InDesign offers some rudimentary tools for building an index from your documents — primarily the Index panel. The the Index panel will likely leave you frustrated if you have to make anything but the most basic index. If you find yourself in that camp, clutching a bottle of “Acetaminophen (see also paracetamol)”, then check out these alternative tools:
[[Editor’s note: See updated links at the bottom of this list]]
- IndexMatic 2: This script from Marc Autret does all kinds of great things that InDesign’s own indexing feature can’t, such as build an index based on character styles you’ve applied to text, or build an index based on a list of words you supply. IndexMatic 2 was reviewed in InDesign Magazine, issue 46. This version replaces Marc’s older Index Brutal and IndexMatic scripts, which were free but are no longer fully updated/supported.
- Index Topics List: This script was created by Peter Kahrel. Using the entries in a word list, the script adds topics and page references to all open InDesign documents.
- QuickIndex: The folks at Kerntiff have come up with a wide array of plug-ins to help indexers. Many of these were reviewed in InDesign Magazine issue 65.
- SmartyIndex: Here’s a simple free script from Vlad Vladila at Typefi which can build an index based on a list of words you give it.
- SonarBookends: Also, the SonarBookends InDex plug-in from Virginia Systems has many powerful features for building indexes.
New items, September 2023:
- IndexMatic 3: a review in CreativePro Magazine from Jeff Potter
- Index and Concordance scripts from Peter Kahrel can be found here
- Keep Script: Need to keep lines together in an index? See this script.
- InDexers: Want to find a human, professional indexer?! Check this list!
Do you know any other plug-ins and scripts you’d recommend for indexing in InDesign? Share them below!
Other articles about indexing include:
- Sort an Index by Page Number
- Formatting in InDesign Index Entries
- How to Remove All the Index Entries
- Parentheses around page numbers in the Index panel
This article was last modified on October 5, 2023
This article was first published on November 12, 2014
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