Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

Writer Guide

Chapter 12

Tables of Contents, Indexes,

and Bibliographies

and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General Public License

(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons Attribution

License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), version 3.0 or later.

All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors

Ron Faile Jr.

Jean Hollis Weber

J A Smith

Feedback

Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:

[email protected]

Acknowledgments

This chapter is based on Chapter 12 of the OpenOffice.org 3.3 Writer Guide. The contributors to

that chapter are:

Martin Fox John Kane Rachel Kartch

Sigrid Kronenberger Peter Kupfer Paul Miller

Iain Roberts Gary Schnabl Rob Scott

Janet Swisher Catherine Waterman Jean Hollis Weber

Claire Wood Michele Zarri

Publication date and software version

Published 18 March 2012. Based on LibreOffice 3.4.5.

Note for Mac users

Some keystrokes and menu items are different on a Mac from those used in Windows and Linux.

The table below gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this chapter. For a more

detailed list, see the application Help.

Windows or Linux Mac equivalent Effect

Tools > Options menu

selection

LibreOffice > Preferences Access setup options

Right-click Control+click Opens a context menuccC

Ctrl (Control) z (Command) Used with other keys

F5 Shift+z+F5 Opens the Navigator

F11 z+T Opens the Styles and Formatting window

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at www.libreoffice.org

Contents
Copyright......................................................................................................................................... 2
Note for Mac users........................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 5
Tables of contents............................................................................................................................ 5
Creating a table of contents quickly............................................................................................. 5
Customizing a table of contents................................................................................................... 6
Index/Table page.................................................................................................................... 7
Changing the title.............................................................................................................. 7
Setting the type of index/table.......................................................................................... 7
Protecting against manual changes.................................................................................. 7
Changing the number of levels included........................................................................... 7
Choosing the scope of the table of contents..................................................................... 7
Creating a table of contents from an outline..................................................................... 8
Creating from additional styles......................................................................................... 8
Creating from index marks................................................................................................ 8
Entries page............................................................................................................................ 8
Adding elements............................................................................................................. 10
Changing elements......................................................................................................... 10
Applying changes to all outline levels............................................................................. 10
Deleting elements........................................................................................................... 10
Hyperlinking an entry...................................................................................................... 10
Applying character styles................................................................................................ 11
Tab parameters............................................................................................................... 11
Tab position relative to Paragraph Style indent............................................................... 11
Styles page........................................................................................................................... 11
Columns page....................................................................................................................... 12
Background page.................................................................................................................. 12
Adding color................................................................................................................... 13
Adding a graphic............................................................................................................. 13
Deleting a color or graphic.............................................................................................. 13
Maintaining a table of contents.................................................................................................. 14
Editing a table of contents..................................................................................................... 14
Updating a table of contents................................................................................................. 15
Deleting a table of contents...................................................................................................15
Alphabetic indexes......................................................................................................................... 15
Adding index entries.................................................................................................................. 15
Creating an alphabetic index quickly......................................................................................... 16
Customizing index entries......................................................................................................... 17
Example of using an index key............................................................................................. 17
Customizing the appearance of an index...................................................................................18
Index/Table page.................................................................................................................. 18
Entries page.......................................................................................................................... 19
Adding elements............................................................................................................. 20
Changing elements......................................................................................................... 20
Deleting elements........................................................................................................... 20
Chapter Info.................................................................................................................... 20
Applying character styles................................................................................................ 20
Formatting entries........................................................................................................... 21
Styles, Columns and Background pages.............................................................................. 21
Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies 3

Columns page....................................................................................................................... 21
Adding multiple columns................................................................................................. 21
Maintaining an index.................................................................................................................. 22
Viewing and editing existing index entries................................................................................. 22
Other types of indexes................................................................................................................... 23
Example: Creating an index of figures....................................................................................... 23
Bibliographies................................................................................................................................ 25
Creating a bibliographic database............................................................................................. 25
Filtering records.................................................................................................................... 26
Changing column details....................................................................................................... 26
Changing the data source..................................................................................................... 26
Changing field details............................................................................................................ 27
Adding entries to the database.................................................................................................. 28
Maintaining entries in the database........................................................................................... 29
Adding references (citations) into a document........................................................................... 29
Entering references from a database.................................................................................... 29
Entering references from documents.................................................................................... 30
Editing a reference.................................................................................................................... 30
Creating the bibliography........................................................................................................... 31
Index/Table page.................................................................................................................. 31
Entries page.......................................................................................................................... 32
Styles, Columns and Background pages.............................................................................. 33
Generating the bibliography.................................................................................................. 33
Defining the paragraph style for the bibliography.......................................................................34
Updating, editing and deleting an existing bibliography............................................................. 35
Tools for working with bibliographies......................................................................................... 35
4 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

Introduction

This chapter describes how to create and maintain a table of contents (TOC), an index, and a

bibliography for a text document using LibreOffice Writer. To understand the instructions, you need

to have a basic familiarity with Writer and styles (see Chapters 6 and 7).

This chapter does not cover all the possible ways to use the features available through the

TOC/Index dialog in Writer. Some common usage examples are given.

Tables of contents

Writer’s table of contents feature lets you build an automated table of contents from the headings

in your document. Whenever changes are made to the text of a heading in the body of the

document or the page on which the heading appears, those changes automatically appear in the

table of contents when it is next updated.

Before you start, make sure that the headings are styled consistently. For example, you can use

the Heading 1 style for chapter titles and the Heading 2 and Heading 3 styles for chapter

subheadings.

This section shows you how to:

• Create a table of contents quickly, using the defaults.

• Customize a table of contents.

Note

You can use any style you want for the different levels to appear in the table of

contents; however, for simplicity, most of this chapter uses the default Heading [x]

styles.

Creating a table of contents quickly

Most of the time you will probably find the default table of contents to be what you need. Inserting a

default TOC is simple:

1) When you create your document, use the following paragraph styles for different heading

levels (such as chapter and section headings): Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3.

