You can have Word generate an index or a table of contents for your document. A comprehensive index and an accurate table of contents are important assets for a document, especially a lengthy or technical one.
TIPUse a Table of Contents for a Web Page
If you're creating a Web-page document, you should use a table of contents ratherthan an index. The page numbers given in an index are meaningless in a Web page displayed in a browser, because the browser doesn't divide the document into separate pages. However, a table of contents displayed in a browser consists of a list of hyperlinks that the user can click to navigate to different parts of the document, and is therefore quite useful.
NOTE If you have inserted captions using the Caption command on the Insert menu, you can have Word generate a table of figures. Also, you can have it generate a table of authorities for a legal brief. These sorts of tables aren't as common as indexes and tables of contents and aren't discussed in this book. For information, look up the following topics in the Word online Help: "captions," "tables of figures," and "tables of authorities."
Creating an index
Preparing an index in Word is a two-step process: First, you mark a series of index entries, and then you compile and insert the index based on these entries.
A typical index entry consists of the name of a topic followed by the number of the page on which the topic is discussed:
When you mark an index entry, you specify the topic name, and you tag the location of the topic in the document so that Word can determine the page number when you compile the index. To mark an index entry, do the following:
If all or part of the word or phrase that you want to appear in the index entry (such as oolong tea in the example above) is contained in the document text to be indexed, select this word or phrase.
Otherwise, simply place the insertion point at the beginning of the document text that you want to index.
Choose Index And Tables from the Insert menu, and click the Mark Entry button on the Index tab of the Index And Tables dialog box to open the Mark Index Entry dialog box. An alternative way to open this dialog box is to press the Alt+Shift+X key combination.
If you selected text in step 1, it will appear in the Main Entry box; otherwise, the box will be empty. If necessary, edit the contents of this box so that it contains the exact text you want to appear in the index:
If you want to create an index subentry, enter the subentry text in the Subentry box.
For example, typing the following into the Main Entry and Subentry boxes
would create the following index entry and subentry boxes:
Make sure the Current Page option is selected on so that the index entry will display the number of the page that contains the indexed topic.
NOTE Rather than selecting the Current Page option, you can select the Cross-Reference option or the Page Range option. If you select Cross-Reference, the index entry will display the cross-reference that you type into the box, for example, " See herb teas," rather than a page number. If you select Page Range, the index entry will display the range of pages that are marked with the bookmark that you select in the Bookmark list. Bookmarks are discussed in "Marking and Retrieving Text Using Bookmarks"
To modify the format of the page number in the index entry, select Bold, Italic, or both.
Click the Mark button.
TIP If you want to mark as index entries all occurrences of text in your document that exactly match the contents of the Main Entry box, click the Mark All button rather than the Mark button.
If you want to mark additional index entries, you can leave the Mark Index Entry dialog box open while you move the insertion point to additional locations in your document. When you have finished marking entries, click Close to remove the dialog box.
NOTE Word marks an index entry by inserting a block of instructions known as a field into the document. The field contains the XE code (for index entry), and it is formatted as hidden text. If you can't see it, you can make it appear by clicking the Show/Hide ¶ button on the Standard toolbar.
When you have marked all the index entries, the next step is to compile and insert the index itself. Do this as follows:
Place the insertion point at the position in your document where you want to insert the index.
Choose Index And Tables from the Insert menu to open the Index And Tables dialog box, and click the Index tab:
If you want to modify the appearance of the index, choose options in the dialog box until the model index in the Preview area has the look you want for your index. You can set the type, format, alignment, number of columns, language, and tab leader character for the index.
SEE ALSO For general instructions on changing styles, see "Modifying Styles" For information on using the Style dialog box, see "Modifying Styles Using the Style Dialog Box"
Click the OK button. Word will compile an index and insert it into the document. Word will also add section breaks before and after the index so that it's contained in its own document section.
Word creates the index and marks its location by inserting an INDEX field into the document. If you see the field code rather than the actual index, you can make the index appear by placing the insertion point within the field code and pressing Shift+F9. The field code will look something like this:
TIPCustomize Your Index Entries
To create custom formatting for your index entries, choose the From Template item in the Formats list. Then click the Modify button to open the Style dialog box, which lets you modify the built-in styles that Word assigns to index entries. (It assigns Index 1 to main entries and Index 2 through Index 9 to subentries.) This dialog box is similar to the Style dialog box that opens when you choose Style from the Format menu, except that it lets you modify only the index entry styles. You can also change the formatting of index headings (that is, the A, B, and C headings, and so on, that precede each index section) by modifying the Index Heading built-in style.
Creating a Table of Contents
You can also use Word to compile and insert a table of contents in your document. A table of contents lists the document headings. When you view a table of contents in any Word view except Web Layout, each entry typically includes the page number of the heading and functions as a hyperlink that you can click to navigate to that heading. When you view a table of contents in Web Layout view or when you view a Web-page document in a browser, each entry consists of only a hyperlink without a page number. (Page numbers would be meaningless in a browser, which doesn't divide a document into separate pages.)
The following is the easiest way to create a table of contents:
Make sure that every heading you want to include in the table of contents has been assigned one of the built-in heading styles, Heading 1 through Heading 9. You can assign these styles using Outline view or the methods for applying styles given in "Applying Styles"
Place the insertion point at the position in your document where you want to insert the table of contents.
Choose Index And Tables from the Insert menu, and click the Table Of Contents tab:
If you want to modify the appearance of the table of contents, choose options from the Table Of Contents tab until the model table of contents in the Print Preview or Web Preview area has the look you want.
The Print Preview area shows how the table of contents will appear in any Word view except Web Layout, while the Web Preview area shows how it will look in Web Layout view or when a Web-page document is viewed in a browser. You can choose the table format, alignment of numbers, number of levels, and tab leader character. You can also add or remove page numbers.
TIPCustomize Your Table of Contents
To create custom formatting for your table of contents, choose the From Template item in the Formats list box on the Table Of Contents tab. Then click the Modify button to open the Style dialog box, which lets you modify the built-in styles that Word assigns to table of contents entries (TOC 1 through TOC 9). This dialog box is similar to the Style dialog box that opens when you choose Style from the Format menu, except that it lets you modify only the table of contents styles.
Click the OK button.
Word creates a table of contents and marks its location by inserting a TOC field. If you see the field code rather than the table of contents, you can make the table of contents appear by choosing Options from the Tools menu, clicking the View tab, and deselecting the Field Codes option. (If that option was already disabled, you should be able to make the table of contents visible by placing the insertion point within the field code and pressing Shift+F9.) The field code will look something like this:
