Creating an index: need a template of a concordance file

[Dr Roben]

I'm creating an index, and need a template of a concordance file per the
below. This would help creating such a file, to have a sample one up and
available. It might be a nice thing for Microsoft to post on the templates
site too.

1. Click Insert Table Button image on the Standard toolbar (toolbar: A
bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a
toolbar, click Customize on the Tools menu, and then click the Toolbars tab.).
2. Drag to select two columns.
3. In the first column, enter the text you want Microsoft Word to search
for and mark as an index entry. Make sure to enter the text exactly as it
appears in the document. Then press TAB.
4. In the second column, type the index entry for the text in the first
column. Then press TAB. If you want to create a subentry (subentry: An index
entry that falls under a more general heading. For example, the index entry
"planets" could have the subentries "Mars" and "Venus."), type the main entry
followed by a colon ) and the subentry.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each index reference and entry.
6. Save the concordance file.

Tips
* To make sure Word marks all the text you want to index, list all forms
of the text you want to search for. For example, type erupt, erupting, and
eruption in three separate cells in the left column, and then type volcanoes
in the matching cells in the right column.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The "template" you suggest is a two-column, one-row table (which will grow
as you add entries). I hardly think this deserves the name of "template." If
you do not know how to create a table, note that the instructions you cite
provide this information.

And that's quite aside from the fact that a concordance is often not the
best way to create an index. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/formatting/Createindex.htm

 

[Dr Roben]

Sadly this doesn't help me. I was not confident my table would match what's
needed for the "concordance file" or else I'd have simply trusted my own
judgment and not asked for help. Ms. Barnhill would have been more helpful
just providing a sample table (dare I say "template") rather than her
judgment of what deserves the name, or her link to still more dense
instructions. Often an example teaches more than the most incisive criticism,
right?
Roben

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I can't provide an "example" here (that would require a file attachment),
but this is not necessary: the instructions given in the Help file (quoted
below) are quite specific. Even if you don't know how to create a table, the
Help instructions tell you that, too. Have you tried following these
instructions? Did you look at the linked article?