It’s easy to create a live index for your book in InDesign, and there’s a major benefit to doing so: If you move any of your text, the index markers stay with the text and the index automatically updates!
In Book Design Made Simple, we explain how to create paragraph styles for indexes, how to import an index from Word, and how to typeset an index. Here, we’ll explain the simplest way to create a live index in InDesign.
Adding first-level live index entries
All indexes include first-level entries. These are the main entries placed in alphabetical order in the index. (Your index may or may not include second-level entries, and those are explained below.)
Learn how to create an index as you write or typeset in #InDesign. Clear, doable instructions for the great live index feature! https://bit.ly/3DeqQPg Share on XTo start, make sure you’re working in Normal view in InDesign by either selecting the Normal View button (at the top of your screen or at the bottom of your Toolbox) or by pressing W. Then make sure you can see hidden characters by selecting Type > Show Hidden Characters. That way you’ll be able to see the index markers you’re creating.
With your document open, select Window > Type & Tables > Index, to open your Index panel.
Samuel Thayer’s book, Incredible Wild Edibles, is a great example to use for a live index as there are two levels of index entries.
Select the Reference button on your Index panel, and now you’re ready to add a first-level index entry. Select the text (in our example, we’ll select “Gooseberry”), then click the Create a New Index Entry icon at the bottom of the Index panel (circled below). This will open the New Page Reference dialog box with your selected text showing at the top left under Topic Levels. Choose Current Page from the Type drop-down menu.
Select Normal Mode from the circled icon at the top to show your index entries as you create them.
Index marker.
Click OK or hit Enter/Return to create a live first-level index entry. Voilà! You’ll see an index marker just to the left of the text you selected, showing that the text has been added to the index entry.
When adding your index entries, you’ll find it quicker to use a keyboard shortcut rather than clicking the Create a New Index Entry icon at the bottom of the Index panel every time. Simply press Ctrl/Cmd+7 to get the New Page Reference dialog box with your selected text showing at the top.
Adding second-level live index entries
Second-level index entries are the indented entries that appear indented below first-level entries.
To create a second-level entry, start the same way you did for a first-level index entry: Select the text you want for your second-level entry, then either click the Create a New Index Entry icon on the Index panel or press Ctrl/Cmd+7 to open the New Page Reference dialog box. Your selected text will show in the top left box under Topic Levels.
To change this entry to a second-level entry, follow the three steps pictured below:
1. Click on the down arrow (circled below) to move the entry down one line.
2. Once the entry is on the second line, look in the lower box to find the first-level entry you want on the first line. Double-click that entry and it’ll appear on the first line.
3. Click OK or hit Enter/Return, and you’re done!
Note that the second-level entry (Lemonade) was capitalized because it was copied from the beginning of a sentence. To remove the capital L, simply select it and type a lowercase l. You can change any entry this way. For example, if an entry appears in all caps, you can select it here and retype it in lowercase.
Attaching a range of pages
For a range of pages, count the number of pages including the current page, and add that figure to the Number box.
So far we’ve explained how to add a single page number to a live index entry. However, if a subject is discussed over a range of pages, you’ll want to add that page range instead of a single page number to the entry.
To add a range of pages, follow the same steps as above to create your entry. Then, in the Type drop-down menu, instead of Current Page, select Next # of Pages, and enter a number of pages that includes the current page.
Checking your live index entries
As you continue adding first- and second-level index entries, check the entries by keeping your Index panel handy and scrolling through the entries.
Click on the arrow to the left of an entry, and it’ll expand to show you which page(s) that entry appears on. And, if you happen to move any text containing an index entry, the index will automatically update to show the new page numbers.
Ensuring proper alphabetization
Let’s say you have an index entry that doesn’t alphebetize the way you’d prefer. For instance, one of the index entries in our example is a reference to Sam Thayer’s first book, The Forager’s Harvest. We’ll include the whole title in the index entry, of course, but want it listed under F for Forager’s, not T for The.