These are what will appear in your TOC. Writer can evaluate up to ten levels of headings.

2) Click in the document where you want the TOC to appear.

3) Choose Insert > Indexes and Tables > Indexes and Tables.

4) Click OK. The result will be a typical table of contents.

Some tips you may find useful:

• If some of your headings do not show up in the table of contents, check that the headings

have been tagged with the correct paragraph style. If a whole level of headings does not

show up, check the settings in Tools > Outline Numbering. See “Defining a hierarchy of

headings” in Chapter 6, Introduction to Styles, for more information.

• The TOC appears with a gray background. This background is there to remind you that the

text is generated automatically. It is not printed and does not appear if the document is

converted to a PDF. To turn off this gray background, go to Tools > Options > LibreOffice

> Appearance, then scroll down to the Text Document section and deselect the option for

Index and table shadings.

This change may leave a gray background showing behind the dots between the headings

and the page numbers, because the dots are part of a tab. To turn that shading off, go to

Tables of contents 5

Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Formatting Aids and deselect the option for

Tabs.

• If you cannot place the cursor in the TOC, choose Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer >

Formatting Aids, and then select Enable in the Cursor in protected areas section.

If you add or delete text (so that headings move to different pages) or you add, delete, or change

headings, you need to update the table of contents. To do this: Right-click anywhere in the TOC

and select Update Index/Table from the pop-up menu.

Customizing a table of contents

Almost every aspect of the table of contents can be customized to suit the style and requirements

of your document. However, with this flexibility also comes some complexity and it is good to have

in mind the desired end result.

Start by clicking in the document where you want the table of contents to appear and choose

Insert > Indexes and Tables > Indexes and Tables to open the Insert Index/Table dialog shown

in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Index/Table page of Insert Index/Table dialog

You can also access this dialog at any time by right-clicking anywhere in an existing table of

contents and choosing Edit Index/Table from the pop-up menu.

The Insert Index/Table dialog has five pages. Each of them covers a different aspect of the TOC

structure and appearance:

• Use the Index/Table page to set the attributes of the TOC.

• Use the Entries and Styles pages to format the entries in the TOC.

6 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

• Use the Columns page to put the TOC into more than one column.

• Use the Background page to add color or a graphic to the background of the TOC.

You can display a preview box, located on the left-hand side of each page, to show as you work

how the TOC will look. (If you do not see the preview box, select the Preview option in the lower

right-hand corner of the dialog.) The illustrations in this chapter show the dialog as it appears with

the preview box hidden.

Note

The preview box only shows the appearance from settings made on the Index/Table,

Entries and Styles pages. The Columns and Background pages each have their own

preview panes.

After making all your changes, click OK to apply them. Before clicking OK, If you choose to revert

to the default settings for the Columns and Background pages, select each page in turn and click

the Reset button. The settings on the Entries and Styles pages must be reset manually, the Reset

button has no effect.

Index/Table page

Use the Index/Table page, pictured in Figure 1, to set the attributes of the TOC.

Changing the title

To give the table of contents a different title, type it in the Title field. To delete the title, clear the

Title field.

Setting the type of index/table

Be sure the Type is set to Table of Contents. See “Alphabetic indexes” on page 15 and “Other

types of indexes” on page 23 for more about creating other types of indexes.

Note

You can only change the type of index when you first create it. Once you define an

index type (for example, make a table of contents) you cannot change the type.

Protecting against manual changes

To prevent the TOC from being changed accidentally, select Protected against manual changes.

If this option is selected, the TOC can only be changed by using the right-click menu or the Insert

Table/Index dialog. If the option is not selected, the TOC can be changed directly on the document

page, just like other text. However, any manual changes will be lost when you update it.

Changing the number of levels included

Writer uses 10 levels of headings when it builds the table of contents (or the number of levels used

in the document, whichever is smaller). To change the number of levels included, enter the

required number in the Evaluate up to level box. For example, the TOC in this book includes only

the first four heading levels.

Choosing the scope of the table of contents

The for drop-down list in the Create index/table area, allows you to select whether the TOC will

cover all the document's headings (Entire document) or just the headings of the chapter where it

is inserted. Writer identifies a “chapter” as all the headings between two first level outline headings

(normally Heading 1).

Tables of contents 7

Creating a table of contents from an outline

The third section of the Index/Table page is used to determine what Writer should use to create the

TOC. The available choices (not mutually exclusive) are:

• Outline

• Additional styles

• Index marks

By default Writer uses the outline levels; that is, paragraphs formatted with the paragraph styles

associated with outline levels in Tools > Outline Numbering. In the default document, Heading 1

has outline level 1, Heading 2 outline level 2 and so on up to Heading 10.

You can change the paragraph styles included in the outline as described in “Defining a hierarchy

of headings” in Chapter 6, Introduction to Styles. You can include other paragraph styles in the

TOC by assigning an outline level to those styles. To do this, modify the paragraph style definition:

go to the Outline & Numbering page for the style, and select the required outline level. Click OK to

save the change.

Figure 2: Specifying an outline level on the Outline & Numbering page for a paragraph style

Creating from additional styles

By selecting the Additional Styles option on the Index/Table page, you can add more paragraph

styles to the TOC. This can be useful when you want to include in the TOC an annex (appendix). If

the Outline option is also selected, the additional styles will be included in the table of contents

together with the ones defined in the outline numbering. However, headings included in the TOC

using this feature are not hyperlinked to the headings in the document body as are headings

assigned to outline levels.

Creating from index marks

This selection adds any index entries that you have inserted into the document by using Insert >

Indexes and Tables > Entry. Normally you would not use this selection for a table of contents.

However, if you do wish to use it, be sure to select Table of Contents from the drop-down list in

the Insert Index Entry dialog (see Figure 10) when you are entering the index entries for use in a

TOC, so that Writer can distinguish between them and any index entries intended for inclusion in

an alphabetic index.

