Specifying Sub-entries in an AutoMark File

John asked how to specify sub-entries in an AutoMark file. An AutoMark file, also called a concordance file, can be used by Word to automatically mark a document for an index. You create the file, which specifies what words or phrases you want marked for the index, and then Word searches through the document, looking for those words and phrases and marking them accordingly.

How you utilize an AutoMark file depends entirely upon the version of Word you are using. If you are using Word 97 or Word 2000, you choose Insert | Index and Tables | Index | AutoMark. If you are using Word 2002 or Word 2003, you choose Insert | Reference | Index and Tables and you can then click the AutoMark button in the resulting dialog box.

Basically, an AutoMark file consists of a two-column table. In the left-hand column you specify the word or phrase that you want to trigger an index entry. In the right-hand column you specify the actual index entry itself. For instance, in the left-hand column you might enter Menkaure, and in the right column you might enter Pyramids. In this way, every occurrence of the word Menkaure in your document would result in an index entry under the word Pyramids.

If you want to get more specific, you could specify that a particular keyword should go under a subentry. For instance, you could put the word Menkaure in the left-hand column, and in the right you could put Pyramids:Egypt. In this way, every instance of the word Menkaure in your document would result in an index entry under the word Egypt, which is a sub-entry to the word Pyramids. Likewise, you could put Teotihuachuan in the left-hand column and Pyramids:Mexico in the right, and every instance of Teotihuachuan is marked as an index entry under Mexico, which is under Pyramids.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1731) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.