Rachel wrote:
Is it possible to create a TOC or index from a character style?
We’ve heard this request so many times — along with requests for building an index based on a pre-existing list of words — it’s a wonder that Adobe hasn’t already implemented these features into InDesign. Fortunately, our friend Marc Autret has stepped up to the plate with two free scripts that seem to fill the gap perfectly.
We’ve mentioned Mr. Autret’s scripts before, including the one for swapping items on a page. Back in Episode 78, we also talked a bit about how his Index Brutal script (must be said aloud with a French accent) could create indexes that merge page numbers together. Index Brutal is an awesome script that can build an index for your documents based on a list of words in a text file. He has built in a number of very cool additional features, such as a way to search for one term, but index it under a different word. You can find more about this (including his new English-language instructions) on his Web site.
His second script — “IndexMatic,” which builds an index based on character styles — is new and seems to work well, but requires some brave people to test it and give him feedback to fine-tune it. You can download IndexMatic from this link. I believe he plans to merge the two scripts together in the future to make one über-indexing script. Currently, this is an “InDesignSecrets” exclusive! If you use it, please write comments and suggestion in the space below this blog post.
Here is a screen capture of the script’s primary dialog box, just to give you a sense of its abilities:
I hope you enjoy using it. Thank you Marc!
This article was last modified on December 19, 2021
This article was first published on July 14, 2008
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