PDF Proofs, Word Fields, and Paragraph IDs: When to Start Your Index

You have a manuscript, an indexing deadline, and instructions that seem to describe a different job from the one you expected. One publisher wants page numbers. Another wants the Word manuscript tagged. A third wants paragraph IDs. Starting with the wrong assumption can mean rebuilding the handoff just when production needs it.

Separate four questions: What file will you read? What does an entry point to? When can you assign that locator? What must you deliver? A PDF can carry paragraph IDs, and a Word file can contain either a tagged manuscript or a separate index list. The file extension alone does not answer the other questions.

One passage, three locator systems

Here is an original illustrative passage, invented for this article:

Regular clearing of street drains reduces local flooding by allowing runoff to enter the drainage network. In the Riverside district, maintenance crews prioritize drains beneath trees because fallen leaves repeatedly obstruct the inlets.

Suppose you choose the heading Flooding, with the subheading drain maintenance. That editorial choice stays the same in all three examples. What changes is how you attach it to the passage.

Printed proof pages: index the typeset book

You read the agreed revision of the typeset page proofs, often supplied as a PDF. If the passage appears on printed page 84, the entry is Flooding, drain maintenance, 84. Use the page label readers will see in the book; the PDF viewer's file-page count may differ because of covers and front matter.

Assign page locators at the proof stage, once the publisher identifies the proofs to use. Chicago's production overview places index preparation alongside proofreading after typesetting. You can prepare vocabulary or reserve an indexer's time earlier, but manuscript pages do not establish the finished book's pages.

The handoff is a separate index containing printed-page locators, in the format specified for the title. If revised proofs move our passage to page 85, the locator needs checking and correction. Keep the proof revision with the index so everyone knows which pagination it represents.

Embedded Word fields: attach entries to the text

You read and mark the agreed Word manuscript. An index entry is attached at the relevant passage using an XE field. Microsoft's XE documentation describes these hidden fields and the colon separating a main heading from a subheading.

Word can assemble an index from the fields and calculate page references for its current layout; see Microsoft's index instructions. Those manuscript page numbers are provisional unless that output is the publisher's agreed final pagination. Production must preserve or convert the embedded entries through its own workflow.

Timing can be much earlier than page proofs. Cambridge's Indexing Author Hub Guide describes indexing in Word or LaTeX before submission and says it no longer accepts traditional indexes generated after typesetting under that guidance. Its publishing guides page directs authors to their book's briefing emails first. Confirm the title schedule before commissioning the work.

The essential handoff is the manuscript containing the fields, plus any generated index or correction copy the editor requests. A separate Word document listing headings and page numbers does not contain those passage links. Agree how corrections to the list will be reconciled with the fields before anyone refreshes the index.

Publisher paragraph IDs: use the supplied identifiers

You read the production source carrying the publisher's identifiers, which may be visible in PDF proofs. Suppose our passage has the invented placeholder ID PUB-P0147. The compiling entry becomes Flooding, drain maintenance, PUB-P0147. This placeholder illustrates the idea; it is not an Oxford ID format or submission template.

OUP's public indexing guidance specifies paragraph IDs rather than page numbers for compiling indexes. It encourages early vocabulary preparation but says locators await typeset proofs. The Author Guide supplied by the editorial contact explains the ID procedure; obtain it before deciding how to record entries.

Deliver an index using the supplied IDs in the title's required format. Preserve them exactly rather than counting paragraphs yourself or borrowing identifiers from Word. Confirm how IDs become locators in the finished edition, who handles that conversion, and how revised or split passages are treated.

Settle the handoff before starting

• ✓ Which source files and revision should I read, and are notes, tables, figures, and appendices included?
• ✓ Are the compiling locators printed pages, embedded fields, or publisher-issued IDs? Can you supply the title guide and a sample?
• ✓ When should indexing start, when is it due, and what text changes may still occur?
• ✓ Which files, layout, length limit, and clean or tracked correction copies must I deliver?
• ✓ Who refreshes or converts locators, reconciles corrections after revisions, and checks the final index proofs?

Start vocabulary planning early. Start assigning locators when the agreed workflow supplies their authority. Keep the source revision, index, and correction responsibilities together through the final check.