Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Specifying an Index Page-Range Separator.

Specifying an Index Page-Range Separator

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 30, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

When you insert the index field in your document you can indicate how you want Word to separate page ranges in your index. Normally, Word uses a dash to separate the numbers in a range, as in the following example:

Widgets: 27—41

For some specialized indexes, you may want to use a different character other than a dash. You specify a different page range separator by adding the \g switch to your index field, followed by the character to use as a divider. For instance, the following field use specifies that a colon be used instead of a dash:

{index \g :}

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12592) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Specifying an Index Page-Range Separator.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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