How to Create an Index for a MS Word Document

A well designed and written index is a must for all technical documents that are 30 pages or longer. It’s an indispensable part of a satisfactory user experience.

Here are the steps to follow to create an index by using Microsoft Word.

1) Launch MS Word and open your document.

2) Select the word or phrase you’d like to include in the Index.

3) Press Shift + Alt + x keys to display the Mark Index Entry dialog box:
(Click to enlarge)

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The word you’ve selected (“Lorem” in this case) will automatically populate the Main Entry field.

4) Select the Current Page radio button to assign the current page number to the index entry. You can also select a Page Range (and enter it manually) or select the Cross-Reference option if you want your readers to go and look up another and related item.

5) Click the Mark button to turn the selection into an index entry.
NOTE: MS Word will mark the entry with invisible curly brackets which will not show when you print the final document. Here is for example the word “position” marked as an index entry:

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6) Repeat the same procedure for all the words or phrases that you’d like to include in the Index. For sub-entry items, type them in the Subentry field. But make sure you do not forget to enter the associated Main Entry item for each sub-entry.
NOTE: If you click the Mark All button, MS Word will mark every instance of the Main or Sub-Entry as an index entry.

7) When you are done with all your marking, place your cursor where you want the Index to appear (customarily, at the end of the document).

8) Select Insert > Reference > Index and Tables… from the main menu to display the Index and Tables dialog box:

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9) Select a format from the Formats drop-down list. If you’d like tab leader between the entry and the page number, select the Right Align Page Numbers check-box, then select a Tab Leader from the associated drop-down list.

10) Select the Type of entries you want (Indented or Run-in) and the number of Columns. Select a language other than English (default) if you need to.

11) Click OK to generate.