Creating an Index

There are different ways to create an index in InDesign. The simplest way is to add index references to the words or phrases you want to appear in the index.

Tip

The following exercises are just the start of working with indexes. For more information, see Real World Adobe InDesign CS2, published by Peachpit Press.

To apply an index reference to text:

1.	Highlight the text entry that you want to be indexed. For instance, if you want to find all instances of "Aunt Em" in the Wizard of Oz, you would highlight a single instance of "Aunt Em" in one place.
2.	Choose Window > Type & Tables > Index to open the Index palette . The Index palette lets you define those items that should be part of the index. Tip The palette does not show the alphabet until you have already entered one reference.
3.	Click the Reference button at the top of the palette.
4.	Click New Index Entry or choose New Page Reference in the Index palette menu. The New Page Reference dialog box appears . Use the New Page Reference dialog box to add specific index entries to the Index palette.
5.	Click the Add button to add just that instance of the text to the Index palette. or Click the Add All button to add all the instances of the text to the Index palette.
6.	Click Done to return to the document. An index reference marker appears before the referenced text . An index reference marker is visible in the text when Show Hidden Characters is chosen.
7.	Repeat these steps for each entry that you want added to the Index palette. Tip The Index palette shows referenced text along with the page numbers that the text appears on.

Once you have all the index references in the document, you can then generate the index text file.

To generate an index file:

1.	Click the Generate Index button. or Choose Generate Index from the Index palette menu. The Generate Index dialog box appears . The Generate Index dialog box lets you create the index text file.
2.	In the Title field, enter the text that you want for the title of the index . The index options in the Generate Index dialog box.
3.	Use the Title Style menu to choose a paragraph style for the formatting of the index title.
4.	If you have already created an index, check the Replace Existing Index to replace the original index.
5.	If the document is part of a book, check Include Book Documents to add those documents to the index.
6.	Check Include Entries on Hidden Layers to include the text on hidden layers in the index.
7.	Click OK. This closes the dialog box and creates a loaded text cursor that contains the index.
8.	Click or drag to apply the index text where you want it to appear in the document.

The Art of an Index

An index is much more than just a list of entries in a document. There is an art to creating a good index. You need to understand the meaning of the index entries and anticipate the terms readers will want to search for.

Quite frankly, most designers are not prepared to create a truly elegant and useful index. In fact, I hire a professional indexer who reads my books and creates an index for me. The result is not electronic, but I wouldn't do it any other way. Thanks, Joy!