Script to integrate an index created in Word into existing InDesign file

Question

Hi everyone,Please, i need your help urgently. I need a script that can help me integrate an index created in Ms Word into an existing InDesign file. The book is about 800 pages and has already been meticulously designed in InDesign based on this same Word manuscript but without the index. At this point, i cannot use the "place" function in Indesign because the indesign document has already been designed and formatted (using place function will mean starting the design all over from the beginning). The word document already has all the index entries marked and index created. So i need a custom script to import this index into InDesign and automatically update page references to align with the InDesign layout. Please, this is very urgent. Kindly help me with this. Thanks.

Robert at ID-Tasker · Accepted Answer

Okay. Meanwhile, please let me send the documents to you.

@Mark Ben

Full credit goes to @Peter Kahrel and his script:

https://creativepro.com/files/kahrel/indesign/index_pagerefs_from_topics.html

I just run it - it took about 15 minutes on my laptop - but I might have run it "wrong" - there is an option to turn off "Strict matching" - first option mentioned in the description - so you should probably read the description and run it yourself.

From the quick look - I think it works - but you need to check much more carefully.

The steps I took:

at the end of the document - I've imported your WORD file and reflowed it,
checked Index panel - new topis and references to the imported text has been already added,
run the above script - new references to your old text has been added.

And that's it.

James Gifford—NitroPress · Answer

If you can't add the Word index to the existing pages "because the ID document is formatted," how do you expect to add index entries at all?

I'll just say that sometimes, "done" isn't done, and the shortest path to a solution is to back up a few steps. Going to extremes to try and import an index after a layout is "done" may be... counterproductive.

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