Appendix Building an Index

ACA Objective 1.4

Chapter 5 covers a lot of the long-document features found in InDesign, but not all of them. Here, you’ll learn about another important feature for long documents: indexes.

An index is a list of topics (also referred to as index entries) that includes page number references and “see also” references. The references allow the reader to easily navigate to the pages in the publication that cover the topic. When used in digital media publications, the page references in the index become clickable hyperlinks.

For the recipe book, an index could be a topic list of all the main ingredients used in the various recipes throughout the book. The reader could look up an ingredient in the index and find a reference to any pages or recipes that include the ingredient (Figure A.1).

Building an index is depicted. — **Figure A.1** An index that lists the main ingredients used in the recipes in the recipe book

The ingredients listed in index in alphabetical order are as follows: Beetle extract 5, Dead sea salt 5, Dirt 5, Eyeballs 3, Newt tails 5, Pixie dust 4, Road kill 3, Skunk kidneys 3, Teeth 3, Troll snot 4, and Yellow teeth see Teeth.

An InDesign document can contain only one index. Because an index requires the insertion of special markers in the text, indexing is generally done toward the end of a design project to ensure that none of the markers are accidentally deleted.

Building an index is a multistep process:

First, you add index markers in the text. Index markers are hidden characters that provide a page reference for the topics listed in the index, which is generally at the end of the publication. For example, in the recipe book you would add index markers before each main ingredient in the ingredients list, and in the index entries at the end of the book a page number, referred to as a page reference, points the reader back to that page.

The topics listed in the index are called index entries. Most index entries consist of text and a page reference, such as “Road kill 3,” although they can also include “see also” references. How you build your topics list is up to you. You can create a list of topics (index entries) before you start adding the index markers, then link the markers to the topics. Or you can automatically compile a list as you add new markers throughout a publication.
With the index markers added, you generate the index. This creates a list of all the index entries and page references.

For longer indexes, an index entry could provide a cross-reference to another topic; for example, if someone looks up “Yellow teeth” in the index, it might say “see Teeth.”
As the final step, you add the index text to your publication.

Consider Hiring a Professional Indexer

It might seem that an index is simply a list of where terms occur in a document, but that’s not an accurate description. An index works best for the reader when only the most meaningful occurrences of a term are listed, when an index entry’s topic levels are thoughtfully structured, and when worthwhile cross-references are included. Building an effective index requires skill and experience, and it can take time to master if it is not your main job. For these reasons, it’s common to hire a professional indexer who understands both the principles of indexing and how to achieve them quickly using the index features in InDesign.

Adding Index Entries

ACA Objective 4.2

The Index panel (Window > Type & Tables > Index) lets you add new index entries, add page references, and build an index.

Tip

To automatically capitalize index entries, select the index entry in the Index panel, and select Capitalize from the Index panel menu. Select the preferred option from the Capitalize dialog.

To add a new topic and page reference for the index (Figure A.2):

Using the Type tool, select the new topic text on the page.
Click Reference at the top of the Index panel.
Select New Page Reference from the Index panel menu. The New Page Reference dialog opens, and the selected text is automatically entered in the first topic level.

The topics entered in the topic levels are added to the topic list in the Index panel. You can edit the text if necessary.
From the Type menu, select the index entry type. Select how you want to reference the page or page number ranges that cover the topic. For example, to point only to the first page of the recipe that contains the ingredients list, select Current Page.
Click Add to add only the current index entry position, and then click Done to close the New Page Reference dialog.

If you click Add All, every occurrence of the selected text will have an index marker added to it, and the page references in the index for the topic would list multiple pages.

Figure A.2 Creating a new index entry by adding a topic and page reference

Top left shows a paragraph with text "Road kill" highlighted. Screenshot of Index panel at the top-right shows radio button reference selected and outlined. New page reference option is selected from the panel menu and create a new index entry icon is labeled. Screenshot of New Page Reference dialog box at the bottom-left shows "Road kill" entered in the first topic level with OK button selected. Screenshot of Index panel at the bottom-right shows radio button reference selected listing items in alphabet R (Road kill).