To correct the alphabetization, first add the entry as you normally would. Then, in the Sort By box to the right, type the entry starting with the letter you want it alphabetized under. In our example below, we typed “Forager’s Harvest, The” so that the book title will be listed under F. However, note that when you generate the index, this entry will still show as it appears in the left box (The Forager’s Harvest), not the way you typed it in the Sort By box, and it will appear under F.
This entry will appear as “The Forager’s Harvest” in the index, but it will now appear under F rather than T. (See the updated Index panel in the next section.)
The example shown here is for a first-level entry; if you need to change a second-level entry, you’ll add the amended entry to the box to the right of the second entry, and so on.
Generating your live index in InDesign
Click the Generate Index icon to generate your live index.
You can generate your live index anytime you want. We prefer to generate the index after adding just a few entries, and then regenerating it regularly to make sure all our entries are displaying as expected.
To generate your index, click the Generate Index icon at the bottom of your Index panel (see right). Then you’ll see the Generate Index dialog box (see below). All the settings you see will be InDesign’s default settings.
Note that there are several paragraph styles listed in the Generate Index dialog box: Index Title, Index Level 1, Index Section Head, and so on. InDesign will create new paragraph styles for every type of entry you’ve used.
Note that the box for Include Index Section Headings is checked by default. These are the alphabet letter headings that you’ll see included in your live index. Uncheck the box if you don’t want any alphabet letter headings. Also note that under Entry Separators in the Following Topic box, the default is two spaces. If you require a comma after each topic instead, select the two spaces and replace them with a comma followed by a space.
Default index paragraph styles.
Click OK and your cursor will be loaded with text. Click anywhere on a new page, and your live index will flow in a text frame on the page. The new paragraph styles will all be based on your Basic Paragraph style, and will probably need some adjustments. Here’s what our index looks like so far:
The paragraph styles need tweaking, but otherwise, here is the start of our index!
Now is the time to check whether any entries need correcting. Make any needed corrections in the Index panel by simply double-clicking the entry and making the change. In our index, we noticed that the entry “Gooseberry” shouldn’t be capitalized, and we’ll fix it by double-clicking the entry, changing the G to g, and clicking OK.
Updating your live index
Update your live index regularly to make sure any corrections or new entries are displaying properly.
To update your index, simply click the Generate Index icon on your Index panel again, and you’ll see the same Generate Index dialog box you got the first time (see above), with one major exception: This time the Replace Existing Index box will be checked.
Click OK to update your index with the latest corrections and/or additions. So easy, right?
Live index is a great feature!
The beauty of a live index is that it allows you to make any changes down the road—add, delete, rewrite, or rearrange paragraphs or even whole chapters—and not give the index a second thought. All the page numbers will be reassigned accordingly.
Contemplating a redesign for your second edition? No problem! All the index paragraph styles can be updated to match the new design.
And, if you’re writing in InDesign, add your index entries as you go. Seriously, there’s no bad here!
Read more: How to add italics to your live index in InDesign »
Read still more: How to fix layout and typesetting issues in InDesign »
And more: Hyphenation and justification » How to make your text look fabulous
Book Design Made Simple. You can do it yourself.
Thanku so much !🙏
You are very welcome, Farid. Best of luck with your index and your whole project.
Fiona and Glenna
Thank you so much – after years of agony trying to work tables of contents and indexes, you have at last delivered a lucid, and efficient article on how to make an index. I can’t thank you enough!
There are other questions I have about how to work on fonts and so on, but they can keep. For the moment I’m happy!
Hi Jenny, thanks so much for letting us know that our article helped you with your index! We are always happy to hear when our book or blog simplifies something and makes it doable. All the best with your book!
And today your second article about making italic entries and bold was equally superb. Really, really helped. I’m going to get your book now. Meanwhile, can you answer question I have? My book is a cook book with recipes from different people. I want to acknowledge and refer to them (link is probably the word I’m looking for here) and list them in an index topic of contributors, in amongst other index words. How would I do that? Or maybe I have to have a completely separate index just for contributors? My head is spinning and just can’t quite think this through.
