Creating a Table of Contents and Index

Dynamic table of contents

Each table of contents consists of a heading and a list of entries sorted either by page number or alphabetically. Entries, including page numbers, are pulled directly from content in your document and can be updated at any time.

In addition, a table of contents is automatically updated with each record change to handle cases in which the number of pages in VDP records vary.

For details on creating a table of contents, refer to the InDesign Help at
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-table-contents.html

Dynamic index

You can create a simple keyword index or a comprehensive, detailed guide to the information in your book. To create an index, you first place index markers in the text. You associate each index marker with the word, called a topic, that you want to appear in the index.

To create a dynamic index:

  1. In the document window, select the text you want to index. You can create a temporary text frame for the purpose of creating the index. Make sure to delete this text frame when completing your index.

  2. Use InDesign's Index panel to create an index entry. An index marker using the default settings is added at the beginning of the selection.

  3. Select the text you have indexed and export it, using InDesign Export option, to an Adobe InDesign Tagged Text file (*.txt). Save the exported text file in the campaign's default assets folder. When exporting, make sure to:

    • Include the text you have indexed with the appropriate index marker. It is advisable to show hidden characters in the design window
      (use Alt+Ctrl+I).

    • Use Unicode encoding method.

  4. Delete the index marker.

  5. Repeat steps 1-4 for each index entry you want to generate.

  6. Create a new content object (or set an existing content object if you chose to use it as the basis for an index reference) as a text file content object, which will be populated with the files you have created.