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How to update an index?

Community Beginner ,
Dec 05, 2016 Dec 05, 2016

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Hello,

CS 6, Win 7 here,

I am creating Index References by selecting words in my document and pressing CTRL+7 (new cross reference).

I then press ADD ALL, and all the locations of the selected word are found and their page numbers are reported the next time I do a Create Index.

Now, the document is not done, and I may add one or more of the created References words through my document.

However, I cannot find a way to update the index with the new instances of the references. Of course, when I type a word that happens to be a reference in the index, the special charater is NOT created, so there must be another way to tell InDesign to re-add all the instances of the words into the index...

I tried to do a manual add all again, once selected the word, again, but InDesign doubles the markers, and therefore I have many double page numbers in the index.

How do I update the index?

Thank you

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Guide ,
Dec 05, 2016 Dec 05, 2016

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Hi

as far as I know, there is no native way to automatically re-add a new instance into an existing index.

The normal way, would be to manually add it while typing (not "add all"), but I understand it's not great. You may forget to add some (many)...

I tried to do a manual add all again, once selected the word, again, but InDesign doubles the markers, and therefore I have many double page numbers in the index.

Indesign doubles markers, that's right... and surely it isn't great, but what do you mean by having double page numbers in index?

The index generates only page number only once, even if the entry is indexed several times on that page?

So, you could live with it, even though it's not academic.

More academic: use the "add all" feature, then use a GREP query in order to delete doubles:

Search (~I)(~I)

Replace $1

You may also have a look at existing scripts that might help you to achieve what you want:

http://indesignsecrets.com/alternatives-indesign-indexing.php

I don't use those scripts so I won't advice..

Hope that helps

Vinny

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Community Expert ,
Dec 05, 2016 Dec 05, 2016

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After doing Add All a second time you will indeed see more than one index marker on the page in the Index panel. But that in the Index panel only: when you generate/update the index, each page number is listed just once.

You shouldn't do Vinny's suggested replacement, because you can't be sure that two (or more) adjacent index marker are for the same topic.

Peter

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 05, 2016 Dec 05, 2016

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Sorry, yes, the double counting happens only on the Index panel, not the actual index in the document.

Still, I am really puzzled by this behaviour: TOC do update automatically...

So, this means that I should create an index at the very end of the writing, when the text is least likely to change...?

Thank you!

regards

Gio

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Community Expert ,
Dec 05, 2016 Dec 05, 2016

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It's not really puzzling. When you do Add All, Indesign doesn't check whether a found item already has an index marker. And that you see the same page number several times is logical too: an item can occur twice on the same page, but a change in pagination can cause one of the entries to move to another page.

Anyway, you can add entries to the index while you write and you can generate the index at any stage to check it. Just remember to generate the final index when you're done writing.

P.

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 05, 2016 Dec 05, 2016

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errr... I don't think this is clear at all.

Seeing multiple page numbers is not the issue, because the index will show the same page only once, as it has been said.

But why would I want to "add entries to the index while I write"?

This means that ANY entry I have added to an unfinished document  I would have to add again every time I edit my text, just to make sure the page numbers are correct for the existing marks, and to add additional marks (and their page numbers) to new instances of the word references...

In other words, I cannot really "check" on my index along the editing of my document, because I would have to re-select ALL my Reference words (A to Z), and do ADD ALL for each... This is not puzzling, its just not usable. Unless I am missing something.

Why can't InDesign refresh the Index like a TOC?

That is, look at the list of references in the index panel, find each and all instances of the word(s), in the whole document, and write in the index the page numbers where the references occur. Just like a TOC finds all styles you already told it to find with no need to tell which styles you want every time you need to refresh a TOC, which would make refreshing TOC unusable...

What am I missing here?

Thank you!

Regards

Gio

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Guide ,
Dec 05, 2016 Dec 05, 2016

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Hi gio

Well, generating an index or a TOC is a quite similar process really... TOC do not generate without some manual process, you have to apply para styles, don't you? same with index, except that you insert a mark instead of applying para styles.

TOC updates when told. Very same thing with index... in both cases, you don't have to worry about page numbering, it will be updated automatically when you generate index or TOC.

Regarding the automatic indexation of reference entries, let me ask you how were they added? did you manually create reference entries or, most probably, were they automatically created when indexing an entry? (what came first? egg or hen?).

My point is you still have to go manual before thinking of automation . Anyway, there could be a way to do so, using scripts. see link above.

Some people prefer indexing while typing, some when all is done.

In your case, I understand you were almost done with your text and index, so, what I would do is first finish typing without bothering with existing entries. Then generate a proper index, copy the text of the index, clean it up by removing page numbering, and use that text in order to have a clean list of all words/entries that must be indexed. Finally usine the AddAll option for each of them.

pkahrel you are right about the grep query. however there must be a grep way to get rid of those doublons. We all agree it's not necessary , but I personally like clean stuff... writing from my pad, don't have indd to test a grep right now^^

Regards

Vinny

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Community Expert ,
Dec 05, 2016 Dec 05, 2016

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Vinny,

> however there must be a grep way to get rid of those doublons.

Grep isn't going to help you here. What you need to do is look for two adjacent index markers and get their topic names. If those names are the same, delete one of the markers. You would need a script for that. And it's not easy at all easy to get the name a marker's topic name. It can be done, but it's a slow and painful process.

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Community Expert ,
Dec 05, 2016 Dec 05, 2016

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> Why can't InDesign refresh the Index like a TOC?

Looks as if this is the root of the problem. When you open the Generate Index window, did you notice the 'Replace Existing Index' checkbox? It's enabled if an index had been created earlier in the document, so check the box if needed.

> But why would I want to "add entries to the index while I write"?

You don't have to. Some people like to add entries when they write, you apparently prefer to add entries later. It makes no difference.

> In other words, I cannot really "check" on my index along the editing of my document,

Not sure what you mean by 'check on my index', but I'm sure you're wrong: you can (re-)create your index at any time. And you could use the 'Update preview' icon button to recreate the index in the Index panel.

> Why can't InDesign refresh the Index like a TOC?

See the comment above about replacing an existing index.

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New Here ,
Nov 17, 2019 Nov 17, 2019

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Same issue here.

-as gsucci written above. The Index is not updating itself automatically by adding entries which are added to the document after a "PAge Reference" has been added.

So if your Reference is on page 1 and you create a "Page Reference" for it and press "Add All" the Index just find the Reference on Page 1 and adds it to the Index.

If you later use the same Reference on Page 2 it is not included on the Index.

Basically you have to create the Index when the document is finished again --> not nice!!!

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