Microsoft Word 2010 : Creating an Index (part 2) - Adding an Index to a Document - Generating an Index

Generating an Index

After you have marked all the items for your index, you can tell Word to compile the index and add it to the document. Here’s how:

1.	Place the insertion point on a blank paragraph at the end of the document. Word inserts the index at the insertion point’s location.
2.	On the References tab, click Insert Index. The Index dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 2. You can use this dialog box to format the index. Figure 2. Selecting indexing options in the Index dialog box.
3.	To select a different overall format for the index, click the Formats drop-down arrow, and then click a formatting option. You can preview the selected format in the Print Preview box.
4.	If you want the page numbers to be aligned along the right margin of the index’s page or columns, check the Right Align Page Numbers check box. Otherwise, Word places each page number immediately after its entry.
5.	To select a different type of leader (the line of dots separating the items from the page numbers), click the Tab Leader drop-down arrow and select a different option.
6.	Do one of the following: If you want subentries to be indented beneath main entries, click the Indented option. If you prefer subentries to appear on the same line with the main entries, click Run-In.
7.	Use the Columns spin control to specify the number of columns for the index. If your entries are short, a two- or three-column index looks nice.
8.	When you are finished customizing the index, click OK. Figure 3 shows a portion of a formatted index. Figure 3. Part of an index created in Word.

Updating an Index

If you make any change to a document that might affect the index, you should update the index to reflect the changes. To update the index, click it, and then click Update Index on the References tab.

Deleting an Index

To remove an index from a document, select the entire index by dragging the pointer over it; then press Del.