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Navigation Aids for Long Word Documents (7)

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Setting Entry Options

The 'Options' area in the dialog box allows you to decide how an index entry's location will be listed. You can find a description for each option below:

¡ECross-reference

When you select this option, the word 'See' is already entered in the 'Cross-Reference' box, and you can type a name in it to refer readers to another Index entry rather than a page. For example, a cross-reference entry for 'Net Revenues' might read 'See Cash Flow'.

¡ECurrent page

This is the default option -- it tells Word to simply show the current page on which the index entry appears. If you use the 'Mark All' button to mark all occurrences of an entry, Word lists every page number where the entry appears.

¡EPage Range Bookmark

It allows you to specify a range of pages rather than a single page number for an index entry. For example, 'Burglary, 32-34'. To use this option, you must first select the range of pages in the document and insert a bookmark for it by choosing 'Bookmark' from the 'Insert' menu. The bookmark name will then appear on the 'Page Range Bookmark' list, where you can select it.

In addition, in the 'Page number format' area, you can format individual index entries in bold or italic type as you create them.

Creating the Index

Once you have marked all of the entries to be included in the index, creating it is very easy as follows:

1. Move the insertion point to the place where the index will appear. Usually, it is at the end of your document.

2. Choose 'Index And Tables' from the 'Insert' menu and click the 'Index' tab if necessary. Word will then display the Index options.

3. Select an index format from the 'Formats' list. You can also see how each format looks in the 'Print Preview' box above.

4. Choose the number of columns for the index.

5. Select other options if you like, and click 'OK'. Word will then add the index to your document.

Reformatting an Index

Once you have an index in your document, you can select any text in it and reformat it manually, or you can reformat text at certain levels by modifying the index styles. There are two ways to modify an index style.

1. Open the 'Index' tab in the 'Index and Tables' dialog box, click the 'Modify' button, and modify the style.

2. Choose 'Style' from the 'Format' menu and modify the style.

Updating an Index

At any time when you mark additional index entries or modify the text of the document so that the locations of index entries change, you can update the index by just clicking in the index and pressing <F9> or right-clicking in the index and choosing 'Update Field' from the shortcut menu.

There are two more topics to be covered in this series of articles, namely 'Creating an Index from a List' and 'Creating Cross-References', and they will be presented in the next issue. Hope you will not miss them.

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(Email address: 'Daniel_KC_To@police.gov.hk')