How to replace index entries

yecril71pl · August 29, 2026, 11:24am

I have multiple index entries referring to the abbreviation PSL in the document. I have decided to expand the abbreviation in the index. I should replace all index entries for PSL with the expansion Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe. However, the index entries are invisible in the Navigator and full text search cannot find them. What should I do?

Version: 7.3.7.2 / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 30(Build:2)
CPU threads: 4; OS: Linux 6.8; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: pl-PL (pl_PL.UTF-8); UI: pl-PL
Ubuntu package version: 1:7.3.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.12
Calc: threaded

ajlittoz · August 29, 2026, 12:45pm

Enable View → Field Shadings. This will display a hint for all fields, including index marks. Then right-click on one of the shadings corresponding to an index entry and Edit Index Entry. From there, you can navigate to all other entries by pressing the ← and → buttons without the need to reselt an entry. Just skip those you don’t want to modify.

PS: when asking here, always mention OS name, exact LO version and save format due to not-so-subtle differences between platforms.

yecril71pl · August 29, 2026, 2:41pm

The idea of using a computer to do tasks is that the computer should do what needs to be done.

The fact that entries are invisible in the Navigator is troubling—the manual says that index entries are fields (this is consistent with field highlight affecting them) and fields should be visible there. If they were, the problem would be easier in that the index entries would probably be listed, as it happens with footnotes.

Your instruction is incorrect: it turns out that in order to find the next anchor for the text PSL, I need to type PSL and press the arrow. Contrived but Yay!

Unfortunately this search works in full text match mode only and you need to insert a fake index entry first because just typing the text to search for replaces the current entry.

ajlittoz · August 29, 2026, 2:54pm

Yes, but fields in a very special category. All others are kind of “variables” which can be referenced for page number, chapter number or text itself. Index entries are “multi-valued”, i.e. one key has several locations in text, and they are associated only with page number, not chapter number and you can’t reference the text over which they are applied. Thus, they don’t fit in the general scheme of other fields. I am no developer, but I think this multi-value makes it impossible (or very difficult) to list them in the Navigator.

yecril71pl · August 29, 2026, 2:57pm

Ideologically, the Navigator should display the entries as a list, ordered by position in text, just as it does with all other objects. It does not matter that the internal representation is different in this case.

My current problem is this: THISDOCUMENT.DOCUMENTINDEXES.COUNT = &O0. How do I enumerate the index entries without having the index itself? This can be remediated by inserting the index into the document.

But there are problems with the index as well: I cannot get page ranges (2–6)—I can choose between 2ss. and a full list. The text 2ss. means nothing in Polish and is inconsistent with the index property that says it will use ff. for the purpose, also ignoring the fact that the text is in Polish.