Adobe InDesign CC Now Exports Active Indexes for eBooks
With the release of Adobe InDesign Creative Cloud (CC) in June, 2013, we welcome the new functionality of exporting active indexes for eBooks. Indexes are now exported to EPUB along with the rest of the content. When the user selects an index entry's page number, they will be taken directly to the referenced content. This is true regardless of the reading system used.
InDesign CC can also be rented on a monthly basis; information and pricing are available on the Adobe website.
Here are a few resources to assist you with the learning curve:
- InDesign indexing Yahoo Group
- InDesign seminars offered at ASI conferences and chapter meetings,/li>
- Articles in indexing society journals and periodicals
- InDesign Secrets is one of the best sources for tips about InDesign.
- Adobe Help articles "Creating an Index" and ""Creating Book Files"
- Adobe InDesign CC Now Exports Active Indexes for eBooks" for publishers. This information sheet will be updated as new software developments occur.
Know Your Versions The Creative Cloud release is the only version of InDesign that provides active EPUB indexes. Because CC is offered as a subscription model only, you may need to explain to clients that they must use that version to take advantage of this feature. CC is not backwards compatible; files created with earlier version of InDesign can be migrated to CC, but files created with CC cannot be opened or edited with an earlier version. The default appearance of InDesign CC indexes can be customized by editing the idGeneratedStyles.css file in your epub file. Instructions on how to change the indents are available at https://www.asindexing.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/files/ DTTF/ASI_DTTF_Change_Indenting.pdf
If you have InDesign CS 6 or earlier: You can create active indexes using scripts written by Jan Wright and Olav Kvern. These scripts allow you to create indexes in dedicated software and then insert valid HTML anchors into content files, allowing index locators to link directly to anchor locations in the content. The scripts are available for free from Wright Information.
Kerntiff Publishing Systems offers IndexUtilities, a set of scripts and plugins that allow you to create indexes in dedicated indexing software for import into InDesign and enhance InDesign's built-in indexing capability. Keep up to date on developments at their website.
ASI Digital Trends Task Force DTTF@asindexing.org
DTTF web site: https://www.asindexing.org/about-indexing/digital-trends-task-force/
LinkedIn site: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/ASI-Digital-Trends-Task-Force-4005509
Twitter: #indexing @ASIndexing
July 2013