When we are writing a Microsoft Word document particularly extensive, creating an index is almost an obligation, since it offers a necessary tool to guide readers. At first, you might think that this is a simple task that will not take up much of our time. However, it is worth stopping to think about it a little so that the result is what we are really looking for: What should the index of a document include?
In paper books, whether novels or essays, an index with the different chapters or sections of the publication is usually added at the beginning or at the end. That is, before or after the main content. This is a great tool to find a word or reference within the text.
This is also perfectly applicable to Word documents, whether they are student papers or professional documents. The word processing application gives us the opportunity to insert a table of contents in Word that we can transform into an index that updates automatically.
Why is the index so important?
Is it really necessary to include a table of contents in a Word work? The answer is yes, especially if it is a document that we must present to an evaluator, a boss or a client.
Un clear and well-structured index It will help the reader find all the titles and subtitles of the work along with the page numbering where each content is located. This makes it easy to go directly to the part or parts that may interest you most.
In addition to the index, in a Word document of a certain length and density, basic data cannot be missing such as the index itself, the bibliography or footnote references, among other things. These are the small but important details that can make enormous differences in quality between one job and another.
The great advantage of Word is that you can create an index automatically, in a very simple way, just following a series of guidelines that we explain below:
Index in Word: what aspects should we include
The key for the Word index to have the appearance and usefulness we want is to have given the correct format to the document titles. This means choosing the right headings, fonts, etc. before putting together the index itself. We explain it in more detail in the following paragraphs:
Define headers
On the top toolbar of Word, you will find the "Styles" button. When you click on it, a window opens with different options. The most common thing is to use the «Title 1», that we can apply to all the chapters or sections into which the text is divided.
There is also the possibility of applying «Title 2», smaller in size, if we want to be even more precise and Divide these chapters or sections into sections. If we apply this hierarchy correctly when activating the index, it will appear organized into categories and subcategories. This is quite common in complex texts.
It is important too choose the right font to the nature of the work or document. In this sense, we already know that Word gives us many options, it is just a matter of choosing the one that best matches the spirit of the document.
As a general rule, it is customary not to use the same type of font in titles and subtitles. Although this is optional, it is also usually add a small indentation (that is, introducing several characters or blank spaces) before the secondary titles, in order to better differentiate them from the main ones.
Insert table of contents
Once the titles are defined, you have to go to the document and select the exact place where we want the index to be displayed. Depending on what type of document it is, there are two options:
- At the beginning of the document, right after the introduction (this is most common).
- At the end of the document, as a reference or search index (used especially in research work).
After deciding the correct location, we go to the top bar and click on the section "References". In the list of options displayed, we select the one of «Insert table of contents». In the free version, a table is automatically generated by default; In other paid versions we will be able to choose the format to our liking.
And that's it. By simply following these simple steps we will have created a practical index for our document. An advantage that the Word index gives us is that It will be modified automatically every time we decide to make changes to the structure of the document. (add, delete a chapter, change its location within the text structure, etc.). To view the changes made, you must press the button "Update."