Entries page

Use the Entries page (see Figure 4) to define and format the text of entries in the TOC. The text of

each outline level can be styled independently from the other levels by adding and deleting

elements.

Click on a number in the Level column to select the outline level whose elements you want to

format. This will display the Structure line which contains the elements included in the entries for

that level. Elements that can be added to the structure line are displayed just below the structure

line, and are grayed out if they cannot be included:

• The E# button represents the “chapter number”, which means the heading number value

assigned in Tools > Outline Numbering to a heading style, not just for chapters but also

for other levels of headings (Chapter level and level 2 values are illustrated in Figure 3).

8 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

• The E button represents the chapter (or sub-chapter) text: That is the text formatted with

the paragraph style used for each level. In Figure 3, Heading 1 is used for Level 1, Heading

2 for Level 2.

• The T button represents a tab stop.

• The # button represents the page number.

• The LS button represents the start of a hyperlink. (This button does not appear on the

default Structure line.)

• The LE button represents the end of a hyperlink. (This button does not appear on the

default Structure line.)

The LS and LE buttons are part of the Hyperlink button set-up (See Hyperlinking an entry, below).

Each white field on the Structure line represents a blank space where you can add custom text.

Figure 3: Assigning a chapter number value (the E# value). The assigned Level 2

value also shows in the preview pane.

Figure 4. Entries page of Insert Index/Table dialog

Tables of contents 9

Note

In the Outline Numbering dialog, if you have included any text in the Separator text

input boxes for any given level, then that text will be part of the E# field for that

level. You should take care when building the structure line not to create any

unwanted effects in the appearance of your TOC.

Adding elements

To add an element to the Structure line:

1) Click in the white field where you want to insert the element.

2) Click one of the active buttons just below the Structure line. For example, to add a tab, click

the Tab stop button. A button representing the new element appears on the Structure line.

3) To add custom text, such as the word Chapter, type the text in the white field. Don't forget a

trailing space.

Changing elements

To change an element in the Structure line, click the button representing that element and then

click a non-grayed out element that you want to substitute it for, in the row of buttons just below the

Structure line. For example, to change a chapter number to a tab stop, click the E# button on the

Structure line (it shows then as being pressed) and then click the Tab stop button in the row of

available elements. To cancel before swapping an element, click in one of the white spaces.

Applying changes to all outline levels

To apply the displayed structure and formatting to all outline levels, click the All button.

Deleting elements

To delete an element from the Structure line, click the button representing that element and then

press the Delete key on your keyboard. For example, to delete a tab stop, click the T button and

then press the Delete key (Function+Delete on a Mac).

Hyperlinking an entry

To change the default Structure line so that the chapter number and the entry text form a hyperlink,

follow these steps:

1) On the Structure line, place the cursor in the white field to the left of the E# button.

2) Click the Hyperlink button. An LS button, representing the start of the hyperlink, appears

on the Structure line.

3) On the Structure line, place the cursor in the white field to the right of the E button.

4) Click the Hyperlink button again. An LE button, representing the end of the hyperlink,

appears on the Structure line.

Figure 5 represents the completion of the above steps. The number and the text of the entries on

that level will now be hyperlinks.

Figure 5: Hyperlink in table of contents

10 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

Applying character styles

You might want an element to be a bit different from the rest of the line. For example, you might

want the page number to be bold. To apply a character style to an element:

1) Be sure you have defined a suitable character style.

2) On the Structure line, click the button representing the element to which you want to apply

a style.

3) From the Character Style drop-down list, select the desired style.

To view or edit the attributes of a character style, select the style from the Character Style drop-

down list and then click the Edit button.

Tip

The default character style for hyperlinks is Internet Link, which by default is

underlined and shown in blue. If you want the TOC entries to work as hyperlinks,

but not appear underlined and blue, you can change the attributes of the Internet

Link character style. However, this changes the attributes of all hyperlinks in the

document.

If you want other hyperlinks (for example, website addresses) to remain in the

default style, select the LS button on the Structure line and change the character

style selection for TOC entries to Index Link. If necessary, change the attributes for

Index Link to what you want.

Tab parameters

Clicking on the Tab stop button on the structure line brings up two controls: Fill character and Tab

stop position:

• Fill character: select from the three options the tab leader you wish to use.

• Tab stop position: Enter the distance to leave between the left page margin and the tab

stop.

Tab position relative to Paragraph Style indent

When this option is selected, entries are indented according to the settings of their individual

formats. Where a paragraph style specifies an indent on the left, tab stops are relative to this

indent. If this option is not selected, tab stops are relative to the left margin position.

Styles page

Use the Styles page (Figure 6) to change which paragraph style is assigned to display the text of

each level in the table of contents. In most cases, the best strategy is to keep the assigned styles

but change their settings as needed to make the TOC appear the way you want.

To apply a custom paragraph style to an outline level:

1) In the Levels list box, select the outline level.

2) In the Paragraph Styles list box, click the desired paragraph style.

3) Click the < button to apply the selected paragraph style to the selected outline level.

The style assigned to each level appears in square brackets in the Levels list.

To remove paragraph styling from an outline level, select the outline level in the Levels list box, and

then click the Default button.

To view or edit the attributes of a paragraph style, click the style in the Paragraph Styles list box,

and then click the Edit button.

Note

Changes to a paragraph style will affect any text in the document that is formatted

using this style, not just the format of the table of contents.

Tables of contents 11

Figure 6. Styles page of Insert Index/Table dialog

Columns page

Use the Columns page to change the number of columns for the TOC. Multiple columns are more

likely to be used in indexes than in TOCs, so this page is described in the section on indexes. See

Figure 14.

Background page

Use the Background page to add color or a graphic to the background of the TOC.

Figure 7: Background page, showing Color choices.

12 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

Adding color

To add color to the background of the table of contents, select from the color grid.

