Indesign does not alphabetize correctly

[Nebraska53]

I have created an author index for a book. This is part of what it produces:

Brown, Colin  253

Brown, Harold O. J.  6, 13

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett  452

Brown, J. Newton  476

Brown, Raymond E.  204

Why is Browning in the middle of the Browns? There is no data in the "Sort by" field to affect the sort order.

In am using InDesign 6.

[Nebraska53]

Here is another sample problem.

Ross, Allen P.  149, 313, 415

Rosscup, James E.  799

Ross, Robert W.  468

[fenjas29325284]

It behaves as if there were no comma:

Browncolin  

Brownharold  

Browningelizabeth  

Brownjnewton  

It's the same in InDesign CC.

This script may help (I didn't try it yet): Language-aware paragraph/line sorter | Peter Kahrel

Fenja

[Cari Jansen · Accepted solution]

Basically the commas and spaces are ignored. That is how InDesign handles these, so without amending the Sort Order this issue will persist.

I wish that when adding proper names index entries (which automatically adds the comma and space between last name and first name), InDesign wouldn't just 'ignore' them.  I think you'll have to adjust the sort order to fix these, or else run a script on the Index text after you've generated it to sort things correctly.

There is a 'Sort Paragraphs' script that comes with InDesign that you could use for that. (Select a range of paragraphs, then run the script).

You can submit a feature request to handle proper name alphabetising differently at: Adobe InDesign Feedback

[fenjas29325284]

I should regard the script panel more often.

Fenja