Book indexing software

October 22, 2009 11:01 AM

What are good dedicated indexing applications for creating indexes for print books?

In previous posts I've seen mentions only of Cindex (about which I've heard disparaging comments elsewhere), and I've heard of a couple other apps. What apps do indexers recommend and why?

posted by mc2000 to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

The American Society for Indexers covers the territory here. Cindex and SKY Index are supposed to be the best, but both are expensive. I've also written indexes in Word. It's a bit more work to alphabetize, but not too bad if you only have the one to do.
posted by libraryhead at 11:50 AM on October 22, 2009

I indexed my book using TExtract, and I liked it.
posted by markcmyers at 3:52 PM on October 22, 2009

I've used Sonar Bookends InDex for three books so far. It's not a standalone application, but rather a plug-in for InDesign (or Quark). From their site: "You can generate an index based on word frequency, proper nouns, subjects of sentences, a list of words and phrases you supply, marked items, or any combination thereof. First and last names can be reversed automatically, duplicate entries removed, and a multiple-level index generated."
posted by Dean King at 9:04 AM on October 24, 2009