Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Specifying an Index Entry Separator.

Specifying an Index Entry Separator

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 2, 2026)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


When you use an index field in your document you can indicate how you want Word to separate the index entry (or subentry) from the page number references or cross-references when it actually creates the index. This is done by adding the \e switch to your index field. You can use up to three characters for the separator, in the following manner:

\e "sep"

where sep represents the characters to use as the separator. For instance, if you use the following index field:

{index \e ": "}

Word, when compiling the index, will translate index entries to the following:

Widgets: 32, 38, 92

Notice that the index entry (Widgets) is separated from the page references by a colon and a space—exactly what was specified after the \e switch.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (794) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Specifying an Index Entry Separator.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Searching for Tabs

Tabs don't normally show up in your printed document, but Word allows you to still search for them. All you need to do is ...

Discover More

Breaking Lines in E-mail

If you are creating an e-mail in Word or are creating text that you will paste into an e-mail document, you may want to ...

Discover More

Default Headers and Footers

Changing the look of default headers and footers for your Excel workbooks.

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Deleting Index Entries

When you construct an index you need to insert all sorts of index fields throughout your document. If you want to later ...

Discover More

Multiple Indexes in a Document

Adding a single index to a document is fairly easy. What if you want to add multiple indexes, however? And what if you ...

Discover More

Adding Quoted Words to an Index

It is not unusual to need to convert one notation in a document into another entirely different notation. For instance, ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 4 - 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.