How to automatically import index and cross-reference entries from Word 7 to FM 7.2 or 8?

[Peter Gold]

If you choose Create Hypertext Linksin the Index dialog box, you can
isolate an index marker from its clustered buddies by
Ctrl+Alt+Clicking on an index entry. This highlights the entry's
marker; the marker text appears in the Marker window. Or Find > Marker
> Type Index, then Find Next.

Mike, thanks for the detailed MIF solution.

If your clients objected to plugins because of cost, you can manage
marker text efficiently with the free MarkerWorker plug-in from
Cudspan (search Google for markerworker.)

Regards,

Peter
__________________
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 1:43 AM, Mike Bradley <mbradley at techpubs.com> wrote:
> You don't have to do anything. FM will pick them up.
>
> The Xrefs are no problem at all. They will be either of these Xref formats:
>
>  Imported Format PageNum, <Xref><$pagenum>
>  Imported Format ParaText, <Xref><$paratext>
>
> The index entries are a problem, but the solution is easy.
>
> For every index entry in the Word document, FM creates a separate Index marker.
> That's fine. But when it puts the markers in the FM file, it stacks them one on
> top of the other instead one after the other. As a result, when you view text
> symbols in FM, you see only one marker character. When you select it, you can
> select only the marker that's on top of the stack; finding and editing the
> markers under the top marker is a chore.
>
> For instance, suppose the Word doc has two index terms in a paragraph: {XE
> "evaluation versions"} {XE "versions, evaluation"}. FM would make two Index
 and stack them on one top of the other. You could select only the first
> entry's marker character when you viewed text symbols.
>
> The only way to find a particular marker in a stack of markers is to search for
> the marker text, if you know it, or locate the term in the index file and jump
> to it.
>
> My solution was to combine the stacked markers in the MIF file. It goes fairly
> quickly. The stacked markers appear next to each other in the MIF code and can
> be edited. For instance, this is the code for two stacked markers:
>
> <Marker
>    <MType 2>
>    <MTypeName `Index'>
>    <MText `evaluation versions'>
>    <MCurrPage `1'>
>    <Unique 998679>
>   > # end of Marker
> <Marker
>    <MType 2>
>    <MTypeName `Index'>
>    <MText `versions: evaluation'>
>    <MCurrPage `1'>
>    <Unique 998680>
>   > # end of Marker
>
> It can be edited to this:
>
> <Marker
>    <MType 2>
>    <MTypeName `Index'>
>    <MText `evaluation versions; versions: evaluation'>
>    <MCurrPage `1'>
>    <Unique 998679>
>   > # end of Marker
>
> The result is a single Index marker in the FM that combines the two entries,
> making them much easier to find and edit.
>
> The index plugins that one can use with FM address this problem, but my clients
> haven't wanted to use the plugins, so I improvised the MIF solution.
>
>
> = Mike Bradley
>  www.techpubs.com
>