Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Indexing a Range of Pages.

Indexing a Range of Pages

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 2, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021


Word allows you to create indexes for your documents easily and quickly. Once you create your index entries and subentries (using fields), you can create an index for a range of pages by following these steps:

  1. Select (highlight) the pages you want to include in the index.
  2. Assign a bookmark to this text by going to the Insert tab of the Ribbon and clicking on Bookmark in the Links group.
  3. Place the insertion point at the location where you want the partial index created.
  4. Press Ctrl+F9 to insert field brackets. Make sure the insertion point stays between the brackets.
  5. Type index \b followed by the name of the bookmark used in step 2.
  6. Press F9 to update the field information. Word replaces the field with the partial index.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11832) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Indexing a Range of Pages.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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