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Index entry troubleshooting guide

Toni Gonzales
  • Updated

This guide helps users find and fix index entry validation errors in Typefi Writer 8.9 or later (64-bit edition).

Index entry validation errors occur when an entry contains unexpected characters or formatting, which can happen during manual editing or copying and pasting content that includes index entries. These errors may cause jobs to fail or produce unwanted publishing results.

Types of index entry errors

Prerequisites

If you encounter an index entry error not covered in this guide, please reach out. We are happy to help.

Incomplete XE tag ↩

An index entry is identified by the XE tag. Using only  X or E tags, for example,{ X "MainEntry" }or { E "MainEntry" }, will be identified as a <ref> tag. Before Typefi Writer can validate your index entries for other errors, ensure all index entries include an XE tag.

If the XE tag is missing, for example { "MainEntry" }, Microsoft Word won't recognise the entry as an index entry, and Typefi Writer cannot flag it as an incomplete tag.

Message

Warning: The index entry has an incomplete XE tag.
Solution
    1. Open the Typefi Document Explorer dialog (Typefi → Explore Document).
    2. Select the index entry with an incomplete XE tag (missing an X or E).
    3. With the entry selected, close the dialog, then locate the highlighted entry.
    4. Add the missing X or E to the XE tag.
      • { XE "MainEntry" }.

 

Subentry limits ↩

Microsoft Word allows up to nine subentries per topic, while Adobe InDesign allows up to three. If your desired output is an InDesign document (INDD), each index entry must be limited to one main entry and a maximum of three subentries. If your entry exceeds this limit, for example { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry: SubEntry:SubEntry:SubEntry" }, you’ll get this warning message.

Message Warning: InDesign only supports up to 3 subentries per topic.
Solution
  1. Open the Typefi Document Explorer dialog (Typefi → Explore Document).
  2. Select the index entry that contains more than three subentries per topic.
  3. With the entry selected, close the dialog, then locate the highlighted entry.
  4. Edit the index entry to include a maximum of three subentries.
    • For example, { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry:SubEntry:SubEntry" })

 

Remove local formatting ↩

While Microsoft Word allows you to apply local font formatting within the "Text" portion of an XE field in an index entry, Adobe InDesign does not natively support local formatting in index entries. You can replace local formatting with Character Styles in Adobe InDesign.

For example, if your index entry has local formatting such as bold, { XE "Entry302:SubEntry302:SubSubEntry302"\t" See myCrossReference" }, you'll get this error message.

Message Error: The index entry contains unexpected local formatting.
Solution
  1. Open the Typefi Document Explorer dialog (Typefi → Explore Document).
  2. Select the index entry with local formatting.
  3. Click "Replace local formatting with character styles"in the error message.
  4. With the entry selected, close the dialog, then locate the highlighted entry.
  5. Replace local formatting with character styles.

 

Character styles allowed in text only ↩

While character styles (not local formatting) are allowed in the index entry "text", character styles cannot be applied to colons or semi-colons.

For example, if colour is applied as a character style to colons or semi-colons in an index entry, such as:

{ XE “MainEntry:SubEntry:SubEntry302” }, you’ll get this error message:

Message Error: Character styles cannot be applied to (:) or (;) characters in an index entry.
Solution
  1. Open the Typefi Document Explorer dialog (Typefi → Explore Document).
  2. Select the index entry with character styles applied to (:) or (;).
  3. With the entry selected, close the dialog, then locate the highlighted entry.
  4. Remove the character style from the affected (:) or (;).

 

Incomplete index entry ↩

Opening and closing quotation marks help Word recognise and process index entries. When an opening or closing quotation marks is missing from the index entry, for example, ({ XE "Entry1 \b }), you’ll get the following warning message:

Message Warning: An opening or closing " " is missing from the index entry.
Solution
    1. Open the Typefi Document Explorer menu (Typefi → Explore Document).
    2. Select the index entry with missing quotation marks.
    3. With the entry selected, close dialog, then locate the highlighted entry.
    4. Add the missing quotation marks.
      • { XE "MainEntry" }

 

Unexpected or missing white space ↩

Typefi will not process index entries with unexpected or missing white space between the components of an index entry.

To view spaces and other non-printing characters, click Show/Hide ¶  (Home → Paragraph group →).

With Show mode activated, you can view non-printing characters (spaces, tabs, and paragraph marks). The two dots before this XE tag represent two spaces. 

additionalwhite_space.png

When an index entry has more than one space or is missing space between its components, you'll get this error message:

Message Error: The index entry has issues with white space.
Solution
    1. Click Show/Hide ¶ (Home → Paragraph group → ¶) to view spaces.
    2. Open the Typefi Document Explorer dialog (Typefi → Explore Document).
    3. Select the index entry with unexpected or missing white space.
    4. Wth the entry selected, close the dialog, then locate the highlighted entry.
    5. Edit the index entry to include only one space between components.correctWhiteSpaceIndex.png

 

Unexpected characters ↩

If your index entry includes unexpected characters beyond the opening or closing quotation marks (or optional switch), for example, { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry" \b unexpected characters }, the validation may fail, resulting in an error message.

Message Error: The index entry contains unexpected characters.
Solution
    1. Open the Typefi Document Explorer menu (Typefi → Explore Document).
    2. Select the entry with unexpected characters.
    3. With the entry selected, close the dialog, then locate the highlighted entry.
    4. Delete the unexpected characters from the affected index entry.
      • { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry" \b }

 

Switches ↩

When creating an index entry, you can use special commands called switches. These switches change an entry's appearance, like bolding page numbers or adding page ranges.

Put switches after the closing quotation mark, for example { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry" \b }. For multiple topics, put the switch between the closing quotation mark of the first topic and the opening quotation mark of the second topic, for example, { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry" \t "See Cross-references" }.

Incorrect placement within the quotation marks, for example, { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry \t" "See cross-reference \b" } results in an error.

Message Error: Switches can only appear after or between topics.
Solution
    1. Open the Typefi Document Explorer menu (Typefi → Explore Document).
    2. Select the entry with the affected switch.
    3. With the entry selected, close the dialog, then locate the highlighted entry.
    4. Put the affected switches after or between topics, for example { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry" \t "See cross-reference" \b }. (Refer to the table below for more examples).

 

Best practices for switches in index entries

These optional switches may be used to change how an entry appears in the generated index:

\b Emphasises the page number of the entry with +bold (can also be used with \i); added by selecting "Bold" as the Page number format in the Mark Index Entry dialog.
Example: { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry" \b }
\i

Emphasises the page number of the entry with +italic (can also be used with \b); added by selecting "Italic" as the Page number format in the Mark Index Entry dialog.
Example:{ XE "MainEntry:SubEntry"\i }
\r bookmark

Inserts a range of pages according to the named bookmark; added by selecting"Page range" under Options in Mark Index Entry dialog.
Example: { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry" \i }
\t "text"

Inserts text instead of a page number (the text must be enclosed in quotation marks); added by selecting "Cross-reference" under Options in the Mark Index Entry dialog.
Example: { XE "MainEntry:SubEntry" \t "See Cross-reference" }
\b \i

Emphasises the text in the switch \t "text" with +italic and +bold (enclosed in quotation marks) or the range of pages in the switch \r bookmark with +italic and +bold; added by selecting "italic" and "bold" as the Page number format in the Mark Index Entry dialog.
Example: { XE "MainEntry" \t "See cross-reference" \b \i }

 

If you encounter any additional issues or have further questions about index entries in Typefi Writer, please reach out. We are happy to help!

See also

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