How to Add a Sub Index in Office Word

Create subentries for an index in Microsoft Word.

An index is something you'd typically see in a textbook or reference book, listing all the terms and phrases found in the book with the page number they are on. Microsoft Office Word has the tools to create your own index for a Word document. To create the index, you need to mark individual words, phrases and sections that you want to list. After marking the entries, you choose an index design and Word will build the index. Word automatically will sort the entries alphabetically, insert the page number of each entry and display the index in your document. A subentry is an index entry that goes underneath a more general index heading, which you can add as you mark individual entries.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Word

Instructions

1. Open a document in Microsoft Word that you want to index.

2. Highlight a word or phrase in your document that you want to use as an index entry.

3. Click the "References" tab. Click "Mark Entry" in the "Index" group.

4. Type a word you want to use as the main entry for the word or phrase you marked. This could be a more general heading, such as "Writing."

5. Type a word you want to use as a subentry. This is a more specific entry, such as "fiction" or "short story." If you want to add a third-level entry to the index, enter a colon after the subentry text and then type the text for the third-level entry (something that falls underneath the subentry).

6. Specify the page number format that will display in the index.

7. Click "Mark" to mark the entry. Click "Mark All" if you have more than one occurrence of this entry in your document.

8. Repeat the above steps to add additional entries.

Tips & Warnings

• When you're done adding all your index entries and subentries and you're ready to create the index, click "Insert Index" in the "Index" group on the "References" tab. Choose the design and format you want for the index.

References

• Microsoft Word 2007: Create an Index