Anyway, I did want to thank you again for your clever and clear explanation and instructions. You are unique!
Hi again Jenny,
The simplest way to incorporate your contributors into the index is to include them as regular index entries. When you select a name in the text, it will be written with the first name followed by the surname. If you want the index to alphabetize according to surname, follow the “Ensure proper alphabetization” paragraph above.
It’s possible to create multiple indexes in InDesign (according to this Creative Pro blog post), but I’ve never tried that myself.
An option that I have tried is to create a second table of contents (TOC) for the list of contributors (again, Creative Pro provides instructions). I’ve created a second TOC for a List of Illustrations, so there’s no reason you couldn’t do that for a List of Contributors. Here’s the catch: an automatic TOC collects paragraph styles for the entries, not text within a paragraph or character styles. If your contributor name is on a separate line, say under the recipe title, then you can apply a paragraph style to the name (create a Contributor paragraph style) and include that paragraph style in your Contributor TOC.
If the contributors’ names are not on separate lines in the recipes but rather are mentioned within the recipe text, you’ll need to use a workaround. I suggest putting each name in its own text frame, applying your Contributor paragraph style, and placing the name on the same page as the recipe it goes with. Create a new layer called Contributor, and move all the text frames with names onto the Contributor layer. Then when you’re ready to generate the Contributor TOC, do these two things: 1) hide the Contributor layer by clicking on the eye icon (all the names will disappear off the pages), and 2) in your Table of Contents dialog box, check the Include Text on Hidden Layers box under Options (click the More Options button at the right if you don’t see Options). Instructions on generating an automatic table of contents are on pages 240-244 of Book Design Made Simple.
I hope this makes sense!
Fiona
Thanks Fiona – brilliant reply and full of possibilities. I will try both yours and Glenna’s techniques. I am fairly used to doing TOC, and may go that way for the contributors to avoid confusion – but will see! If it works I will post the feedback.
Now my next step is to see how I might use cross-references. I recall getting very confused about this before so am a little nervous. Have you two done anything on cross-referencing?
Hi Jenny, Glenna and I have consulted and we both have different approaches to cross-referencing (that’s what I love about our collaboration!).
Glenna: What type of cross references are you going to make? For instance, at the end of a veggie recipe, are you going to say “see page xxx for more carrot recipes” or something like that? If so, I think you should either
1. Leave the cross references in the recipes and not try to complicate the index with them, or
2. Use the index to make the cross references by having a main entry “Carrots.” Isn’t this what most cookbooks do?
On the other hand, are you going to say “for more recipes by Jill Jacobs, see pages xxx, xxx, and xxx.” If so, then all of your cross references will be right there in your Contributors Index.
Fiona: If you’d like to make your cross-references live (so that they move with the text they’re in, and also so they’ll hyperlink in a digital book), then I suggest watching this video about cross-references by Creativity Garage as it shows you just how to do that.
We hope this helps! Let us know how you get on.
Fiona and Glenna
Hi Jenny,
I have a different response! I have worked on separate indexes, usually called a Name Index, but you should probably call yours a Contributor Index. The simplest way, I think, would be to keep a list of your contributors and their page numbers in Excel and then alphabetize the list. It will not be linked to anything on your pages, but it will still work as long as you remember to double-check the page numbers before you go to press. Bingo!
You could also mix the names in with your main index, using Fiona’s method, if you like, but the separate index would make it easier for those who are looking just for their favorite people.
Glenna
Thanks Glenna – you two are brilliant with your help. Much appreciated.
Thank you!
I wrote a 75-page story that prints on 8.5×11 (boring) individual pages of special paper. Therefore, I can’t fold the pages for stitching.
How do I bind the individual pages together? I tried using Lineco adhesive, but the pages can be dislodged rather easily.
Thank you.
Hello Don,
For this I would try a report binder that holds the pages together on the left without the use of staples, adhesive, or holes. (I found some at staples.com.) Also I’d try printing on both sides of the paper if possible to increase the chances that the story will fit in the binder without too much stress. Good luck!
Glenna