Note

By default, the background to the TOC is shaded gray. This setting is in Tools >

Options > LibreOffice > Appearance, then, in the Text Document area, Index and

table shadings is selected.

Deselect this option to remove the gray background. Note that by adding a

background color, you overwrite this setting anyway.

Adding a graphic

To add a graphic to the background of the table of contents:

1) From the As drop-down list, select Graphic. The Background tab now displays the graphics

options, as shown below.

2) Click the Browse button. The Find graphics dialog opens.

3) Find the graphic file you want and then click the Open button. The Find graphics dialog

closes and the selected graphic appears in the graphic preview box on the right-hand side

of the Background tab. (If you do not see the graphic, select the Preview checkbox.)

4) To embed the graphic in your document, clear the Link checkbox. To link the graphic to the

document but not embed it, select the Link checkbox.

5) In the Type area of the Background tab, choose how you want the background graphic to

appear:

a) To position the graphic in a specific location, select Position and then click the

desired location in the position grid.

b) To stretch the graphic to fill the entire background area, select Area.

c) To repeat the graphic across the entire background area, select Tile.

Figure 8: Graphic options on the Background page of the Insert Index/Table dialog

Deleting a color or graphic

To delete color or a graphic from the table background:

1) From the As drop-down list, select Color.

2) Click No Fill on the color grid.

Tables of contents 13

Maintaining a table of contents

This section shows you how to:

• Edit an existing TOC

• Update a TOC when changes are made to the document

• Delete a TOC

Editing a table of contents

To edit an existing TOC:

1) Right-click anywhere in the TOC.

2) From the context menu, choose Edit Index/Table. The Insert Index/Table dialog (Figure 1

on page 6) opens and you can edit and save the table as described in the previous section.

Tip

If you cannot click in the TOC, it is probably because it is protected. To disable this

protection, choose Tools > Options > LibreOffice Writer > Formatting Aids, and

then select Enable in the Cursor in protected areas section. If you wish to edit the

TOC without enabling the cursor, you can access it from the Navigator.

You can also access the Index/Table dialog from the Navigator (Figure 9 ).

Figure 9: Access an index from the Navigator

1) Open the Navigator (press F5).

2) Click the expansion symbol (+ sign or triangle) next to Indexes.

3) Right-click on Table of Contents1 and choose Index > Edit.

14 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

Updating a table of contents

Writer does not update the TOC automatically, so after any changes to the headings, you must

update it manually. To update a TOC when changes are made to the document:

1) Right-click anywhere in the TOC.

2) From the pop-up menu, choose Update Index/Table. Writer updates the TOC to reflect the

changes in the document.

You can also update the index from the Navigator by right-clicking on Indexes > Table of

Contents1 and choosing Index > Update.

Deleting a table of contents

To delete the TOC from a document:

1) Right-click anywhere in the TOC.

2) From the pop-up menu, choose Delete Index/Table. Writer deletes the TOC.

Note

Writer will not prompt you to confirm the delete! Use caution when deleting a TOC.

You can also delete the index from the Navigator by selecting Index > Delete from the menu

shown in Figure 9.

Alphabetic indexes

An alphabetical index (referred to as an index) is a list of keywords or phrases used throughout a

document that, if listed in order with page numbers, may help the reader find information quickly.

Generally an index is found in the back of a book or document.

This section describes how to:

• Add index entries.

• Create an alphabetic index quickly.

• Customize the display of index entries.

• Customize the appearance of the index.

• View and edit existing index entries.

Adding index entries

Before you can create an index, you must create some index entries.

1) To add a word to the index, place the cursor anywhere in that word. If you want to add

multiple words as one entry, select the entire phrase.

2) Choose Insert > Indexes and Tables > Entry to display a dialog similar to that shown in

Figure 10. When the dialog opens, the selected text appears in the Entry text input box.

You can accept the word or phrase shown, or change it to whatever you want.

3) Click Insert to create the entry.

You may of course open the dialog before selecting text, and then select the text required. After

selecting the text, click on the dialog to enter the text into the Entry text input box.

Note

A cursor placed immediately before the first character of a word, or immediately after

the last character of a word if it's followed by a space, counts as being in that word.

Alphabetic indexes 15

Figure 10. Inserting an index entry

See “Customizing index entries” on page 17 for an explanation of the fields on this dialog.

You can create multiple entries without closing the dialog. For each one:

1) Click at the location in the document that you want to index.

2) Click again on the dialog.

3) Change the entry if needed, and click Insert.

4) Repeat steps 1–3 until you have finished with the entries, then click Close.

Note

If field shading is active (see Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Appearance >

Text Document > Field shadings), when a selected word or phrase has been

added to the index, it is shown in the text with a gray background. If the text of an

index entry has been changed from the text of the word selected, the index entry is

marked by a small gray rectangle at the start of that word.

Tip

You can also open the Insert Index Entry dialog by clicking the Entry icon on the

Insert toolbar, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. Entry icon on Insert toolbar

Creating an alphabetic index quickly

Now that you have some index entries, you can create the index.

Although indexes can be customized extensively in Writer, most of the time you need to make only

a few choices.

To create an index quickly:

1) Click in the document where you want to add the index and click Insert > Indexes and

Tables > Indexes and Tables.

2) In the Type box on the Index/Table page (Figure 12), select Alphabetical Index.

16 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

3) In the Options section, you may want to uncheck Case sensitive (so that capitalized and

lower-case words are treated as the same word) and uncheck Combine identical entries

with p or pp.

4) Click OK. The result will be a typical index.

Writer does not update an index automatically. If you add, delete, or change the text of index

entries, you need to update the index. To do this, follow the steps outlined in “Updating a table of

contents” on page 15.

Customizing index entries

Below is a brief explanation of the fields in the Insert Index Entry dialog (Insert > Indexes and

Tables > Entry) and how to use them.

Index

The type of index this entry is for. The default is Alphabetical Index, but you can use this field

to create extra entries for a table of contents or user-defined indexes or lists of almost anything.

