Word Index Import anomaly

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I don't import books with fully live indexes too often, so I don't mind saying I got bit by this on a recent project.*

WHY does ID import footnotes, end notes and TOCs without a hitch, and without complication, if asked to do so in the import options... but only import indexes (1) as markers that need to be used to generate a real, live-linked index, with or without (2) importing the dead "Index Text"?

IMVH&MEO**, this is pointlessly complicated and unnecessarily confusing. It seems as if ID could re-generate that index as an integral step, as with the other elements. Or did I miss something somewhere?

* Worked with the "dead" index too long before realizing it was static.

** "and moderately experienced"

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[Willi Adelberger]

An index shows the current page and the page number is different than it was in the Word Document. It makes no sense to import this information.

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

Which is why there is a checkbox option to import or ignore the "index text"—exactly as it should be. But to me, this is confusing in that "import index text" implies it will import an updated, live list like the TOC or end notes.

But ID doesn't import anything but index markers, requiring the designer to generate and place the new index. Which is fine... except that the import process is completely mute about this, and (again) reinforces the notion that "import text" means "import the index."

As long as you *know*, through training or experience, that the index must be generated and placed, this is a non-issue. But as the Word import is already sufficiently... quirky, and it imports three of four live-linked elements, it could be a lot clearer about how it manages the index import.

IMHO.

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