Index question

[Susan Flamingo]

Dear Friends,
I am creating an index for a long document. If I understand correctly I add
an index entry and word will create an index automaticly when I am finished
with a refernce to where that entry is in the final document, i.e. the page
number. However what I would prefer is that it refer to a chapter and
section number. I use a "chapter style" at the beginning of each chapter and
each section has a heading "section 1, section 2 etc". How can I have word
create the based on my chapters and sections and not on page numbers?
Thank you
Susan

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hi Susan

I am creating an index for a long document. If I understand correctly I
add an index entry and word will create an index automaticly when I am
finished with a refernce to where that entry is in the final document,
i.e. the page number. However what I would prefer is that it refer to a
chapter and section number. I use a "chapter style" at the beginning of
each chapter and each section has a heading "section 1, section 2 etc".
How can I have word create the based on my chapters and sections and not
on page numbers?

Version of Word? To what targets are you creating index entries?

If these are headings, you don't want XE/INDEX, but a TOC field.

If these are something else: I don't think there is an out-of-the-box
method in Word to achieve that. Maybe you find one if you look at the
description of XE and INDEX fields in offline Word in your version of Word.

Why do you want it that way, though? I can't imagine it will make the
reader's life easier – on the contrary: he'll find a page number much
faster in a printed manual compared to a (sub)heading ...

2cents
Robert

 

[Susan Flamingo]

Thank you for the reply.
Word version: 2007

No the entries are not heading they are "in the text"

The book I am working on is a religious MSS. The pages are very large with a
great deal of text on each page. However the page itself is broken up into
many sections (with a heading) so the reader will find the section faster
through this method.

You say there is no "out of the box" solution. Well is there a inbox
solution?
DO you know and resources that could help me with this? Tutorials especially
on Word indexing?

Thank You

Susan

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello Susan

Thank you for the reply.
Word version: 2007

No the entries are not heading they are "in the text"

The book I am working on is a religious MSS.
MSS?


The pages are very large
with a great deal of text on each page. However the page itself is
broken up into many sections (with a heading) so the reader will find
the section faster through this method.

Hmm. He will find it faster *once* he's found the page, yes.

Is the text in separate columns on the pages? If not, I'd certainly
consider a redesign of the document (readability).

You say there is no "out of the box" solution. Well is there a inbox
solution?

What I meant is that most probably you'll need some macro code to solve
this.

A possible algorithm would take the result of a normal index, run
through all entries, locate it on the given page, then locate the
nearest preceding section, and insert the section number in the index.

Unfortunately, I'm not a coder myself. There are vba newsgroups around,
though.

DO you know and resources that could help me with this? Tutorials
especially on Word indexing?

There is an article on indexing (and many on Word-VBA) on the Word-MVP
site: http://word.mvps.org

HTH
Robert

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I think she meant MS (manuscript); MSS is plural.