Creating an index is a two-part process in Word. The first part is identifying in a document the words or phrases you want to place in the index. (This implies, obviously, that your document should be written before you index it.) The second part is building the index itself.
 | Not sure what an index is? At the back end of some documents, you typically find an alphabetized list of words and the page number where the word appears. An index is more precise than a Table of Contents; it references specific items, tasks, terms, or people throughout a document. |
To flag a bit of text for inclusion in the index, follow these steps:
1. Select the text you want to reference in the index.
It can be a word, phrase, or any old bit of text. Mark that text as a block.
2. Choose Insert --> Reference --> Index and Tables.
The Index and Tables dialog box appears.
3. Click the Index tab.
4. Click the Mark Entry button.
The Mark Index Entry dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 1. Notice that the text you selected in your document appears in the Main Entry box. (You can edit that text if you wish.)
Figure 1: The Mark Index Entry dialog box
5. Click either the Mark button or the Mark All button.
The Mark button marks only this particular instance of the word for inclusion in the index. Use this button if you want to mark only instances that you think will benefit the reader the most. The Mark All button directs Word to seek out and flag all instances of the text in your document, creating an index entry for each and every one. Use this option if you would rather leave it to your reader to decide what's relevant.
You can mess with other options in the Mark Index Entry dialog box as well. Frolic and play!
| When you mark an index entry, Word switches to Show Codes mode, where characters such as spaces, paragraph marks, and tabs appear in your document. Don't let it freak you out. Step 8 tells you how to turn that thing off. |
You also see the Index code appear in the document, surrounded by curly brackets (or braces).
6. Continue scrolling through your document, looking for stuff to put into the index.
The Mark Index Entry dialog box stays open, allowing you to continue to create your index: Just select text in the document and then click the Mark Index Entry dialog box. The selected text appears in the Main Entry box. Click the Mark or Mark All button to continue building the index.
7. Click the Close button when you're done.
The Mark Index Entry dialog box goes away.
8. Press Ctrl+Shift+8 to disable Show Codes mode.
Use the 8 key on the keyboard, not on the numeric keypad.
With all the bits and pieces of text flagged for the index, the next step is to create the index:
1. Position the toothpick cursor where you want the index to appear.
2. Choose Insert --> Reference --> Index and Tables.
3. Click the Index tab.
Figure 2 shows you what it looks like.
Figure 2: The Index and Tables/Index dialog box
4. Optionally, mess with the dialog box.
You can choose an index style from the Formats drop-down list. Use the Print Preview window to see how your choice affects the final product.
The Columns list tells Word how many columns wide to make the index. Note that two columns are standard, though there's no specific reason for that.
5. Click OK.
The index is inserted into your document in its own section.
- Studies done by people wearing white lab coats have shown that more readers refer to an index than to a table of contents. Therefore, make sure that your index is good and thorough.
 | - Feel free to Ctrl+Z "undo" your index if you hate it. In fact, test your indexing skills on a few sample documents before you plan on showing something to the boss.
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