BlogOffice

Cheater's Index

Indexing is fun if you like word searches, crossword puzzles, and connect-the-dots (well, maybe not that last one...). When you have to do a quick index, if you don't want to take the time to learn Word's true indexing feature (it's really pretty easy but takes a while--and discipline--to enter the tags and mark your entries), you can do it the Super Fast way. Just create a blank document and create a list of all the entries, in the order you find them, with a comma and a page number afterwards, like this:

marketing new ideas, 2
community building techniques, 4
web publishing, 6
blogging in community, 7

Go page by page through your document and enter the heads, topics, whatever you want indexed. Be sure to press Enter after each item so each one is on a separate line. Then highlight the whole list (press Ctrl+A, it's easiest), open the Table menu and choose Sort. All the default values are fine so just click OK--and, Cool!all the items are alphabetized and in order. Just do a little editing to make it look nice and you're ready to go. Simple, eh?