorrell Thanks for the reply! Sorry I don't get what you mean by "just the ones you use". Because the way I'm understanding this is like... I would have to do it for every single word because if the word shows up with a capital in the beginning of a sentence, then that's one instance, and when it appears in the middle of a sentence with a small letter then that's another instance. Is that right?
@@chrischien6023 Correct.
@@JasonMorrell Thanks.. that definitely seems like I have to do it for everything then! lol since I would want to find every instance of every term whether it's at the beginning or middle of a sentence
@@chrischien6023 Yep. Stop overthinking it. Get your head down and dig in!
When to decide to make a table of contents or index, or make both at the same time?
Tut, the table of contents and the index features are both found on the References ribbon. You can create either or both.
Here is a TOC video: czcams.com/video/Z0o1FN17CYs/video.html
Thank you for informative video. However I still do have two questions; 1) Do you have to paginate pages before marking entries? 2) I have to make an index of surnames, mostly of Slavic origin. Slavic languages use grammatical cases, so each noun has versions with different suffixes. (Example: Djokovic (nominative), Djokovica (genetive)) To find all the versions, one has to type Ctrl + F and then Djokovic. But I noticed one cannot mark all the versions at once, even with Mark All option; Word would mark only the nominative case. Is there a solution to this? In other words, is there a possibility to mark just a part of the word, not the whole word? (example: instead of Truman you select just Trum and try to mark all). Thank you in advance!
Hi Michel. (1) No you do not need to paginate pages before marking entries. (2) No, you cannot mark part of a word. You must select a whole word or a phrase.
@@JasonMorrell Thank you for a quick reply, but unfortunately mine Word apparently does not mark just parts of the word. A also tried with concordance file but the problem stays the same.
You can achieve this using a concordance. On the left column, list Djokovic and Djokovica. In the right column, list Djokovic for both. The index will only show Djokovic. Word only adds an XE field code (a marked entry) for the first occurrence on each page.
How can I create in the index a link not only to the page, but to the page with a particular note...example: Pokemon....12, nt. 3? Thank you...nobody explains it
Hi @annan1971. As far as I know, that's not possible. Sorry.
Jason -- I need help.
I'm creating a large family photo book with thousands of photos. Each photo needs to be labeled with the names of the people in the photo. The label must be grouped with its photo so I can move it around on the page or move it to different pages as I construct the book. Once I have all of the photos (with their respective labels) on their final page I want to use AutoMark to create a concordance index at the end of the book. I have tried 2 methods to create the index but have problems with each one. Please help.
TEXT BOX.
Put the names in a text box and group it with the photo. Problem: AutoMark will not search the text.
FLOATING TABLE WITH ONE ROW
Put the names in the table and position it under the photo. AutoMark will search the table. Problem: Can't group the table with the photo so it will be extremely difficult to move photos around and keep them with their label.
Any ideas?
Yes, I have an idea.
1. Set the Text Wrap option on the image to "In line with text".
2. While the image is still selected, click the launcher on the bottom-right corner of the Paragraph group (on the Home ribbon), click the "*Line and Page Breaks*" tab and check "*Keep with next*". Close the dialog.
3. Place the cursor in the label following the image. Re-open the paragraph settings and check "*Keep lines together*".
This simple process will keep the image and all the text of the label together even if that means placing both on the next page. You can play around with this. For example, to have 2 images and labels side by side you could create a 2x1 table, switch off the table borders, then in each cell insert an image and label, and change the settings accordingly.
Because you have so many, I would make use of the F4 key which repeats the last single action you performed. So you could start at the beginning of the document, select the first image and set the paragraph settings. Then move through the document, select each image one at a time and press F4 to apply the same settings. Saves a lot of time. Then sweep through a second time for the labels. The F4 key only works on Windows PC. I'm not sure what the Mac equivalent is.
I hope this helps. Let me know how you go (or if I've missed the mark completely).
Jason
Does every term you want to have in the index have to be bold or only the first time you use that term?
I'm not exactly sure what you mean. It doesn't matter whether the marked items are regular text or styled in some way (e.g. bold).
The index itself can be styled to your preferences by modifying the *Index 1* , *Index 2* ... styles.
(On the Home ribbon, click the *launcher* in the bottom-right corner of the Styles gallery, then click the *Options* button at the bottom of the Styles window/pane and change *Recommended* to *All Styles* , then locate *Index 1* in the list, right-click and *Modify* .)
If I've missed the mark, give me a fuller description and i'll help where I can.
How can we click on an item in the index that take us to the related paragraph. Thank you
Moufid, you cannot do this with the standard index feature. It does not create the links like the TOC. Perhaps it could be done with VBA?
Jason, I’m working on a genealogy project and used your method to create an index of the people’s names…. Is there a way to change the list so that a person’s name is sorted listed by last name ? In the document peoples names are entered first, middle and last. Appreciate any suggestions you can offer me.
Thanks
Hi Marlene. There is no way to do this (to my knowledge). Word simply collates the items that you mark. Sorry. Jason.
@@JasonMorrell thank you…I suspected as much🥲
@@JasonMorrellHello Jason, yes, as a 50+ year experienced computer programmer, I find this ESSENTIAL missing “feature” almost as UNBELIEVABLE as the fact that indexing isn’t semi-automatic (as it clearly ought to be). I could design a better way to index in my sleep. I have spent three days already, manually indexing my existing book and I have still not finished. I could have written a program to do it in half the time. Google docs has no indexing feature at all, which I find equally amazing.
I get so confused, what's the difference between table of contents and index, isn't repetition?
Tut, a table of contents is normally placed at the beginning of a long document and it lists all the sections and topics. An index is found at the back of the book and contains a list of keywords that the reader may check to find a page number for a specific item of interest. I hope that clarifies.
