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This wikiHow teaches you how to build an index page for your Microsoft Word document. Microsoft Word comes with a built-in indexing tool that can automatically create an index based on the entries you choose. All you'll need to do is use the Mark Entry tool to mark each word or phrase you want to add to the index. Terms in your index can point to specific pages in the document or cross-reference to other indexed entries.
Part 1 of 3:
Open a Microsoft Word document. MS Word lets you add an index to any document regardless of its length, style, or subject matter. Before you can add an index to your document, you'll need to go through each page to mark the terms you want to appear in the index.
Step 2 Select a word or a group of words for your index." width="460" height="345" />
Select a word or a group of words for your index. You can select a word or phrase by highlighting it with your mouse.
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Click the Mark Entry button. Depending on your version of word, this icon will usually appear in a panel on the toolbar labeled "Index." It's the icon of a sheet of paper with a minus sign and a plus sign. [1] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
Format the page numbers in your index. Under the "Page number format"' heading, choose whether to display the page numbers in Bold and/or Italics as needed. [2] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
Click your mouse cursor where you want to place the index. In most cases, you'll want to place your index at the end of the document—just scroll down and click the first empty line below your existing content.
index is on its own page (optional)." width="460" height="345" />
Insert a Page Break so the index is on its own page (optional). You'll usually want your index to appear on its own page at the end of the document. To ensure that this happens, click the Insert tab and select Page Break on the toolbar to add a new page for your index.
Click the Insert Index button. This button is located next to the Mark Entry button on the References toolbar. This opens a window titled "Index." [3] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
Click OK to save your index. This creates an index that contains all of the entries you've marked throughout your document. You can use this index to look up the pages where important terms and concepts are mentioned throughout your writing.
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Click the Home tab. It's at the top of Word. If you've found an error in the index, such as a misspelling or incorrect term, you can correct the errors by hand and then update the index using the Update Index tool [5] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source .
Scroll to the error you want to correct. First, if you're not in paragraph view, click the Home tab and then click the Paragraph icon ¶ to display them. Then, scroll to the "XE" entry for the entry you want to correct. Remember, all indexed references start with "XE" and are surrounded by those curly braces you saw earlier.
Scroll down and click your index. Now that you've made changes to the index, you'll need to update it. Clicking the index selects it for updating.
Create the index. Click where you want to add the index. On the References tab, in the Index group, click Insert Index. In the Index dialog box, you can choose the format for text entries, page numbers, tabs, and leader characters. You can change the overall look of the index by choosing from the Formats dropdown menu.
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You can create an index entry for an individual word, phrase, or symbol, for a topic, a special XE (Index Entry) field that includes the marked main entry.
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Position the insertion pointer where you want the index to appear. If you want the index to start on a new page, create a new page in Word. Click the References tab. In the Index group, click the Insert Index button. Click the OK button to insert the index into your document.
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If you mark more entries in your document after inserting the index and they don't appear automatically, click the index and press the F9 key on the keyboard.
Marking index entries will automatically turn on the Show all nonprinting characters option. You can turn this off anytime by clicking on the paragraph icon on the Home tab.
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