How to Create an Index in FrameMaker
A well-designed index can get your users to the information they need quickly. Use FrameMaker to create an index using markers that you insert throughout your document. FrameMaker automatically organizes the entries alphabetically and adds letter divisions. You can create an idex for a single file or for a Book file.
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Instructions
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Create a stand-alone index for a single document
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Open the file for which you want to create an index. FrameMaker uses IOM to distinguish files and paragraph tags in documents that are in index of markers.
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Go to the "Special" menu and select "Index Of" and "Markers..." A dialog box asks you if you want to create a stand-alone index for the document.
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Click "Yes" in the dialog box. A dialog box appears that lets you select the markers that you want to use for the index.
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Use the arrow buttons in the dialog box to move "Index" marker to the "Include Markers of Type" area. Move markers you don't want to include to the "Don't Include" list.
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Click "Set." Frame generates the index in a new file that opens on your screen. The file has the same name as your original file with an "IOM" ending to show that this table index is generated from your original file.
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Notice that the entries are arranged alphabetically and have appropriate dividers, a letter, symbols or numbers. FrameMaker does this automatically when it generates the index.
Create an index for a book file
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Open your Book file. Select "Add->Table of Contents." A dialog box appears that lets you enter the paragraph tags you want to use in the table of contents.
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Go to the "Add" menu and select "Index Of" and "Markers..."
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Use the arrow buttons in the dialog box to move the "Index" marker to the "Include Markers of Type" area. Move markers you don't want to include to the "Don't Include" list.
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Select the "Add" button. An Update Book dialog box appears. Check only the "Update Numbering" and "Generate Table of Contents," "Lists" and "Indexes" options. Select only the IOM file in the Generate list, if you have tables of contents or generated list files in the book file.
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Click "Update." FrameMaker generates the index file and adds it to the book file.
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Tips & Warnings
Before you generate an index you must go through your document and insert markers for the terms you want in the index. FrameMaker reads these markers and their page numbers when it creates the index.
To create FrameMaker index markers, put the insertion point in the text you want to mark, select "Special->Marker," enter text in the Marker dialog box and select the "New Marker" button.
Typical marker text format is "
: ." For example, if you want to index FrameMaker's New and Open File menu options, you would create markers "File:Open" and "File:New." Your index would have a main level entry "File" with two sub-entries under it, "New" and "Open."
