@ Index / Columns in LO 6.4 Writer messed up

Using LO Writer v 6.4 Windows 10-Home for a 55 mg odt. Indexing works nicely in one column, but for two columns it runs the left column into the right and the right column off the page. No page numbers for either column. I have set EDIT < INDEX< STYLES< PARAGRAPH STYLES to Normal and no change.

Not crystal-clear, could you please edit your question to attach a sample file?

When creating a multi-column index (TOC, table of ā€¦ or alphabetical index), tab stop for the page number remains set at the page right margin instead of column boundary. Apparently, this has been fixed in 7.3.5.2 which I use. Also, by default, there is no gutter (spacing) between columns. You must request such spacing in the column configuration.

Better diagnostic after sample file examination.

Thanks AJ Not sure how to do tab stops etc just for page numbers Iā€™ll do some research. I have left the margins where they are.
Uploading: bad-index.jpgā€¦
Ia a jpg a good sample?
Bill

PS I did set column spacing to 0 and no luck. I uploaded 7.4 and it ate a few hours of work -Doccument Recovery ā€œsucessfulā€ but ti locked up Writer for hours, so I went back to 6.3 to recover my document. Iā€™m a little hesitant to try 7.3.

Usually there is not enough information in an image to issue a diagnostic. In addition, something went wrong and the image is not uploaded. It is much better to attach a 1- or 2-page sample .odt file.

Itā€™s a bad idea to install the latest version of LibreOffice to complete a document. Itā€™s always safer to do that with a ā€œstillā€ version - that will have fewer bugs.

Is your index a table of contents or an alphabetical index? I have always felt that a two-column TOC is rather awkward, especially when you have long chapter and section titles, but in an alphabetical index having more columns makes perfect sense, of course. If the rest of your book is in two columns, you can make a special page style for the TOC with a single column.

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Thanks FLoris
Could I get a few words on what you mean by a ā€˜stillā€™ version. One a notch or two below the bleeding edge?
Itā€™s a 700 page cookbook. I use headings -up to level 4- and so Iā€™m able to keep the T of Cā€™s to a reasonable level in 1 single columns -the T of C at the very beginning, and a more detailed on at the beginning of each chapter. Same same with the index, but this MUST be 2 columns or they get out of hand after each chapter, and WAY too long at the back of the book. BTW Iā€™ve added to the problem by using 1st and 2nd Keys.
The rest of meā€™ book in a single column 8.5 x 11.

The current ā€œstillā€ version is 7.3.5.2 or 2.5, Iā€™m on my phone now, canā€™t check, and that should be safe.

What if you use two spaces between index entry and page number instead of a right-aligned tab?

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I confirm 7.3.5.2. Just bumped yesterday to 7.3.6.2 under Fedora.

@Bill_Harvey: How do you achieve an [alphabetical] index at end of each chapter as there can be only one alphabetical index per document? Have you split your book into a master and chapter-subdocuments?

Hi AJ,

So I can use either? (Hadā€™a look up (Fedora Mentor Summit 2022)

There is an option in the Index box to do the entire document or just the chapter. Mind you, you have to be very careful with the Page Breaks to designate a chapter. It doesnā€™t always woek and you end up indexing several chapters. The only way out of this mess is to cut / past the chapter in a new document and strip out all the little backwards 'Pā€™s. Then add two Page Breaks and paste the original chapter between them.

Master and sub-docā€™s is beyond my ability / patience. Had I known it was going to be 700 pages, Idā€™a taken the time to understand, but too late now.

Bill

Iā€™m afraid there is some ambiguity about word ā€œindexā€.
It seems to me that you use it for some kind of TOC giving an ā€œindexā€ into the chapter or document. I Use it exclusively for the Alphabetical Index, though you can effectively insert an alpha index restricted to the chapter (I never realised that before your question).

A chapter is delimited by two Heading 1 paragraphs (unfortunately, this level-1 is hard-coded in Writer and cannot be configured differently by user). This designation is very reliable. If it doesnā€™t work for you, you probably messed your outline with bad direct formatting. Be very suspicious about direct formatting (all the more since your book is more than 5-pages long) and take care as you would with milk over fire.

I donā€™t follow you about the pilcrows (backward Pā€™s). A pilcrow is a visual clue for paragraph end. Removing pilcrows is changing document structure (you merge paragraphs into one; this is probably not what you want unless you copied your text from some outside source where line wraps were made paragraph ends).