Identical 2-level index tags yield different results in index. Hel

[Leslie in Montreal]

CONTEXT: In the index in my Word 2003 document, I have a 2-level entry that
lists about 150 names of fields. My XE tags all have the main entry "fields,
configuration" and then a subentry like "Audio Codec" { XE "fields,
configuration:Audio Codec" }. When I generate the index, about a third of the
index entries are fine: I have a style Index 1 entry followed by a series of
style Index 2 entries (the field names) in alpabetical order.

PROBLEM: The other 2/3 of my entries appear under a second identical Index 1
heading "fields, configuration," but these subentries all have the Index 3
style AND are listed in the order in which they appear in the document rather
than in alphabetical order! The XE tags are absolutely identical to those
that yield the desired index entry structure. What am I doing wrong? I still
have Track Changes enabled, as my document is under review. Could that be
causing the problem? Some of the index tags have been added or changed, and
so are marked as changes. Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Generally speaking, a lot of things don't work quite right in Word until you
turn Track Changes off and accept changes. The conventional advice is to be
*absolutely* sure that the fields are identical, that they don't contain any
extraneous spaces or different punctuation, but it sounds as if you have
already verified this.

 

[Leslie in Montreal]

Thank you, Suzanne. I tried the experiment of accepting changes for a couple
of the XE tags and regenerating the index. Voila! Now I'll know to think
about Track Changes when I encounter other features that don't seem to work
as they should (or I think they should). As we say in Montreal, merci
beaucoup.