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 Page-Range Separator.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 30, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
When you insert the index field in your document you can indicate how you want Word to separate page ranges in your index. Normally, Word uses a dash to separate the numbers in a range, as in the following example:
Widgets: 27–28
The dash is inserted automatically as Word creates the index, provided that an index entry covers a page-break boundary. For example, if an index entry starts at the bottom of one page and ends at the top of the next page.
For some specialized indexes, you may want to use a different character other than a dash. You specify a different page range separator by adding the \g switch to your index field, followed by the character to use as a divider. For instance, the following field use specifies that a colon be used instead of a dash:
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:
{index \g :}
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (795) 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 Page-Range Separator.
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