Multiple Indexes in a Document

Marc has a multi-sectioned document. He wants to create an index on one section and a second index for the entire document. Marc wonders if there is a way to have two indexes in a document where one of them covers only a single section.

The short answer is yes, there is a way. When you insert an index into a document, what you are actually doing is inserting the INDEX field. With no switches used in the field, Word creates an index based on the entire document. To create an index based on only a portion of the document (such as on a single section), follow these general steps:

1. Select the document section that you want to have indexed in its own special index.
2. Create a bookmark that applies to the selected text. (Click the Bookmark tool on the Insert tab of the ribbon.) Remember the name you used for the bookmark.
3. Create the basic INDEX field. (Press Ctrl+F9 to insert field braces and type the word INDEX.)
4. After the word INDEX, type a space, \b (to indicate that this index will apply to only a bookmarked area of the text), another space, and the name of the bookmark you created in step 2. Your entire field should look something like this:

{ INDEX \b MySection }

5. Press F9 to collapse the field and create your index.

There is another way to approach the problem, as well: You could add a switch to the XE field that is used to create an index entry. For instance, let's say you are indexing the term "polar bear" for the index. Make sure you have a field near the term like this one:

{ XE "polar bear" \f "a" }

The \f switch should appear only for index entries in the section that you want to have its own index. Later, when you insert the INDEX field to create the index for that section, you should make sure it looks like this:

{ INDEX \f "a" }

The index created by this field will only included those index entries that use the \f switch followed by the letter "a".

Adding the switch to the XE fields is handy, but suppose that you've already created your index entries without using the \f switch. If you want to later add the \f switch to the XE fields in the section, you can do it by following these steps:

1. Type \f "a" (note the space in there) in a blank spot of your document and then cut it to the Clipboard.
2. Make sure that field codes are displayed in your document. (Press Alt+F9 to either show or hide the field codes.)
3. Select all the text in the section that will have its own index.
4. Press Ctrl+H to display the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
5. In the Find box, type XE "*"
6. In the Replace box, type ^&, a space, and then ^c. The ^& will replace what is found with itself, then there's a space, and the ^c adds what is on the Clipboard (from Step 1).
7. Click More and make sure the Use Wildcards checkbox is selected.
8. Click Replace All. When you're asked if you want to search the rest of the document, answer negatively. (You don't want to search the entire document; you only want to affect the portion you selected in step 3.)

You can find additional information about these steps in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=154025

Even though the Knowledge Base article is for much older versions of Word, it will still work with your version because the behavior of the index-related fields it uses has not changed since the earliest versions of Word.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12137) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Multiple Indexes in a Document.