How to Add Index Entry with "Click"?

[e.s.kohen]

Question 1: Is there a way to predefine an Index Entry in LibreOffice Writer, that allows you to reuse an Index Entry, without having duplicate entries?

Question 2: Is there a way to: (1.) highlight the text you want to index; then (2.) “Navigate” to already existing index entries in your document; (3.) Then double-click that entry; and then (4.) your highlighted text is automagically added to the index; (5.) and also Index Entry would apply a character style to the selected text?

Question 3: OR Alternatively, Is there a way to: (1.) Define a Character Style that is associated with a specific Index Entry; (2.) When applying that character style, the selected text would be added to the index? (This would un-ideally result in character styles for every Main Index Entry in the document).

Problem: In LibreOffice Writer, adding alphabetic Index Entries often results in many, many duplicates in the Index “browser,” when adding a new Index.

Use Case:

I have complex legal documents, that often have index entries, which are referenced to many, many, times throughout the document.

1. There is a case, which says, “Wow, everyone is kinda crazy,” BOB v. RALPH 243 F.99d 102, 103 (15th Cir. 2099), and it sets precedence in such and such a way.
2. This is a line about something else.
3. This case, (ibid. at 1014), also says such and such.
4. But its opinion, (ibid. at 1015), is superseded by local statute.

[e.s.kohen]

Workaround:

I noticed documentation addressing this exact problem, with a very manual way of accomplishing this.

Unfortunately, there is still no “Feature” within LibreOffice to solve this problem, but a very, very, tedious work-around.

Documentation/How Tos/Writing Legal Briefs

As the writer states, the reduncies have to be fixed:

Because we just marked the entries as they appeared, you will notice some redundancies. For example, you might see “In re Paul (2001) 55 Cal.App.4th 200…2, 4.” Then, right below it, you might see the short version that you marked separately because you’re lazy and I told you to: “In re Paul, supra, 55 Cal.App.4th at p. 204…6” To fix this, just delete the lower short version and add page “6” to the full version above.

Please advise if there is another solution to this.

[ROSt53]

I recommend to have also a look at the free guides of LibO, which you can download from http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation/

[PYS]

Hi

You can treat this type of need for a different approach by using a concordance file. A concordance file lists words that should be referenced. You no longer need to index the words in the documents, they are automatically when in this list. You define the Search item, the Alternative entry, the 1st and 2nd keys, and options Match case and Word only. Another advantage is that you can reuse a concordance file for multiple documents.

To use a concordance file just check “Concordance file” in the Index/Table tab of the Insert Index/Table dialog, click File, give a name, and enter your terms. You can open and edit an existing one.

A video (in French) is available on the YouTube channel (French playlist) of TDF

See the Help page

Regards