For example, you might want an index containing only the scientific names of species

mentioned in the text, and a separate index containing only the common names of species.

See “Other types of indexes” on page 23.

Entry

The word or phrase to be added to the selected index. This word or phrase does not need to

be in the document itself; you can add synonyms and other terms that you want to appear in

the index.

1st key

An index key is an entry that has no associated page number and has several subentries that

do have page numbers. Using keys is a useful way of grouping related topics. (See “Example

of using an index key” on page 17.)

2nd key

You can have a three-level index, where some of the first-level keys have level-2 entries that

are also keys (without page numbers). This degree of index complexity is not often necessary.

Main entry

When the same term is indexed on several pages, often one of those pages has more

important or detailed information on that topic, so you want it to be the main entry. To make the

page number for the main, or most important, entry stand out, select this option and then define

the character style for the page number of a main index entry to be bold, for example.

Apply to all similar texts

Select this option to have Writer automatically identify and mark any other word or phrase that

matches the current selection. The Match case and Whole words only options become

available if this option is selected. Use this option with care, as it may result in many unwanted

page numbers (for minor uses of a word) being listed in the index.

Example of using an index key

An index key is a primary entry under which subentries are grouped. For example, you might want

to create a grouping similar to this:

LibreOffice

Calc...........10

Impress......15

Writer...........5

Alphabetic indexes 17

In this example, LibreOffice is the 1st key. The subentries (with the page numbers showing) are the

indexed entries. To insert an index entry for the topic Writer, on the Insert Index Entry dialog

(Figure 10 on page 16), type Writer in the Entry box and LibreOffice in the 1st key box.

Customizing the appearance of an index

To customize an existing index, right-click anywhere in the index and choose Edit Index/Entry

from the context menu.

The Insert Index/Table dialog (Figure 12) has five pages. Any or all of them can be used to

customize the appearance of an index.

• Use the Index/Table page to set the attributes of the index.

• Use the Entries and Styles pages to format the entries in the index.

• Use the Columns tab to put the index into more than one column.

• Use the Background tab to add color or a graphic to the background of the index.

The preview box, located on the left-hand side of the dialog, shows as you work how the index will

look. (If you do not see the preview box, select Preview in the lower right-hand corner of the

dialog.)

After making your changes, click OK to save the index so it appears in your document.

Note

The preview box only shows the appearance from settings made on the Index/Table,

Entries and Styles pages. The Columns and Background pages each have their own

preview panes.

Index/Table page

Use the Index/Table page to set the basic attributes of the index.

Figure 12. Index/Table page of Insert Index/Table dialog

18 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

1) To give the Index a different title, type it in the Title field. To delete the title, clear the Title

field.

2) Be sure the type of index is set to Alphabetical Index.

3) To prevent the index from being changed accidentally, select Protected against manual

changes. If this option is selected, the index can only be changed using the right-click

menu, or the Insert Index/Table dialog. If the option is not selected, the index can be

changed directly on the document page, just like other text, but any manual changes to an

index are lost when you update it.

4) From the drop-down list in the Create index/table section, select Entire document. You

can also choose to create an index for just the current chapter.

5) Various other options determine how the index handles entries:

• Combine identical entries. Defines how identical entries are dealt with. Normally

each page number of an indexed word or phrase will be shown in the index; however

these can be combined using the Combine identical entries with p or pp. If you

want a page range displayed, select Combine with – (which will produce something

similar to 23–31). If you want different entries based on what letters are capitalized,

select Case sensitive.

• AutoCapitalize entries. Automatically capitalizes the first letter of each entry

regardless of how they show within the document itself.

• Keys as separate entries. For the keys to have their own page numbers, select this

option.

• Concordance file. Enables a list of words in an external file to be imported (select

using the File button) and then used within the index. The concordance file has a

special file format; for further information, refer to concordance file in Help >

LibreOffice Help. Using a concordance file can speed up production of an index, but

unless the words are very carefully selected and you edit the index afterwards, the

resulting index can be full of entries for minor mentions of a term, making it less useful

than a more selective index.

• Sort. Defines how the entries are sorted when displayed. The only option is

alphanumeric, but you can define which language alphabet will be used.

Entries page

Use the Entries page to set exactly how and what will be displayed for each of the entries. The

page is similar to Figure 13.

To begin, in the Level column select the index level whose elements you want to format. Level “S”

refers to the single letter headings that divide the index entries alphabetically when the

Alphabetical delimiter option is selected in the Format section. (You will be able to apply your

changes to all index levels later.) The Structure line displays the elements for entries in that level.

Each button on the Structure line represents one element:

• The E button represents the entry text.

• The T button represents a tab stop.

• The # button represents the page number.

• The CI button represents chapter information. This is not present by default, but can be

added by selecting the Chapter info button.

Each white field on the Structure line represents a blank space. You can add custom text if you

desire.

Alphabetic indexes 19

Figure 13. Entries page for creating an alphabetical index

Adding elements

To add an element to the Structure line:

1) Place the cursor in the white field to the left of where you want to insert the element.

2) Click one of the active buttons below the Structure line. (For example, to add a tab stop,

click the Tab stop button.) A button representing the new element appears on the Structure

line.

3) To add custom text, click in the white space at the position you want to insert it, and type

the text. Don't forget a trailing space.

Changing elements

To change an element in the Structure line, click the button representing that element and then

click the element that you want to substitute it for in the row of buttons just below the Structure line.

For example, to change entry text to a tab stop, click the E button on the Structure line (it shows

then as being pressed) and then click the Tab stop button in the row of available elements.

Deleting elements

To delete an element from the Structure line, click the button that represents that element and then

press the Delete key on your keyboard. For example, to delete a tab stop, click the T button and

then press the Delete key (Function+Delete on a Mac).

Chapter Info

This button inserts chapter information, such as the chapter heading and number. The information

to be displayed is selected from the Chapter entry box menu. This data is determined in the

Outline Numbering dialog (Tools > Outline Numbering).

