My Second Embedded Indexing Job: WordEmbed
I love the James Lamb embedded indexing utility WordEmbed.
I can index using my indexing software Cindex, which allows me to see the index grow and lets me edit the index as usual.
This second job went well. The book was in one Word document, rather than separate chapter files, which I believe is a superior way to handle an embedded index.
I had zero difficulty but I did learn something.
We’re talking See also cross-references here: They can be placed immediately after the main heading text or as the last subentry. The first saves some space and immediately informs the reader of alternatives. The second way, as the last subentry, gives cleaner main entries that are easier to read as the index user’s eye scans the page.
Word is only able to handle See also cross-references that immediately follow the main entry text. If you tell Cindex to put the cross-references as the last subentry, then embed that index, Word will “eat” the See also cross-references. *poof* They’re gone.
EXCEPT THAT the James Lamb utility has a check box to force See also cross-references to the last subentry position. The utility does this by “converting” the cross-reference to a subentry, making sure it’s alphabetized to the last position.
I chose not to do this, though it would be simple if the client asked for it. I chose not to because the instructions I was given with this job included a How to Index in Word document that explained hand embedding and anyone who hand embeds will end up with cross-references that hang off the main entry text. So I stayed with the Word default.
My article Word Embedded Indexing gets into specifics for sorting and handling special characters.