How to Style Your Book's Index
How your index looks is set on its Index section’s settings page. Every change applies at once, in your print-ready PDF, your e-book and your Word document.
The topics themselves are in the Index panel: see Add an Index.
How to open your index settings
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Click your Index section in the sidebar. No Index section yet? Add one.
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Change the settings you want. There is no Apply.
Open Index panel at the top takes you to your topics.
Columns
| Setting | Does |
|---|---|
| Print columns | 1, 2 or 3 columns in print. 2 to start. E-books always use one. |
| Columns Preset | The columns preset that sets the gap and any line between them. |
Topics
| Setting | Does |
|---|---|
| Topic Preset (List) | A list preset for the topics’ text, or None (plain list). |
| Subentries | On own lines stacks each subentry under its topic. Run together strings them after it, to save space. |
| Subentry indent, Sub-subentry indent | How far each level sits in, in em. 1.5 em to start. Shown with On own lines. |
Letter headings
| Setting | Does |
|---|---|
| Show letter headings | An A, B, C heading over each letter’s topics. On to start. |
| Include empty letters | A heading for letters that have no topics too. |
| Heading Preset (H2) | The subheading preset the letters use. |
| Alignment | Left, center or right. |
Page numbers
| Setting | Does |
|---|---|
| Bold the main discussion | Print the starred reference’s page number in bold. On to start. |
| Italic for figures and tables | Print page numbers of words in a caption or a table in italics. |
| Key text | The line at the top of the index that explains bold and italics. Leave it empty for the wording shown in the box. |
| Link page numbers in the ebook PDF | Make each page number in your eBook PDF a link to its page. Print never links. |
The main discussion is the reference you star on the topic’s page or on the indexed word.
Page ranges
| Setting | Does |
|---|---|
| Join consecutive pages | Print 46, 47, 48 as 46–48. On to start. |
| Shortest range | The fewest pages in a row that join. 3 to start. |
| Shorten ranges | Chicago prints 321–28. Full prints 321–328. |
Only body text joins into ranges: page numbers of captions, tables and notes stay on their own, and a range never runs from roman to arabic numbers.
Sorting
Under Alphabetize, choose how topics that start with the same letters are ordered.
| Choose | To sort |
|---|---|
| Word by word | New Deal before newborn. Used to start. |
| Letter by letter | newborn before New Deal: spaces are ignored. |
Punctuation
Leave a box empty for the usual mark, shown in it.
| Box | Holds |
|---|---|
| Before the first page number | A comma and a space to start. |
| Between page numbers | A comma and a space to start. E-books keep their links a space apart unless you set one. |
| Before See and See also | A period and a space to start. |
| Between run-in subentries | A semicolon and a space to start. |
How your index looks in print and on e-readers
| In | Your index shows |
|---|---|
| Print-ready PDF | Every topic with its page numbers, in columns, under letter headings. Nothing is a link, so the file is ready for KDP, IngramSpark or any printer. |
| eBook PDF | The same page numbers, each a link to its page (unless you turn Link page numbers in the ebook PDF off). |
| E-books (EPUB) | Numbered links (1, 2, 3) instead of page numbers, because e-books have no fixed pages. Each one jumps to its place. Always one column. |
| Word (DOCX) | Word’s own index: the list without numbers until Word updates the field, which adds them. |
| Print - Single Section (Fast) | The topics without page numbers. Choose Print - Whole Book (Slower) to see them. |
To see the page numbers in the preview, choose Print - Whole Book (Slower) in the device list (Preview print).
How to index one volume
In a box set, an Index section inside a volume lists only the references in that volume. An Index outside every volume lists the whole book.
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Add an Index section.
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Drag it into the volume in the sidebar, after the volume’s last section.
Each volume can have its own Index, each with its own settings.
Questions
How do I format the index?
Click your Index section in the sidebar and change its settings: columns, letter headings, bold page numbers, ranges, sorting and punctuation. Your print-ready PDF, e-book and Word document all follow them (columns are for print only).
Is my index safe for KDP?
Yes. Your print-ready PDF never links its index’s page numbers, so it is ready for KDP, IngramSpark or any print-on-demand service. Only the eBook PDF has links.
Why is my e-book index in one column?
E-readers reflow their pages, and columns scroll poorly there. Print columns sets print only.