Create an index
Do one of the following to mark index entries (index entry: A field
code that marks specific text for inclusion in an index. When you mark
text as an index entry, Microsoft Word inserts an XE (Index Entry)
field formatted as hidden text.):
Mark words or phrases
To use existing text as an index entry, select the text. To enter your
own text as an index entry, click where you want to insert the index
entry.
Press ALT+SHIFT+X.
To create the main index entry, type or edit the text in the Main entry
box. You can customize the entry by creating 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.") or
by creating a cross-reference to another entry.
Notes
To include a third-level entry, type the subentry text followed by a
colon
) and then type the text of the third-level entry.
If you want to use a symbol, such as @, in the entry, type ;#
(semicolon followed by the number sign) immediately following the
symbol.
To select a format for the page numbers that will appear in the index,
click to select the Bold or Italic check box below Page number format.
If you want to format the text for the index, right-click it in the
Main entry or Subentry box, and click Font. Select the formatting
options that you want to use.
To mark the index entry, click Mark. To mark all occurrences of this
text in the document, click Mark All.
To mark additional index entries, select the text, click in the Mark
Index Entry dialog box, and then repeat steps 3 through 5.
Mark entries for text that spans a range of pages
Select the range of text you want the index entry to refer to.
On the Insert menu, click Bookmark.
In the Bookmark name box, type a name, and then click Add.
In the document, click at the end of the text you marked with a
bookmark.
Press ALT+SHIFT+X.
In the Main entry box, type the index entry for the marked text.
To select a format for the page numbers that will appear in the index,
click to select the Bold or Italic check box below Page number format.
If you want to format the text for the index, right-click it in the
Main entry or Subentry box, and click Font. Select the formatting
options that you want to use.
Under Options, click Page range.
In the Bookmark box, type or select the bookmark name you typed in step
3.
Click Mark.
Automatically mark entries by using a concordance file
Create a concordance file (concordance file: A list of words to include
in an index. Use a concordance file in Microsoft Word to quickly mark
index entries.).
How?
Click Insert Table on the Standard toolbar (toolbar: A bar with
buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a
toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.).
Drag to select two columns.
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.
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.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each index reference and entry.
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.
To speed up the creation of a concordance file, first open both the
concordance file and the document you want to index. To see both
documents at once, click Arrange All on the Window menu. Then copy text
from the document you want to index into the first column of the
concordance file.
Open the document you want to index.
On the Insert menu, point to Reference, click Index and Tables, and
then click the Index tab.
Click AutoMark.
In the File name box, enter the name of the concordance file you want
to use.
Click Open.
Word searches through the document for each exact occurrence of text in
the first column of the concordance file, and then it uses the text in
the second column as the index entry. Word marks only the first
occurrence of an entry in each paragraph.
Note Microsoft Word inserts each marked index entry as an XE (Index
Entry) field in hidden text (hidden text: Character formatting that
allows you to show or hide specified text. Microsoft Word indicates
hidden text by underlining it with a dotted line.) format. If you don't
see the XE fields, click Show/Hide on the Standard toolbar (toolbar:
A bar with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands. To
display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10.).
Click where you want to insert the finished index.
To make sure that the document is paginated correctly, you need to hide
field codes and hidden text. If the XE (Index Entry) fields are
visible, click Show/Hide on the Standard toolbar.
On the Insert menu, point to Reference, click Index and Tables, and
then click the Index tab.
Do one of the following:
Click a design in the Formats box to use one of the available designs.
Design a custom index layout.
How?
In the Formats box, click From template, and then click Modify.
In the Styles box, click the style you want to change, and then click
Modify.
To add the new style definition to your template (template: A file or
files that contain the structure and tools for shaping such elements as
the style and page layout of finished files. For example, Word
templates can shape a single document, and FrontPage templates can
shape an entire Web site.), select the Add to template check box.
Under Formatting, select the options you want, and then click OK.
In the Style dialog box, click OK.
If you're building an index for text in another language, click the
language in the Language box.
Select any other index options you want.
To update the index, click to the left of the field and press F9.
Notes
Don't modify index entries in the finished index; if you do, your
changes will be lost when you update the index.
If you create an index in a master document (master document: A
"container" for a set of separate files (or subdocuments). You can use
a master document to set up and manage a multipart document, such as a
book with several chapters.), expand the subdocuments before you insert
or update the index.
The above information is from the Help menu in Word.
