Issue 6401 - Allowing more than one Alphabetical Index
Summary: Allowing more than one Alphabetical Index
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: Writer
Classification: Application
Component: ui (show other issues)
Version: OOo 1.0.0
Hardware: PC All
: P4 Trivial with 61 votes (vote)
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: AOO issues mailing list
QA Contact:
URL:
Keywords: rfe_eval_ok
: 52273 104692 (view as issue list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2002-07-11 11:33 UTC by helpman
Modified: 2018-07-19 16:44 UTC (History)
9 users (show)

See Also:
Issue Type: ENHANCEMENT
Latest Confirmation in: ---
Developer Difficulty: ---


Attachments
mock-up (629.16 KB, application/pdf)
2010-03-13 16:17 UTC, openturner
no flags Details
test case (49.00 KB, application/msword)
2010-06-26 21:20 UTC, oooalpha
no flags Details
test case (49.00 KB, application/msword)
2010-06-26 21:23 UTC, oooalpha
no flags Details

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this issue.
Description helpman 2002-07-11 11:33:36 UTC
The current OOo writer allows only one alphabetical index to be defined. Writing
scientific documents requires more than one such index. E.g. in my case I need a
key<word index for the specific keywords and their apperance within the
document. At the same time I would need an Author index, containing only the
author's names and their rexpective appearance. 
Both indexes are of the 'Alphabetical' type, yet I can define only one or the
other (keyword or author index). The 'user defined' type does not allow the
grouping of identical entries, so this cannot be used either.
Proposal: Allow multiple Alphabetical Index in much the same way as the
definition of user defined indexes works.
Comment 1 stefan.baltzer 2002-09-17 15:50:57 UTC
Reassigned to Éric.
Comment 2 eric.savary 2002-09-18 13:05:52 UTC
ES: yes, it's a good idea!
Comment 3 falko.tesch 2003-09-26 12:52:56 UTC
The current OOo writer allows only one alphabetical index to be
defined. Writing scientific documents requires more than one such
index. E.g. in my case I need a key<word index for the specific
keywords and their apperance within the document. At the same time I
would need an Author index, containing only the author's names and
their rexpective appearance. 
Both indexes are of the 'Alphabetical' type, yet I can define only one
or the other (keyword or author index). The 'user defined' type does
not allow the grouping of identical entries, so this cannot be used
either.
Proposal: Allow multiple Alphabetical Index in much the same way as
the definition of user defined indexes works.


Comment 4 bettina.haberer 2003-10-24 09:33:06 UTC
Thank you for reporting this issue. It is considered for 'Office later'.
Comment 5 sakitc 2003-11-25 08:54:34 UTC
Does "Office Later" mean post-2.0? I know that many authors writing
scientific documents would appreciate it very much. I think it would
be a very good idea to implement it in 2.0 at the latest. As far as I
know, MS Word doesn't allow multiple alphabetical indexes either, so
it would be another good argument for switching :)
Comment 6 helpman 2003-11-25 09:29:44 UTC
Actually, Word does support such a feature. I have been using it in my
PhD Thesis, where I needed an Author's index and a Keyword-Index
(which definitely is common pratice, at least in scientific literature). 
But, to turn the sales-argument upside-down, *not* being able to have
these two indexes in OOo would be a strong argument for using MS-Word
rather than OOo.
Comment 7 theblanz 2004-02-10 14:37:48 UTC
HI!

Yes, please do it! I need it, too!

A little work-around for me is to use a user-defined index and then uncheck the
option to allow manual changes in the document and then mark the whole index and
click Menu Extras -> Sort. So you can easily sort it. But it is not perfect and
everytime you reload the index you have to do it again... but it should be OK
when you sort, save and print the document.