Applying character styles

Each of the items that can be added to the Structure line may be given additional formatting. For

example, you may want the page number to be a different size from the rest of the index text. To

do this, apply a character style to one of the elements in the Structure line.

20 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

To apply a character style to an element:

1) On the Structure line, click the button representing the element to which you want to apply

a style.

2) Select the desired style from the Character Style drop-down list. Writer applies the style to

the selected element.

To view or edit the attributes of a character style, select the style from the Character Style drop-

down list and then click the Edit button.

Formatting entries

Apply additional formatting using the options in the Format section.

• Alphabetical delimiter. This separates the index entries into blocks that start with the

same first letter, using that letter as a header. For example, if your index begins:

apple, 4

author, 10

break, 2

bus, 4

then selecting this option will give you:

apple, 4

author, 10

break, 2

bus, 4

• Key separated by commas. Arranges the entries in the index on the same line but

separated by commas.

• Tab position relative to Paragraph Style indent. When checked, entries are indented

according to the settings of their individual formats. Where a paragraph style with an indent

on the left is in use, tab stops will be relative to this indent. If this option is not selected, tab

stops will be relative to the left margin position.

Styles, Columns and Background pages

Refer to “Styles page” on page 11 and “Background page” on page 12 for detailed information on

these pages.

Columns page

Use the Columns page (Figure 14) to change the number of columns for the index.

Adding multiple columns

To display the index in more than one column:

1) Either enter the number of columns desired in the box labeled Columns or select the icon

representing the number of columns.

2) To evenly distribute the columns according to the page width, check the AutoWidth box. If

it is unchecked, you can manually set each of the following:

• Width of each of the columns

• Spacing between each of the columns

Alphabetic indexes 21

Figure 14. Columns page of the Insert Index/Table dialog

3) You can choose to have a separator line between the columns:

• Style: The default is None, or select from three choices of line style.

• Width: The width (thickness) of the line. The default is 0.25pt.

• Height: The height of the line, as a percentage of the full column height. The default is

100%

• Position: Position of the line relative to the columns (top, centered, or bottom) if the

height is less than 100%.

• Color: Allows the color of the separator line to be set.

Maintaining an index

To modify the appearance of an index:

1) Right-click anywhere in the index.

2) From the context menu, choose Edit Index/Table. The Insert Index/Table dialog opens and

you can edit and save the index using the five tabs described in the previous section.

To update or delete an index, right-click anywhere in the index and select Update Index/Table or

Delete Index/Table as required.

Viewing and editing existing index entries

Once you have added the initial entries, you can make some amendments. You can view and edit

these using the following steps:

1) Ensure that field shading is active (Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Appearance > Text

Document > Field shadings), so you can locate index entries more easily.

22 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

2) Place the cursor in the field shading of an existing index entry in the body of your document

and select Edit > Index Entry. In the case of a changed-text entry, the field shading is

immediately before the word. Placing the cursor immediately before a word marked as a

text entry will satisfy both selection criteria. Alternatively, right-click at those positions and

from the context menu select Index Entry.

3) A dialog similar to Figure 15 appears. You can move through the various index entries

using the forward and back arrow buttons. If there is more than one entry for a single word

or phrase, a second row of buttons with a vertical bar at the point of the arrow head is

displayed allowing you to scroll through each of these entries.

4) Make the necessary modifications or additions to the index entries, and then click OK.

Figure 15. Viewing and editing index entries

Other types of indexes

An alphabetical index is not the only type of index that you can build with Writer. Other types of

indexes supplied with Writer include those for illustrations, tables, and objects, and you can even

create a user-defined index. This chapter does not give examples of all the possibilities.

To create other indexes:

1) Place the cursor where you want the index created.

2) Select Insert > Indexes and tables > Indexes and tables from the menu bar.

3) On the Insert Index/Table dialog, in the Type drop-down list, select the index wanted.

4) Modify the various pages, which are very similar to those discussed in previous sections.

5) Select OK when everything has been set.

Example: Creating an index of figures

Creating an index (list) of figures or tables is easy if the figure captions were created using Insert >

Caption or manually using a number range variable as described in Chapter 14, Working with

Fields.

1) On the Insert Index/Table dialog, in the Type drop-down list, choose Illustration Index.

You can change the title of the index to something else; we have used Table of

Figures as our title.

2) Be sure Captions is selected in the Create from section, and choose the category of

caption. The default for Category is Illustration; in our example we have used Figure for the

figure captions.

Other types of indexes 23

Figure 16. Creating other types of indexes

(The category Figure is not supplied with LibreOffice; however, if you have defined it when

creating a caption in your document, it will appear on this list. See Chapter 8, Working with

Graphics, for more about creating captions.)

3) Under Display, you can choose References (to include the category, number, and caption

text), Category and Number, or Caption Text. We have chosen References.

4) On the Entries page, notice that hyperlinking from the index to the body of the document is

not available, but you can make some other selections.

Figure 17: Entries tab for Illustration Index

5) Click OK. The result is shown below.

Figure 18: Resulting index of illustrations

24 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

Bibliographies

A bibliography is a list for displaying references used throughout a document. These references

are either stored in a bibliographic database or within the document itself.

This section shows you how to:

• Create a bibliographic database; add and maintain entries.

• Add a reference into a document.

• Format the bibliography.

• Update and edit an existing bibliography.

Creating a bibliographic database

For most of this section, the database table used is the sample one that comes with Writer. For

information on creating a new table in the bibliographic database, see Chapter 8, Getting Started

with Base, in the Getting Started guide.

Although you can create references within the document itself, creating a bibliographic database

allows reuse in other documents and saves a lot of time.

Select Tools > Bibliography Database. The Bibliography Database window similar to that in

Figure 19 opens. The upper part of the page shows all of the records, in a table layout similar to

that of a spreadsheet. The lower part of the page shows all the fields of the selected record.

