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Index Problem in Indesign

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Hello all. I've created an index for a 90 page document. It updates and generates a new index with no problem, but when I place the index in my document, it only goes to 'S' and there is still room in that space to be filled and shows that there is overset text. When I click on the overset text box, and place it in the next column, only the next 'S' entry appears. What the heck is happening and how do I fix this? Thanks in advance!

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Ingrid27213032z9isCorrect answer

Participant

Barb, You're the bomb! I did the edit, select all, and then the enable, then disable No Break. The rest of the index magically appeared. Thank you so much for your help!! I really, really appreciate it!

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Ingrid! That's great news. Come back and see us next time you get stuck.

~Barb

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~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

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waqas8489

Participant

I'm generating an index for a Book containing nine separate InDesign documents. All documents and index entries work correctly except for one entry in a single document. The problematic entry has a valid page reference in the Index panel. There is no overset text, no hidden characters, and another index entry in the same paragraph works correctly. I've also deleted and recreated the problematic reference, but the issue persists. If I move the indexed word to the next line, it appears correctly in the generated index. However, returning it to its original position causes it to disappear and triggers the prompt asking whether to include overset text in index. How can I resolve this without changing the text layout?

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Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Elysian38290170r72l,

I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue with your Book index. Thank you for confirming that the index reference is valid and that recreating it doesn't help.

Since the entry appears when the indexed word is moved to another line, could you please try the following additional checks?

Select the affected text, open Window > Type & Tables > Character, and check whether No Break is enabled in the Character panel menu. If enabled, temporarily disable it and regenerate the index to see whether the entry appears.
Place the cursor in the affected paragraph and select Edit > Edit in Story Editor. Check the exact position of the problematic index marker compared with the working marker in the same paragraph.
Open Window > Type & Tables > Index, select Generate Index, and uncheck Include Book Documents and Replace Existing Index. Generate a new index and check whether the missing entry appears.

You can refer to helpx documentation here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/desktop/indexes-and-references/create-an-index/generate-and-format-an-index.html

If the issue persists, could you please share your InDesign version, operating system, and a small sample INDD file containing the affected paragraph and index marker?

Looking forward to your update!
Abhishek

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Barb Binder

Community Expert

You know what, Ingrid? You would get the same results if you have non-breaking spaces between the page numbers, no character styles assigned and hypenation off.

Look for ^s or ^S after the page numbers and replace with a space.

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Everything looks normal until you enable Type > Show Hidden Characters and then the ^ appears indicating a non- breaking space. This is why we both asked to see them.

~Barb

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~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Barb Binder

Community Expert

So Ingrid, can you try what you saw me do? Click in the Index with the Type tool, choose Edit > Select all, and enable then disable No break. (Be sure it is off—no check mark and no dash.) Does the content come back?

If not, could you please enable Type > Show Hidden Characters and re-share the same image you shared earlier, along with a picture of the Generate Index dialog box. Honestly, it doesn't matter if you use your phone to take the pics or take an actual screenshots. We are just looking for the clues we need to help you solve this. The content is there, so this is solvable.

If you are in a hurry, you can also share the index file so that we can just look it over.

~Bar

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~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

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Ingrid27213032z9isAuthorCorrect answer

Participant

Barb, You're the bomb! I did the edit, select all, and then the enable, then disable No Break. The rest of the index magically appeared. Thank you so much for your help!! I really, really appreciate it!

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Colorful_Ocean4771

Participant

Yes, Same issue.

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Robert at ID-Tasker

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@Colorful_Ocean4771

Can you check if you've ANY CharStyle active on the CharStyles pallet - when you create / update index?

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Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi Ingrid:

See how all of these numbers move to the next line?

That looks to me like the numbers are set to not break across columns, and that would cause the exact issue you are showing us.

Now, you would know if you were adding it manually like I just did, so perhaps you are inadvertently adding it with a character style in the Generate Index dialog box? Try changing the Page Number character style to None and update the index.