Publisher Index - How to Make an Index in a Custom Order

[Van]

Having written a Christian book with many Scriptural references to various books of the Bible, I needed to make an index of all of those references. I followed other helpful videos on YouTube for how to make an index. My problem was the index was in alphabetical order and not in Scriptural order. Here is what I did: 

1. Locate each Bible reference like picture 01.

2. Highlight the chapter and verse of the Bible book like picture 2.

3. Control, Alt, Shift, open square bracket and type in the parent topic "Exodus" like picture 3. then OK.

4. Afterwards, it will have a little blue flag mark showing that it is indexed. See picture 4.

5. After you add a new page for the index, add a text box and "insert Index" that new page will be in alphabetical order like picture 5:

6. However, that is not the order I want for this index. This Scripture index should be in the order of the books of the Bible, Canonical order. Make a Excel spreadsheet list of the Bible books and their correct order like picture 6.

7. In the Index panel, find each of the parent topics that you want custom order for. 

8. Right click on the book name (parent topic) and see this pop up window like picture 8:

9. Click on "Edit Topic" and then type in the number of the Bible book into the "Sort By" field like picture 9 and press OK (Exodus in the second book of the Bible.):

10. The final result is an index that looks like picture 10. (Of course, you have to repeat the above procedure for every parent topic/Bible book name.)

The end. I hope this explanation helps you!

Best regards,

Van

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by Van
Left out a beginning sentence.