Yours
   Christoph Hess
Comment 8 markt1964 2005-04-05 23:00:34 UTC
I have to concur with previous commenters.  I want this feature very very VERY 
badly.  It is a limitation that isn't at all practical to try to work around.  
Please allow a user-defined index to behave exactly the same as an 
Alphabetical Index (ie, with support for 1st and 2nd keys), and multiple pages 
listed for a given entry.
Comment 9 markt1964 2005-05-26 16:35:23 UTC
I was just rechecking the status of this issue and happened to notice the
priority of this issue.  According to the priority descriptions, P4 is for
"easily worked around" bugs.  It's not my experience that this bug is easy to
work around at all.   Trying to use the Tools->Sort feature on an index seems to
result in the message "Cannot sort selection" if the number of columns in the
index is >1, and it appears to be impossible to work around.   If the number of
columns is only 1, then sorting works fine, but upon setting the number of
columns for that index back to some other value, it automatically updates the
table again and the order it had previously is lost.  Also, doing this wouldn't
work even for single column indexes if one wanted to use both first and second
level indexes.
Comment 10 claudiadzm 2005-06-18 18:00:27 UTC
I'd like to add the wish to connect to each alphabetic index its own concordance
file that would be part of the index-definition.
Today all indices use the same concordance file.
Greetings, Claudia
Comment 11 eric.savary 2005-07-21 16:03:07 UTC
*** Issue 52273 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Comment 12 zalu 2006-01-21 10:59:53 UTC
I'd add a further utility that would be included with the possibility of 
various alfabetical indexes in combination with a concordance file. It would be 
possible to crate a glossar by introducing the explication into the 
column "alternative entry" and the abbreviation as well as index entry (to be 
found within the text) and as the first key (to use it as order-argument). So 
it would be possible to add the same abbreviation-list to various documents an 
create a glossar in this way:

Entry
  Description

cheers
Comment 13 bojar27 2006-02-12 12:31:24 UTC
I too appreciate an option for multiple alphabetical indexes, with an
concordance file. In addition to authors and keyword indexes I do also need a
list of abbreviations, so it seems for me that at least three alphabetical
indexes in one dokument may be usefull. All of them with the option for a
concordance file.
Furthermore I would prefer the possibility of using "character templates" - not
only the "paragraph templates" - for generating an "user defined" index,
together with the ability of alphabetical order of those marked Words. 
Comment 14 varana 2007-04-03 21:31:16 UTC
I strongly support adding this feature, as well. More than one alphabetical
index with full functionality (concordance file, keys, entry grouping) is simply
essential for longer documents like a thesis.
Comment 15 pgaliana 2007-05-14 14:20:35 UTC
It's a great idea to allow more than one Alphabetical Index. Please include
UNICODE support for the concordance files. Sometimes you need to include weird
characters in the index: e.g. transliteration of foreign languages, etc.
Comment 16 bettina.haberer 2007-09-26 16:01:28 UTC
Hi Mathias, I have changed the current owner to your owner. Please take the
ownership of these enhancements.
Comment 17 michael.ruess 2009-09-02 14:14:30 UTC
*** Issue 104692 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Comment 18 astrolabio 2009-09-02 21:25:43 UTC
MsWord can create more than one Alphabetical Index in a Document.

Is complex:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154025/en-us/
Comment 19 astrolabio 2009-09-12 12:38:31 UTC
Microsoft Word allows you to edit field code to edit Alphabetical Index.

Identifying Groups of Index Fields
When you are building more than one index and want particular index entries to 
appear only within particular indexes, 
use the \f flag to label those entries. For example, if you are building a name 
index, a command index, 
and a general index (in which names and commands are included), you'll need two 
different arguments for the \f flag: 
one for the names, and one for the commands. 
The general index is the standard default index produced without the \f flags. 

{XE "main heading:name one" \f "names"}     
{XE "main heading:command one" \f "commands"}     
{XE "main heading:general stuff one"}     
{XE "main heading:name two" \f "names"}     
{XE "main heading:command two" \f "commands"}    
{XE "main heading:general stuff two"}

For a similar problem see issue:
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=24250
Comment 20 claudiadzm 2010-02-02 13:22:38 UTC
That issue waits since a long time. I've no new wishes, only would like to
remember it.
Would be a very nice feature.
Comment 21 pinchorrero 2010-02-02 22:48:10 UTC
I think it's an indispensable feature for many scientific writings.
Comment 22 omarbautistag 2010-02-03 14:04:56 UTC
We need this indispensable tool.
Comment 23 nebbiolo 2010-02-13 14:31:12 UTC
Is absolutely important to have this feature!
Eight-year wait...
Comment 24 userwriter 2010-02-25 14:59:06 UTC
Please implemented this feature!
OOo writer indexing tools needs improvement.
Alphabetical index is CRUCIAL for academic use and publishing.
Creating a basic working index requires a small, but essential set of functions.
Missing one or more of these features severely affects the ability to create an
effective index.