Figure 19. Bibliography Database main window

Bibliographies 25

Filtering records

To set up a filter for specific records within the bibliographic database, select Tools > Filter from

the Bibliographic Database menu bar. On the Standard Filter dialog (Figure 20), choose the fields,

conditions and values for the filter and click OK.

Figure 20. Setting up a filter for the bibliographic database

Changing column details

To change the details of columns in the bibliographic database, select Edit > Column

Arrangement from the menu bar, or click the Column Arrangement button near the top of the

window (see Figure 19). The Column Layout for Table biblio dialog (Figure 21) is displayed. This

allows you to change which fields are allocated to which columns. As an example, you can select

to have Author data go into the Identifier column, by changing the destination in the drop-down list.

The Short name data column destination sets to None automatically, as you can't set duplicate

destinations for data.

Figure 21. Changing column layout for bibliographic database

Changing the data source

To change the data source in use (for example, if you have more than one bibliographic database

for different purposes), select Edit > Choose Data Source from the menu bar, or click the Data

Source button near the top of the window. The Choose Data Source dialog (Figure 22) is

displayed.

26 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

Figure 22: Choosing a different data source for the bibliographic database

Changing field details

You can make changes to the bibliography database (for example, rename fields or change the

length of fields) by doing the following:

1) In the main document (not the Bibliography Database window), press F4 or click View >

Data Sources to open the data source window, similar to Figure 23.

Figure 23. Data Source view of Bibliography database

2) Make sure that the Bibliography database is selected as well as the correct table. You may

have to expand some levels to be able to select the correct ones.

3) Right-click on the table entry (biblio in the example) and select Edit Database File from

the context menu. This opens a window similar to Figure 24, which is the main menu for

Base, the database component of LibreOffice.

Figure 24. Main window for working with databases

Bibliographies 27

4) If Tables (in the Database section) is not selected, select it now.

5) Right-click on the biblio table name in the Tables section and select Edit from the context

menu to display the Table Design window similar to that shown in Figure 25.

6) You can now select each of the fields. You can select the text in the Field Name cell and

change the entry as required. Clicking in the Field Type cell, allows you to open a selection

menu to change the data type in that cell. In the Field Properties section, the data

properties can be modified . For each data field selected, an explanation of that field

appears in a window to the right of the section.

7) When finished, you will be asked to confirm that you want the changes saved.

Note

For more information on how to use LibreOffice’s database features, see Chapter 8,

Getting Started with Base, in the Getting Started guide.

Figure 25: Modify table properties window

Adding entries to the database

Use the Bibliography Database dialog (Tools > Bibliography Database) to add entries to the

database:

1) You can add records directly into the database using the fields in the lower section of the

dialog shown in Figure 19 on page 25.

2) Select Insert > Record from the menu bar of the Bibliography Database dialog, or click the

Insert Record icon to the left of the horizontal scroll bar.

3) Enter a name for the entry in the Short Name box. Complete other fields as required. Use

the Tab key to move between fields.

4) It is best to use a unique name in the Short name field. This field is used when inserting

entries into documents.

28 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

5) To complete the entry, move to the last field and press Tab once more.

If your document requires [Author, date] style citations, use the Short name field of the database to

record the information in the required format.

Maintaining entries in the database

To maintain entries in the database, use the Bibliography Database dialog (Tools > Bibliography

Database). Click on the appropriate record and modify the fields as appropriate.

Modified entries are saved automatically to the database when the cursor moves off the record.

Adding references (citations) into a document

Writer supports two methods of adding references to your document:

• From a bibliography database, such as the one built in to Writer.

• Directly from the keyboard when you may have documents in front of you.

Entering references from a database

To add references from the bibliographic database into a document:

1) Place the cursor where you want the reference to appear.

2) From the main menu, choose Insert > Indexes and Tables > Bibliographic Entry.

3) In the Insert Bibliographic Entry dialog, choose From bibliography database at the top of

the dialog.

Figure 26. Inserting bibliographic entries into a document

4) Select the reference from the Short name drop-down list near the bottom of the dialog. The

Author and Title of the selected reference are shown in the middle of the dialog, to help you

verify that it is the reference you want.

5) To insert the reference into the document, click Insert.

6) You can keep the dialog open and insert another reference into the document; you don’t

need to close and reopen it.

7) When you have finished inserting all the references, select Close.

Bibliographies 29

Entering references from documents

You may choose to enter your bibliographic entries directly into the document, instead of from an

external database. For example, you may not be working on your own computer.

Click in the document where you want to add the entry.

Select Insert > Indexes and Tables > Bibliography Entry.

1) In the dialog which opens, select the From document content option.

a) Select New.

b) In the Define Bibliography Entry dialog, complete all the fields which are relevant to

your entry. Type a unique name in the Short name text entry box, because the Insert

Bibliography Entry dialog uses this entry for the citation.

c) An entry must be selected from the menu in the Type input box in order to enable the

OK button.

d) Click OK when all the fields wanted are completed.

e) Click Insert to add the Short name field to the document

f) Click in each location you wish to add an entry and repeat this sequence

2) Click Close.

You may of course re-use an entry in your document, by restarting the sequence above, and then

selecting the Short name required, from the current list of entries, instead of selecting to add a new

entry

Editing a reference

You can edit a reference in the following manner:

1) Right-click on the entry (the cursor then displays to the left of the entry).

2) From the context menu which opens, select Bibliography Entry.

The Edit Bibliography Entry dialog opens, similar to below.

Figure 27: Edit the citation entry

3) To quickly edit only the Short name, click on the text box, alter the entry and then click

Modify. The dialog saves the change and closes.

4) To edit more of the entry, click on Edit to open the Define Bibliography Entry dialog similar

to the graphic shown below (Figure 28).

5) Make any changes required and then click OK to return to the dialog of Figure 27.

