Why my index has many entries for a single name and how to remedy this without doing it manually?

You can use Find and Replace to change all instances of the XE field codes. Using Stefan Blom's comment to make the hidden text field codes visible, you'd see something like this: John Alvy{ XE "John Alvy" }

1. First, temporarily turn off the AutoFormat As You Type option to replace "Straight quotes" with “smart quotes” (in Word Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options... dialog). This will avoid having smart quotes used in the XE (Mark Index) field code.
2. Open the Find and Replace dialog (Ctrl-h) and type XE "John Alvy" in the Find what box, then XE "Alvy, John" in the Replace with box.
3. Click Replace All to change all instances to { XE "Alvy, John" }.
4. Restore the AutoFormat setting so your quotes and apostrophes will be corrected as you type.

To have the index display the surname with various given names (per Suzanne Barnhill's comment), use XE "Alvy:John" in the Replace with box.

If some entries were inadvertently set to use bold, they'll appear as { XE "Alvy, John" \b } so you could use a similar F&R approach to remove the \b switch.

You can also use the Find dialog to jump through all instances of Mark Index entries to review and edit as necessary.

• In the Find what box, click the Special button to choose Field (it will add ^d to the box) and then space XE to specify any XE field code (you need the space before the field code).
• Now you can use the Find Next button to jump from one to the next to review and edit as necessary.
• To review just specific Mark Index entries, add more details to constrain the find. For example, ^d XE "Alvy would let you review just those instances of Mark Index entries that start with the surname Alvy; ^d XE "John would find any Mark Index entries where John is the first word (and likely need to be edited to reverse the surname and given names).

There are two ways to handles such index entries. If there is only one Alvy (John), then your index entry should be { XE "Alvy, John" }, which you get this way:

If there are several Alvys, then you can have a category for Alvy, with each one listed separately. That field will be { XE "Alvy:John" }, created this way:

Those two entries give you this in the index:

Alvy

John, 1

Alvy, John, 1

Display hidden text so that you can see the XE (index entry) fields and edit them. You want to make sure that all entries for "John Alvy" are identical, with the surname first:

{ XE "Alvy, John" }

This is mostly a manual process, unfortunately, but Find & Replace may be a way to speed up the process.

When you are done, update the index.

Many thanks for your reply, Anna. How do I consolidate the entries by using macro? I initially marked the entries with first names and then the surnames. Then, I realized that they should be preceded by surnames and so I edited the index field codes one by one. But, when I inserted the index, separate entries for several names of persons appeared instead of being placed in one entry.

I did what you said about the bold issue but I cannot find the b.

Hi Erwin

I'm AnnaThomas and I'd happily help you with your question. In this Forum, we are Microsoft consumers just like yourself.

To remedy this issue, you may need to consolidate the entries for each name so that they appear as a single entry in the index. This can be done manually by editing the index field codes or by using a macro to automate the process.

As for the issue with the bold page entries, you can modify the index field codes to remove the formatting. To do this, right-click on the index and select “Toggle Field Codes” from the context menu. Then, locate the “\b” switch in the field code and remove it. After updating the index, the page entries should no longer appear in bold.

I hope this helps ;-), let me know if this is contrary to what you need, I would still be helpful to answer more of your questions.

Best Regards,

AnnaThomas

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