I recommend reading this papaer (in particular pages 6 and 7)
http://www.allegrotechindexing.com/indexingtools.pdf

Issues very important 

Allowing more than one Alphabetical Index
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=6401

Footnotes are not included in Alphabetical Index
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=32392

Alphabetical Indexes cross-reference
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=104691

Index markers do not support cross references or bookmarks
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=24250

Alphabetical index: allow marking pages as entry range even if the keyword
doesn't appear on every pages
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=94565

A very interesting idea
Navigator should also list all Index Entries
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=61643
Comment 25 linense 2010-03-08 21:05:02 UTC
In first place sorry, i don't speak english very well.
I think OOo it's an excellent word processor, but prectically I need more than
one alphabetical index in the most of documents I write.

I don't know if another alternative  possibility could be to add an option to
order the "user index".
Comment 26 openturner 2010-03-13 16:17:31 UTC
Created attachment 68322 [details]
mock-up
Comment 27 openturner 2010-03-13 16:18:58 UTC
Why not change "user defined index" so that is usable for the "alphabetical index"?
In this way the user interface just needs a little retouching.

See attachment.
http://www.openoffice.org/nonav/issues/showattachment.cgi/68322/Index_OOo.pdf
Regards.
Comment 28 nebbiolo 2010-06-07 16:25:48 UTC
See Issue 104734
Is a duplicate?
Comment 29 Mathias_Bauer 2010-06-07 16:37:04 UTC
Not really, IMHO.
Implementing this one would make the other one obsolete. But implementing the
RFE in issue 104734 wouldn't solve this one completely.
Comment 30 hughg 2010-06-07 16:47:33 UTC
sorry for ranting, but I cannot understand that this issue has been open for so
long - OpenOffice is already used in academia (at least for simple papers), and
multiple indices are not such an esoteric feature.

For OOo to be taken seriously by more advanced users, index handling has to be
extended to a general useful form instead of the current hard coded variant with
lots of unnecessary and arbitrary limitations...

I could live without animated rulers and whiz-bang bullet points, but features
like these would *really* be needed...
Comment 31 carlpaulooo 2010-06-19 16:29:01 UTC
This issue is very old!
ODF is the problem?
Comment 32 nebbiolo 2010-06-23 17:22:09 UTC
> Not really, IMHO.
> Implementing this one would make the other one obsolete. 
> But implementing the RFE in issue 104734 
> wouldn't solve this one completely.

@mba
@hughg

I apologize. I have confused.
This Issue is to solve a problem with alphabetical indexes.
The issue 104734, instead on "user-defined" (they are more similar to TOC)

Not address the problems of compatibility with MS Word

MS field codes (Index entry)
{ XE "Index 1" \f "b" }
{ XE "Index 2" \f "c" }

MS field codes (TOC)
{ TC "User-defined 1" \f C \l "1" }
{ TC "User-defined 2" \f D \l "1" }

I apologize again.
Comment 33 oooalpha 2010-06-26 21:20:25 UTC
Created attachment 70237 [details]
test case
Comment 34 oooalpha 2010-06-26 21:23:14 UTC
Created attachment 70238 [details]
test case
Comment 35 oooalpha 2010-06-26 21:25:30 UTC
Is very urgent solve this issue (IMHO)!
MSWORD enables this feature and when you import a lot of information is 

lost!

Case 1
field codes of two indices:

{INDEX \e " " \c "2" \z "1033" \f “a”}

and

{INDEX \e " " \c "2" \z "1033" \f “b”}

The two indices are completely lost!

Case 2
field codes of two indices:

{INDEX \e " " \c "2" \z "1033" \f “b”}

and

{INDEX \e " " \c "2" \z "1033" \f “c”}

The first index is lost.
The second index is duplicated.

I attach two sample documents.
Case 1
http://www.openoffice.org/nonav/issues/showattachment.cgi/70237/CASE_1.doc
Case 2
http://www.openoffice.org/nonav/issues/showattachment.cgi/70238/CASE_2.doc
Comment 36 flc01 2010-07-29 00:40:10 UTC
My Two Cents:

1)Click Insert > Indexes and Tables > Entry. The Insert Index Entry dialog box.
In the Entry box should be possible to manually enter a tag to group Index Entries.
Before of word or phrase shown in the Entry box add the "<=Name Index>" tag.

