Index Entries Based on One or More Styles

[Jack]

Just begjnning to createg the index for my second book, which should appear in the much the same fashion as the index in my first. I am 90+% certain that index entries in v. I were selected based on their paragraph styles. When I now try to repeat that approach in v. II, I am having trouble finding that option. Help page at Create an index in InDesign does not appear to include or refer to it.

Would one of you please advise if it still possible to arrange an index based on 1 or more paragraph and/or character style(s), thus avoiding the tedium of making a separate entry for each such occurrence in the book. Hoping that the index can be made to contain, in the case of my flowering subject (orchids)entries in two levels,l as follows:

Genus and one of

     Species

     "Sp."

      "Hybrid"

Best,

jwc

[Joel Cherney]

It sounds to me like you used the Table of Contents tool to generate your index, last time around.

[Jack]

If the TOC tool includes the option to sort entries alphabetically by title (or n my case, the figure caption), then yes, that would work. Normally, however, TOC is presented in order of page numbers.

[Joel Cherney]

You are completely right. In order to use the TOC tool to generate an index in InDesign, you need to check the "Sort Entries in Alphabetical Order" box:

There are many third-party indexing scripts and plugins out there, varying in quality and price. This article (and its accompanying comments) from InDesign Secrets looks to be a good place to start reviewing your options. I like Peter Kahrel's Index from character styles​.

[Jack]

Oh, GREAT, then I can actually use the TOC generator for my index. and that is likely what I had also done in v. I.

Best,

jwc