Indexes can be built from topic headings, index entries, and hyperlink entries. Each output tab on the Index object includes check boxes that enable you to select which content will be used to build your index during publishing. Although you can create a basic index based on topic headings and links, by using Author's Index Entry objects you can organize and reference entries, and make your content easier to find. Index Entry objects can be used in the following ways:
- When an Index Entry points to a topic, it creates a link to a topic in online outputs and displays the page number in Word and PDF outputs.
- When an Index Entry points to another Index Entry, it creates a link to the topic contained in the other Index Entry and it creates a See entry in Word and PDF outputs.
- When you want to create a heading in the index, you can create an Index Entry that does not point to another object. Headings can be used to organize groups of related entries.
Note: You can delete objects from the Entry Links tab by selecting the object and pressing the DELETE key, or by right-clicking the object and choosing Remove from the shortcut menu.
Acme index scenario
The following scenario shows how Index Entries can be used in a published index. The image shows how the Index Entries are grouped in the Index object in Author-it, and the list describes how each Index Entry is used.
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Now lets look at how this index will appear in some of the outputs.
HTML index
When publishing to HTML Pages, the entries for Communication and Talking link directly to those pages. The Expression entry creates a link to the Communication topic, but also displays child entries belonging to Our Story. The entry for Our Story creates a heading with links to the two related topics about the company - Our Philosophy and Our Story. The Safety entry is used to create a heading that points to the related Accidents topic.
HTML Help index
The index in HTML Help is similar to HTML Pages, but has one difference. The entry for Our Story does not display links in the index to the two related topics about the company - Our Philosophy and Our Story. Instead, when the user double-clicks on the Our Story entry, a popup window displays the child links.
Word index
The index in Word is a little different from the online versions. When an Index Entry object points to another Index Entry object, a "See" entry is created in the Word index that points back to the main Communication entry. The Our Story entry does not list the Our Philosophy and Our Story entries, but points to the page (or pages) in the document where users will find those topics.