I am unable to print without the field codes. I have the Field Codes off, but when I print, they are on the printed document. Really want to get rid of those Gremlins!
1. Go to the File tab and choose Options.
2. Under Display | Printing options, make sure that 'Print hidden text' is off.
That should fix it.
Also, still in File | Options | Advanced ...
... under the ' *Show document content* ' section, uncheck the box labelled ' *Show field codes instead of their values* ',
... and under the ' *Print* ' section, uncheck the box labelled ' *Print field codes instead of their values* '
How can you create two indexes in one document?
If you want to create two or more indexes (e.g. an index for each major section) then:
1. Select each section one at a time (click the start point, hold SHIFT then click the end point).
2. Bookmark the section. The Bookmark tool is found on the Insert ribbon. Note: you cannot use spaces in the bookmark name.
3. Create a separate index for each section. And the \b "yourbookmarkname" switch inside the field braces but after the XE field code (you may need to first right-click the field and toggle the field code on).
Each index will then only pick up the marked entries from each bookmarked section.
Let me know how you go. Jason,
how to index a figure? If I want a figure, i.e. figure1.1 to be shown in the index, such as fish.... page 2, f1.1. Is there a way to do it? thanks
In that exact format ... no.
You can mark text within a caption for inclusion in an index.
Or you can just use captions and tables of figures in the way they were designed to be used!
All the best.
@@JasonMorrell thanks for your quick reply. It doesn't have to be in that format. I just want to include figures in the INDEX so that readers can go back to that page to look at that figure. How would you mark text within a caption for inclusion in an index? Can you provide a link? Thanks very mich.
The same as you do for regular text.
1. If necessary, right-click the image and choose Insert Caption. Add your description and click OK.
2. Press Alt Shift X to open the *Mark Index* dialog.
3. In the document , highlight the caption text (or the portion that you want to include in the index).
4. In the dialog press *Mark* or *Mark All*.
5. Create your index.
@@JasonMorrell Thanks again for the instruction. but would that only gives page number in the INDEX? Would it indicate figure in the index such as f1? Is there a way to show something like it is from the figure? Thanks again.
You cannot mark something that includes another field (in this case, the figure number). You would need to highlight the description then add the "Figure 1:" at the beginning. Be aware that if you update your document and the figure numbers change, ths will not be reflected in your index as you have manually added it.
My strong recommendation would be to create a regular Table of Figures and then if you still really want the index, then mark the key word(s) in your caption. After all, people refer to the index for a particular thing. They will not be referencing the index for "Figure x".
Put square pegs into square holes.
Hi - once I get this working it will save me hours of work! However, after creating the concordance (named 'concordance'), I used Auto-mark in the original doco, but it did not mark any fields. I can manually mark them and that works. Using Word 365 and doco is saved in OneDrive. I tried filing 'concordance' in same subfolder in OneDrive and also on PC in Documents folder - no joy. Any suggestions?
Here are some things to check:
1. The concordance file has 2 columns. Column 1 is the word or phrase you wish to mark in the main document. Column 2 is the entry you wish to see in the index.
2. Auto-marking with a concordance is case sensitive. So if your concordance contains 'Banana' and your document contains 'banana', nothing will be marked. Same with plurals such as banana vs bananas. You can include several case and singular/plural combos in your concordance all pointing to the same index entry.
3. Check that field codes are visible on your doc. Click the pilcrow icon (looks like a backward P) on the Home ribbon. Pressing Alt F9 (or Alt Fn F9) on a PC also toggles the whole document between showing/hiding field codes.
4. The location of the concordance file is irrelevant as long as you have access to it on your computer.
5. You can update the document any time by going to References | Insert Index | Automark.
I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. It's a pretty straight-forward tool.
@@JasonMorrell Well, this is interesting... When I saved 'concordance' in the same OneDrive folder as my doco, I got an error. However, when I saved it in my downloads folder (on my PC instead of cloud), it worked! OneDrive has always been problematic for me.
Now... new question. I see that it also added field codes to my table of contents and table of figures. Any way to automatically change that? I can manually delete and it will still have saved me about a week's work, but would be nice as I will be making new editions regularly.
Glad you got problem #1 sorted! Onto problem #2.
SOLUTION #1
1. Remove the table of contents/figures.
2. Create your index.
3. Re-create your TOC / TOF.
SOLUTION #2
Index just a portion of your document, not all of it.
1. Select the main part of your document (i.e. exclude the TOC / TOF).
2. On the Insert ribbon, click Bookmark (in the Links group). Type a bookmark name. Spaces are not allowed. Click Add and close the dialog.
3. Create your index in the normal way. Or modify the one you have.
4. Click inside the braces { }. Place the cursor after the word INDEX, add a space and type \b "yourbookmarkname" . Word will then only index the area identified by the bookmark. Obviously, change yourbookmarkname to the bookmark name you entered in step 2.
5. Right-click on the INDEX field again and choose Update Field .
If you want to clear your document of all field codes for the marked entries, go to the Find and Replace dialog and type ^d XE into the Find box and leave the Replace box empty. Then Replace All.
I hope that helps. Let me know how you go.
@@JasonMorrell Well, now, that's interesting! I used the second option - selecting just the text, bookmarking, then creating the index and it worked! The ToC and list of figures have the field codes added, but they don't show in the index. Too cool!
That's it. Some people like to create mini-index pages for each chapter in a longer document. That kind of thing. It's quite versatile.
Anyway, all the best. Keep rocking it!
Good, concise instruction, but my God, you talk fast! Had to listen a number of times, stopping almost sentence by sentence to absorb what you said.
It has been said before!! But I'm glad it was helpful.