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I have been working for three days to figure out how to create an index that has multiple instances of the same word. For instance:
Rowboat, 56, 95, 362
I always end up with a range ie: 56-62. Also, it has the identical entries under each topic.
Rowboat, 56. 95.362
Skiff, 56, 96,362
Sailboat 56, 95, 362
I have obviously done something very wrong. "Indesign, Course and Compendium" is absolutely no helpl, the author says indexes are not worth trying to do yourself - hire a professional, Can't afford one. Terry White's videos on YouTube are great, but he doesn't address the problem. Neither does the InDesign manual. Any ideas?
I am working on a long document, a concordance on the Bible's Book of Revelation and some words may appear 20 or 30 places.
Thank you in advance for your help on this. I am desperate!
Dan
dan.appel@gmail.com
No need to apologize for a detailed response. It makes it much easier to help you.
I need to preface what I say in that this is my preferred workflow for manually doing an index. There are some folks around here who are quite adept at scripting/automating parts or all of this process, with varying degrees of success. Let's use your example of "rowboat" to illustrate the process:
Open all InDesign document(s) which comprise the book. Hopefully you've already compiled the document(s) into an I
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https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-index.html
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Hi Dan:
It's how you set up the index entry. Be sure that each occurence of the word Rowboat is set to Type: Current Page. This will produce a page number followed by a comma on each page where the word is referenced.
This is the default so if you're getting an actual page range (i.e., 56–62), then the Type is not set to Current Page.
~Barb
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Barb,
Thank you so much for your quick and supportive reply.
I have a slightly different need which may not be possible in InDesign. If so, I may have to "deep-six" an index as part of the book. Here is what I am trying to figure out - I need a way to ask InDesign to pick out every instance of a word's appearing in my document and to list the page followed by a comma. To do it by selecting every time a word appears in the document and asking InDesign to add it to the list would be a formidable task in a 500 page document. So that I am communicating clearly, say I want to index the word "tree." There must be a way to ask InDesign to go through my document and pick out all of the instances of "Tree" and spit out a page number (not a range where it occurs, but the page) followed by a comma for each without having to go through 500 pages for each word and designating it.
I hope that I am explaining this clearly. For instance, I am looking at the index at the back of a book I am currently reading, Peter Frankopan's excellent book, "The Silk Roads." One word which occurs a number of times is the word "Abraham." In the index it appears as "Abraham" followed by "72, 75, 78-8, 82, 109."
This also is a 500 page book (an excellent one by the way if you are a reader) and I seriously doubt that Peter Frankopan or his editors went through and induvidually marked every instance of Abraham for inclusion in the index. So, somehow, somewhere there has to be a way to index each individual instance of a word with a page number.
Sorry about the long question, but I felt that you needed to understand what I am asking for.
Dan
cc. Randy Hagan
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It's a shame that anybody would say that indexing with InDesign isn't worth the effort. Because it most certainly is. It demands an exacting attention on the part of the operator, but InDesign is certainly up to the task. I think the author is identifying personal limitations, not InDesign's.
As Barb offered, your choice in the Type: options box is a critical part of getting the results you want. The default setting is Current Page, but it can be a sticky selection, in that the setting you used the last time can unexpectedly be the one you see the next time. Whenever you open the Index Entry dialog box when creating an entry, or the Page Reference Options dialog when double-checking/correcting an existing entry, you want to ensure that the correct setting is the default Current Page setting unless you actually wanted a different one. That ensures the page the index marker placed on the page that will be the one where it's cited when you run the index. No ifs, ands or buts.
When you have a need for the other options, you want to set them as a unique, cited exception to the rule. Then double-check to be sure you're on the default setting the next time you reference an index marker.
You haven't done anything horribly wrong, or that cannot be corrected. And the good news is that since you've identified a consistent error, it should be easy to identify and correct when you run your index, hunt down the problem entries and fix them.
Hope this helps,
Randy
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Randy,
You are right about what he said. There is a dirth of books on Amazon at least that are affordable by us on a retirement income. The one I mentioned came highly recommended so I purchased it.
Thank you for your gracious and helpful response to my question. My needs are slightly different from what you address. So, let me try to better explain. In fact, if you don't mind, I also have just written to Barb above and will include what I wrote to her:
Thank you so much for your quick and supportive reply.
I have a slightly different need which may not be possible in InDesign. If so, I may have to "deep-six" an index as part of the book. Here is what I am trying to figure out - I need a way to ask InDesign to pick out every instance of a word's appearing in my document and to list the page followed by a comma. To do it by selecting every time a word appears in the document and asking InDesign to add it to the list would be a formidable task in a 500 page document. So that I am communicating clearly, say I want to index the word "tree." There must be a way to ask InDesign to go through my document and pick out all of the instances of "Tree" and spit out a page number (not a range where it occurs, but the page) followed by a comma for each without having to go through 500 pages for each word and designating it.
