By: Michael Murphy
March 20 2007 • 11:09 AM
The InDesigner - Episode 37: Long Documents, Part 5 - Generating an Index
The thrilling conclusion of the Long Documents series is finally here! In this episode, I wrap it all up with some last indexing shortcuts, generating an index (and how it differs from generating a TOC), formatting and updating an index, and making your index interactive in a PDF.
Download it now or watch it in your browser:
The InDesigner - Episode 37 (38.1 MB, 17:18 minutes)
Michael says, “hire a professional indexer and spare yourself the agony.” And while I’m at it, I’m going to hire a chauffer to drive me to work, a maid to keep my house in order, a chef to provide dinner for me when I get home, and a nanny to teach the kids some decent social skills.
I just finished my InDesign index and it took a week or so. But not eight hours a day, mind you. Maybe only four. But mine is not done once I generate the index! I wanted two different topical indices in my book, but InDesign doesn’t have an option for that, so I’ll just cut and paste the appropriate entries into a separate index.
One tip that wasn’t included in this particular video, but was in the last, is that you need to open every chapter file before you search for all instances of a word (like Adobe).
Fabulous series, Michael. I’d call this the definitive tutorial for long document work. (And I haven’t been crazy enough to need to create an index yet, but if I needed to, you just told me how!)
I came across your site a few weeks ago when started, course at collage, its been great. I will have to sit back and view this 5 part section again as it lots to take in at once. Its been great value to understand and know what Indesign has to offer. Thank you for taking the time to share.. Chris
Michael:
When can we expect to purchase your book that you have been showing off in your vidcast? I can’t wait to buy it!
Fritz
@Jessica — LOL. I wish I had all of those luxuries, too. Sorry If I didn’t mention the “open all documents first” in part one (could’ve sworn I did).
@Steve — Thanks again for the high praise, Steve. This is not my strength…but once I committed to doing it, it became a mission to make sense of it for the audience.
@Chris — You’re quite welcome.
@Fritz — More to come on making that book available. Keep watching.
Michael: You did mention in part one! That’s what I meant by “wasn’t included in this particular video, but was in the last,”.
That little detail (to open all documents first) could trip up an unsuspecting first time indexer.
And we (your audience) really appreciate that you took the time to put together this video. It is an awesome free learning tool. Thanks and thanks again.
Quite a “tour-de-force”. I also thank you for this and will file this set as a special series in case I need it. It is the definitive seminar on this topic! I look forward to future episodes on different topics.
Thanks, Gary. I’ve been looking forward to a different topic since I STARTED this one!
hi Micheal,
New stuff at the end off march… is that the 27 ?….
Cannot wait to read/see it..
Michael: I just finished watching your final indexing tutorial and as usual, it is well done. You managed to explain a complex concept with a degree of clarity rarely seen.
You have a true gift for teaching. Keep up the good work!
One thing I didn’t come across in your Index tuts is how to combine page references for similar entries … let me explain: I have followed your lesson to the letter and now have a beaut indx, but it features a ‘double-up’ of a number of words. One version of each of the double-ups is all instances of the capitalised word and the other version is the non-capitalised instances. For me the indexing process seems to be unable to combine the two automatically (and I have played with the ‘Case Sensitive’ button in the ‘Find’ dialogue box). How do I combine the referenced page numbers from the two basically identical entries in to one? Can it even be done?
Nice long document series. I learned a lot!
I have a different long document question for you though. I put together playbills for a community theatre group. Basically they can be described in a few sections. The cover is basically the same from show to show, with the exception of the show, of course! Then come the production staff and cast list and such (your show on nested styles helped immensely with this!). Then the cast bios (again those nested styles…), followed by a whole slew of ads–full page down to 8 per page, in varying combinations. I try only to put a full page ad opposite pages with more ads per page so things don’t “clash”. Then “boosters… single line comments from the cast and production staff to each other–shout outs, if you will. These are input into Filemaker, where I randomize the order and the put out as text for import into InDesign. Generally I need to tweak the spacing to my liking, though. And lastly the inside cover lists past shows, and the outside back is a thanks to the venue (that page is usually the same)
What I am looking for is any advice on how to do this to make the workflow simpler. For instance, once I do an ad, unless they change the size or content, if they repeat it it’s usually a copy and paste from a previous issue. Any way to streamline that? Should I be making this into sections like your book? I’m thinking since a lot of this is repeat work, there must be a way to just “assemble” a new issue.
Thank you for your podcast on indexing. I am a cataloger and have been having a hard time indexing. You can buy expensive catalog programs, but I am doing our catalog in In-Design. It’s not an easy task, but you made it a lot clearer.
You’re welcome, Carol. Indexing is truly a thankless task. There are very few shortcuts, but I’m glad the videocast is helping you.
How you select all linked frames when you delete first index. What shortcut?
Tx
Michael, I have a problem indexing corporate names that have a “, Inc.” as part of them. The comma sets up the “Inc.” part as a separate entry. I’ve worked around it by cleaning it up in the index function, but is there another way to mark them? (A non-breaking space doesn’t work.)
I’m still on CS2 on a PC.
As Raymond says, you have a true gift for teaching. This videocast is even clearer than the last one. Thanks.
Thanks, Laura. Always glad to hear that.