Help indexing under surnames in MS Word 2002?

A

AliceF

I've indexed a 2-page genealogy. I want to index under surnames. Surnames
such as Fraser, Keppel, Mackay, Macleod, Perceval, Stapleton work just fine
with multiple given names indented under the surname listing. The given
names under Matheson are not coming out correctly. Only 2 of the 17 names
appear under 1 listing of Matheson. The others all relist Matheson, then
indent the surname.

How do I fix this?
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

The standard advice is to make sure that the XE fields that are generating
incorrect index entries are identical to the ones that are working, that is,
that there are no extra spaces, that the punctuation is correct (no
semicolons instead of colons, for example), etc.

That said, I had exactly the same thing happen in an index, and there was
absolutely no rational cause for it nor any solution that (at that time) I
was able to find. In the end, I just threw in the towel and, when editing
was complete and I knew the index would not change further, unlinked the
index and "fixed" the errant entries.

In my case, the name that was causing problems, ironically, was "Link,"
which happened to be the name of the author of the book, so there were a
*lot* of Links, and after a certain point in the book, Word just gave up and
wouldn't subordinate them any more.

I'm curious, though, about why you would need to create an index for a
two-page document. Was that a typo?
 
A

AliceF

Suzanne S. Barnhill said:
The standard advice is to make sure that the XE fields that are generating
incorrect index entries are identical to the ones that are working, that is,
that there are no extra spaces, that the punctuation is correct (no
semicolons instead of colons, for example), etc.

That said, I had exactly the same thing happen in an index, and there was
absolutely no rational cause for it nor any solution that (at that time) I
was able to find. In the end, I just threw in the towel and, when editing
was complete and I knew the index would not change further, unlinked the
index and "fixed" the errant entries.

In my case, the name that was causing problems, ironically, was "Link,"
which happened to be the name of the author of the book, so there were a
*lot* of Links, and after a certain point in the book, Word just gave up and
wouldn't subordinate them any more.

I'm curious, though, about why you would need to create an index for a
two-page document. Was that a typo?
Click to expand...
 
A

AliceF

Suzanne S. Barnhill said:
The standard advice is to make sure that the XE fields that are generating
incorrect index entries are identical to the ones that are working, that is,
that there are no extra spaces, that the punctuation is correct (no
semicolons instead of colons, for example), etc.

That said, I had exactly the same thing happen in an index, and there was
absolutely no rational cause for it nor any solution that (at that time) I
was able to find. In the end, I just threw in the towel and, when editing
was complete and I knew the index would not change further, unlinked the
index and "fixed" the errant entries.

In my case, the name that was causing problems, ironically, was "Link,"
which happened to be the name of the author of the book, so there were a
*lot* of Links, and after a certain point in the book, Word just gave up and
wouldn't subordinate them any more.

I'm curious, though, about why you would need to create an index for a
two-page document. Was that a typo?





Suzanne, I can't figure out how to reply to your message. A genealogy is a compliation of many names on each page so a 2 page document can contain a lot of names. I looked at my indexing and cannot find anything wrong. The total book will be over 300 pages and I'm concerned. Does anyone know a solution so I can index a book with over 1200 Mathesons?
Click to expand...
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Okay, I misunderstood. I understand that there are a lot of names on each
page; what I didn't get was that you were testing the index on two pages of
what was destined to be a much longer document. If you are convinced you are
doing everything right and are having no success, you may want to treat the
document as corrupt; see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm

Also see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Numbering/CreateIndex.htm for some tips
on indexing. Are you definitely creating the XE fields as Matheson:John,
Matheson:Richard, etc., with a colon and not a comma or some other type of
punctuation?



is a compliation of many names on each page so a 2 page document can contain
a lot of names. I looked at my indexing and cannot find anything wrong.
The total book will be over 300 pages and I'm concerned. Does anyone know a
solution so I can index a book with over 1200 Mathesons?
 
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