Tip

To quickly add a new index entry, select the entry text and press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+[ (Windows) or Shift+Command+Option+[ (macOS).

If you have already created an index entry with a page reference that points to a particular topic, you can cross-reference related topics to that topic.

Note

You must create a page reference for the referenced topic in order for the reader to be directed to a page number. Consider first creating that index entry, and then creating the one that points to the other topic.

To add a new index entry that points to another topic (Figure A.3):

Using the Type tool, select the topic text on the page.
Click Reference at the top of the Index panel.
Select New Page Reference from the Index panel menu. You can also click the Create a New Index Entry icon at the bottom of the Index panel.
Edit the Topic Level text if needed.
From the Type menu, select See and enter the topic text in the Referenced field. For example, for “Yellow teeth,” you could cross-reference to “Teeth.”
Click Add, and then click Done.

Both topics appear in the Index panel, but only the cross-referenced topic will provide the page reference.

Figure A.3 Adding an index entry that points to another topic

Screenshot of New Page Reference dialog box at the top shows type menu set to see outlined. Screenshot of Index panel at the bottom-left shows radio button reference selected. Alphabet Y expanded to list Yellow teeth see teeth outlined. Screenshot of Index panel at the bottom-right shows radio button topic selected and outlined.

Generating the Index

ACA Objective 4.2

With all the index entries added, you are ready to generate the index and insert the index text into your document.

To generate the index and insert the index text (Figure A.4):

Select Generate Index from the Index panel menu.
Enter the title text in the Title field, and select a paragraph style with which to format the text from the style menu in the Generate Index dialog.
Click More Options to apply additional formatting controls for the index.

You can apply different paragraph styles to the different index levels, as well as to the section headings (alphabetical letters that precede index entries). For text such as page numbers, cross-references (“see” and “see also”), and cross-referenced topics, you can apply character styles.

Under the Entry Separators section, you can control which characters to use between topics, entries, page ranges, and individual page numbers. For example, a page number range might be listed as 4–7 and different page numbers as 3, 6, 8.
Click OK. The index text is generated and appears as a loaded text icon.
Drag the index text into a newly created text frame, or click an empty placeholder text frame.

Figure A.4 Generating the index text and placing it on the page

"Screenshot of Index panel at the top shows radio button reference selected. Generate Index option is selected from the panel menu and generate index icon at the bottom of the panel is labeled. Screenshot of Generate Index dialog box at the bottom shows the following settings: Title field; Title style drop-down menu; Nested section shows three sub sections Level Style, Index Style, and Entry Separator with checkbox include index section headings checked; OK button selected. Loaded text icon and a placeholder text frame with index contents is shown to its right.

With the index text generated, you can edit the paragraph and character styles used to format the index text to further change the formatting if needed. Index text is not “live,” however, so if you add or remove index entries in the Index panel, the index text in your document does not update. You can update a placed index by generating the index again.

Removing an Index Entry

ACA Objective 4.2

At times, you may need to add more index entries or remove entries at the customer’s request. Perhaps a last-minute change was made to a recipe, or maybe the index is too short or long to fit its allotted pages.

To remove an entry (Figure A.5):

Select the index entry in the Index panel.
Select Delete Topic from the Index panel menu, or click the Delete Selected Entry icon at the bottom of the panel.
Click Update Preview to update the preview for references and topics in the Index panel.

Figure A.5 Removing an index entry

Radio button reference is selected. Alphabet C expanded to list entry Chocolate chips (selected). Delete topic is selected from the panel menu. Update Preview and Delete Selected Entry icons at the bottom of the panel are labeled.

Updating an Index

ACA Objective 4.2

You might need to update the index at some stage because your client requests changes to index entries and formatting. Make all the required changes to the index, and then select Generate Index from the Index panel menu once more.

InDesign will replace the current index text with the newly generated index text; it informs you of that replacement with a warning dialog (Figure A.6).