WITS Tip of the Month on Microsoft Word

An index lists the terms and topics in a document, along with the pages they appear on. First you must mark the index entries: Select the text and press ALT+SHIFT+X then "mark all." Microsoft Word will insert an XE (Index Entry) field formatted as hidden text. The hide/show feature will automatically pop up. To hide the marks, click on the backwards "p" (paragraph mark) on your toolbar.

Once you mark your index entries scroll to the place at the end of the document where you want the index to appear. Then go to insert/reference/indexes and tables and select the index tab. Click ok. Word then collects all your index entries, sorts them alphabetically, references their page numbers, finds and removes duplicate entries from the same page, and displays the index in the document. Don't modify index entries in the finished index; if you do, your changes will be lost when you update the index. If you make changes in your document and want to add new entries to your index you can right click your mouse somewhere inside the index and click "update field."


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