Episode 37: Long Documents, Part 5 - Generating an Index (VIDEO)
The thrilling conclusion of the Long Documents series is finally here! In this episode, I wrap it all up with some last indexing shortcuts, generating an index (and how it differs from generating a TOC), formatting and updating an index, and making your index interactive in a PDF.
Watch the episode here (17:18 | 38.1 MB), or you can subscribe via iTunes.
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April 17th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Thank you! The indexing has helped so much! Sometimes I need to refreshin my memory and this video is wonderful!
Wendy
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:48 am
Michael,
This was excellent for tying together what I knew about Indexing in InDesign.
The only thing I had hoped to learn that I did not was how to automate adding a list of peoples names from a text file as references in the index… i.e. I have a text file with a long list of names John Doe, Bill Smith, etc. and want to automatically create an index with proper names (Doe, John - Smith, Bill, etc) for every occurrence in the book.
In other words, rather than going through the entire book and hitting (Command-Option-Shift ]) on each occurrence, I have the advantage of having a supplied text file with which I want to add automatically to the index.
Is this possible?
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Ken –
It’s not possible with InDesign’s built-in (and limited) indexing function, unfortunately. You might want to look into a third-party solution like Virginia Systems Sonar Bookends. See http://www.virginiasystems.com/products.html for more info.
July 1st, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Hello,
thank you very much for helping us to get into indexing with indesign. Still: I’ve got three questions I’d like to put forward – asking for your support:
1. How can one create TWO indexes in one very indesign-book? I have to create one index for names and another index for subjects; and since I don’t want the names and subjects to appear in one and the same chapter, I do have to create two separate indexes – but indesign does not let me do this. What am I to do in order to get this task done?
2. Take the name “Michael Murphy”: I want to index its occurrence throughout the book in all variations imaginable, like “Michael Murphys” (German) or “Michael Murphy’s” etc. Can I get indesign to do all this at once or do I have to go the painful way and look for all variations separately – and then group them below on topic?
3. Is there any other third-party software suggestion besides Sonar for getting indexing stuff done? (I downloaded the trial version, but it was not the 6.7 for mac but the 6.6 and I did not even get it to work, anyway. I wouldn’t buy stuff I can’t properly test in advance.)
Looking desperately forward to read your suggestions or even solutions,
Best,
waine