I hope that I am explaining this clearly. For instance, I am looking at the index at the back of a book I am currently reading, Peter Frankopan's excellent book, "The Silk Roads." One word which occurs a number of times is the word "Abraham." In the index it appears as "Abraham" followed by "72, 75, 78-8, 82, 109."
This also is a 500 page book (an excellent one by the way if you are a reader) and I seriously doubt that Peter Frankopan or his editors went through and induvidually marked every instance of Abraham for inclusion in the index. So, somehow, somewhere there has to be a way to index each individual instance of a word with a page number.
Sorry about the long question, but I felt that you needed to understand what I am asking for.
Dan
cc. Randy Hagan
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Got it! Figured it out!
Thanks for all of your help!
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No need to apologize for a detailed response. It makes it much easier to help you.
I need to preface what I say in that this is my preferred workflow for manually doing an index. There are some folks around here who are quite adept at scripting/automating parts or all of this process, with varying degrees of success. Let's use your example of "rowboat" to illustrate the process:
Open all InDesign document(s) which comprise the book. Hopefully you've already compiled the document(s) into an InDesign book document (.indb file). It eats a lot of computer power, but it makes the search/indexing process much easier in the long run. If you haven't compiled the documents into an .indb book file, you can learn more about it here: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-book-files.html. This will be one of many aspects of producing your book which will be made much easier by working with smaller InDesign document .indd files and compiling the whole lot with and InDesign .indb book file.
This ain't easy. In fact, it's hard, exacting work. But the more you do it, the quicker it goes. And to save myself from repetitive stress injuries, I use a cycle of one hour on, one hour off to keep from hurting myself. Let your conscience — and your hand cramps — be your guide.
Unless you find someone who's develooped the magic script to make this work flawlessly, I'm afraid this is about as good as it gets.
Good luck,
Randy
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Randy
Is there a reason why you are using such a compex process, when you could find the first instance, and then use Add All to pick up every instacne of your highlighed word?
In this instance, I put the word on four pages, started the reference for the first one, and used Add All to index all of them with one click.
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Depends on whether it's one InDesign document or a compendium of them in a book.
Also, don't forget that if your rowboat starts a sentence and has an initial cap, InDesign regards that as a different word than all lower case. That could cause complications too ...
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Randy, I am so close! I got it to print out a complete index, but I am still struggling with all of the page numbers being identical. Any ideas? I tried to attach an example, but it didn't for some reason wish to allow me to attach a PDF.
Symbols
7 Churches 523
Ephesus 523
Laodicea 523
Pergamum 523
Philadelphia 523
Sardis 523
Smyrna 523
Th yatira 523
10 Tribes 523
42 Months 523
1000 Years 523
1260 523
1260 Days 523
1260 Years 523
2300 523
2300 Days 523
2300 Years 523
A
Abaddon 523
Abraham 6, 15, 17, 29, 73, 83, 125, 224, 225, 384, 397,
431, 432, 435, 476, 493, 507
Adam 523
Agnostic II, 256, 465
Alexander 523
Alpha 523
Angel 523
Gabriel 523
Angels 523
Appolyon 523
Aramaic 523
Armageddon 523
Assyria 523
Assyrian 523
Atone 523
Atonement 523
B
Babylon 523
Bear 523
Beast 523
Beast from the Earth 523
Beast from the Sea 523
Beginning 523
Bible 523
1 Corinthians 523
1 John 523
1 Peter 523
1 Th essalonians 523
2 Corinthians 523
2 John 523
2 Peter 523
2 Th essalonians 523
3 John 523
Acts 523
Daniel 523
Dueteronomy 523
Exodus 523
Ezekiel 523
Genesis 523
Hebrews 523
Isaiah 523
Jeremiad 523
Jeremiah 523
Jude 523
King James Version 523
Lamentations 523
Leviticus 523
Luke 523
Malachi 523
Mark 523
Matthew 523
New American Standard Version 523
New King James Version 523
New Living Translation 523
Numbers 523
Paraphrase 523
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I would check your master page(s), to see if the correct page markers are there. Then I would check your Index panel, to see if the listings for all those index entries show page 523.
Normally you'd place a current page marker, which would identify the correct page numbers for your book pages — Type>Insert Special Character>Markers>Current Page Number menu command to define the correct page numbering for your document. Somehow, for reasons I've yet to understand you're stuck on page 523.
There are two likely causes for that to happen:
The master page number is inexplicably stuck on page 523, or ...
You've placed every index marker on page 523.
For the first, you can check the page numbering in your InDesign document(s) to ensure that they all don't read 523. But even if that isn't your first hint, sometimes deleting and replacing the master page numbering markers can clear up odd anomalies which show up in your page nubering. For the second, go to page 523, double-click into the text to place your text cursor, then use the Edit>Story Editor menu command to open the copy in a separate window which will show text formatting, including any index entries. If you have a bunch of extra rectangles which look like they have a man holding flags inside it, you've placed a ton of extra index entries on page 523 and need to go searching for the actual pages where those references need to be.
Let us know what you find, and we'll try to get you where you want to be with this job.
Randy
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Just following up: have we helped you get past your issues?
Randy