Examples: <=a> <=b> <=c> and so on

In the Entry box:
<=a>Biology
<=a>Chemistry
<=b>Lavoisier

2)Click Insert > Indexes and Tables > Indexes and Tables. The Insert Index/Table
dialog box. 
In the Index/Table page should be possible to select the tags of the Index
Entries from the drop-down list in the Create index/table area.

Example:
Create index/table
for    |Entire document|
       |Chapter	       |(the drop-down list)
       |Index=a	       |
       |Index=b	       |
       And so on

3)Finally, the concordance file would need a new column tags.
Search term;Alternative entry;1st Key;2nd Key;Match Case;Word only;Tags

Examples:
Biology;;Science;;0;1;a
Chemistry;;Science;;0;1;a
Lavoisier;;;;0;1;b

Thanks
Comment 37 sandystw 2010-08-11 05:15:01 UTC
Hi, my job is to write technical manuals and to me this issue is essential!
Even in the context of academic institutions, Indexing tools are a must - have
for users - and I would very much enjoy being able to use OOo Writer for my
work-related purposes as well!

Best of luck
Jonathan
Comment 38 wayland 2010-09-09 23:13:07 UTC
Hi all.  I've just voted for this issue, but then something rang a bell.  I
wrote an article about the problem some time ago, with suggestions as to how it
could be improved, including suggestions for changes to OpenDocument format. 
Unfortunately, the site with the article has been down, but I just got it
working again, so here's the link:

http://computerstuff.jdarx.info/content/how-improve-openofficeorg-writer-indexing

Hope this helps someone :).  
Comment 39 x_d 2010-09-15 16:40:03 UTC
To -> wayland
To read your article I had to use google cache:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:D2tXYzTk98QJ:computerstuff.jdarx.info/content/how-improve-openofficeorg-writer-indexing+http://computerstuff.jdarx.info/content/how-improve-openofficeorg-writer-indexing&hl=fr&gl=fr&strip=1
(Maybe it's better if you create an attachment)
I have never written a line of code, but I need to understand 
if ODF 1.2 is able to support essential functions as:
Cross-reference (Issue 104691), Formatting-specific index entries (Issue
106199), Sort ordering (Issue 114115) etc
Or you must change the ODF standard?
Because this means that there are not open-source word processor
capable of creating good alphabetical indexes :-(
MS Word has these features as well as the much-criticized OOXML...

Xavier
Comment 40 sungkhum 2011-03-29 07:32:12 UTC
I also think this should be allowed - it's been a long time since it would first brought up.  Would it really be that hard to allow sorting in user-defined indexes?
Comment 41 wayland 2013-06-25 11:01:32 UTC
In reply to x_d:

I'm not sure this is needed for *this* particular feature, but a lot of the indexing limitations arise from the limits to the ODF format.  Hopefully it's something they can fix sometime.
Comment 42 Ari Diacou 2017-04-24 12:52:05 UTC
I would like to second what all the scientists have said, except I'm a law-student. When filing briefs with the court, you must make a "Table of Authorities" which is an index of all cases, and statutes that your brief relies on. These both appear under the section "Table of Authorities" but mechanically, they are two indexes that each must be sorted alphabetically, and the entries must be bunched together, so that if I cite 35 USC 271(a) on page 2, 35 USC 282 on page 10, and 35 USC 271(b) on page 20. 

It should appear as:
35 USC 271.............2,20
35 USC 282...............10

I would like to use OOo when I get out of school, but without at least a work-around, I cant.
Comment 43 Marcus 2017-05-20 11:05:08 UTC
Reset assigne to the default "issues@openoffice.apache.org".
Comment 44 MaxUXtotheMax 2018-07-19 16:44:30 UTC
Ok, so it's the year 2018, we have bitcoins, virtual reality and a toddler became a president.

How difficult can it be to implement this awesome feature? I've been holding back for 16 (SIXTEEN) years with my MS Word purchase hoping the alphabetical multi-index would get implemented in OO.

I can't wait much longer for this feature as I really need to finish my dissertation on "The neural effects and defects in the state of disquiet through delayed UX enhancements in open-source applications." which I actually meant to finish in 2002.   

So please, do it.