6) If you are satisfied with your changes, click Modify to accept the changes and exit the

dialog.

30 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

Caution

When you open the Define Bibliography Entry dialog to edit an entry, do NOT use

the selection menu in the Short name box to change the entry you wish to edit.

Changing this setting will randomly distribute the data amongst the fields, from the

fields in which the data should reside.

Whatever the source of the citation, the modified references are stored in the document. If the

source was a bibliography database, that database remains unmodified.

Figure 28: The editable fields

Creating the bibliography

To create the bibliography:

1) Place the cursor at the point where you wish to insert the bibliography.

2) Select Insert > Indexes and Tables > Indexes and Tables and change the Type to

Bibliography, to display a dialog similar to that shown in Figure 29.

The Insert Index/Table dialog has five pages.

Index/Table page

Writer supports two ways of displaying references (citations) in the text of a document:

• Using the text recorded in the Short name field of each bibliographic entry, for example

[GUR00].

• By numbering the referenced documents in the sequence they occur in the text, for

example [1].

Tip

To specify which citation style is used in the document, use the Index/Table page

on the Insert Index/Table dialog, described on page 32.

Formatting the bibliography involves choices made in two places:

• Insert Index/table dialog (covered in this section)

• Bibliography 1 paragraph style (see page 34)

Bibliographies 31

The basic settings are selected on this page.

1) To give the bibliography a title, enter it in the Title field. (A title is not required.)

2) You can protect the bibliography from being changed accidentally, by checking Protected

against manual changes. If this option is selected, the bibliography can only be changed

using the right-click menu or the Insert Table/Index dialog. If the option is not selected, the

bibliography can be changed directly on the document page, just like other text, but any

manual changes will be lost when you update the bibliography.

Figure 29: Inserting a bibliography

3) To have the bibliographic entries (citations) numbered within the body of the document (for

example, [1], [2], ...), select Number entries. If, however, you wish to have the Short name

field contents (from the database) appear in the document, deselect this option.

4) Select the type of brackets that you want for the referenced entries shown within the body

of the document.

5) Define the sorting you require. Currently only alphanumeric sorting is supported. Sorting by

the the sequence that entries appear in the text is done on the Entries page.

Entries page

The structure of this page (see Figure 30), is similar to that for tables of contents and for indexes.

You can define how the entry will appear based on the Type of the entry, or simply apply the same

format to all entries by selecting the All button.

Each entry in the Type list has a default structure format.

The Structure of the entry is based on the fields available in the bibliographic database. The ones

shown by default for Article in the Type list are:

Sh – Short name

Au – Author

Ti – Title

Ye - Year

32 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

Note

In this release of LibreOffice the Right scroll arrow on the structure line does not

work. If you have more than three entries, and you wish to check what elements are

on the line, click in the structure line and use the keyboard right navigation arrow.

The Left scroll arrow works correctly.

To remove elements from the Structure line, click the element then click the Remove button.

To add an element, click in the Stucture line where it is to be inserted. Select either the Tab stop,

or an element in the drop-down list to the left of the Insert button, and then click Insert. The

elements in the drop-down list are those fields found in the Bibliography Database.

All the elements on the Structure line can be formatted using the Character Style selection list.

To determine how entries are sorted, modify the Sort by options. To sort by the sequence that

entries appear in the text, choose Document position. To sort alphanumerically, choose Content.

Use Sort keys to group similar references.

Figure 30: Entries page for bibliographies

Styles, Columns and Background pages

Refer to “Styles page” on page 11, “Columns page” on page 21 and “Background page” on page

12 for detailed information on these pages.

Generating the bibliography

To generate the bibliography so that it appears in your document, click OK. The Insert Index/Table

dialog closes and the bibliography appears in your document.

Bibliographies 33

Defining the paragraph style for the bibliography

You can modify the Bibliography 1 paragraph style to suit your requirements. For example, to

number the entries in the bibliography list, you need to define a numbering style and link that

numbering style to the Bibliography 1 paragraph style. To do this:

1) On the Styles and Formatting window, click on the List Styles icon. You can either define a

new list style or modify one of those supplied. In this example, we will modify the

Numbering 1 style. Right-click on Numbering 1 and choose Modify from the context menu.

2) On the Numbering Style dialog, go to the Options page. In our example we want to have

the numbers enclosed in square brackets. To do this, type [ in the Before box and ] in the

After box, as shown in Figure 31.

Figure 31: Specifying square brackets before and after the number in a list

3) Now go to the Position page of the Numbering style dialog. In the Spacing to text box,

specify how much indentation you want for the second and following lines of any item in the

bibliography list of your document. Often you will need to experiment a bit to see what is

the best setting. In our example (Figure 32), we have chosen 1 cm.

Figure 32: Setting the spacing between the margin and the text

34 Creating Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies

4) Click OK to save these settings and close the Numbering Style dialog. Return to the Styles

and Formatting window, click on the Paragraph Styles icon, choose All Styles from the

list at the bottom of that window, then right-click on Bibliography 1 and choose Modify.

5) On the Paragraph Style dialog, go to the Outline & Numbering tab and select Numbering

1 from the drop-down list. (See Figure 33.) Click OK to save this change to the

Bibliography 1 paragraph style.

Figure 33: Applying a numbering style to a paragraph style

Now when you generate the bibliography, the list will look something like the one shown below

after removing elements from the structure line (the Short name and colon, for example).

Figure 34: Result of changing settings for Bibliography 1 paragraph style

Updating, editing and deleting an existing bibliography

Right-click anywhere in the bibliography. Then, in the context menu which opens:

• Select Update Index/Table to update the bibliography.

• Select Edit Index/Table to open the Insert Index/Table dialog so you can edit and save the

table.

• Select Delete Index/Table to delete the table without a confirmation request.

Tools for working with bibliographies

If you find Writer’s bibliography feature too limited, try Bibus (http://bibus-biblio.sourceforge.net/

wiki/index.php/Main_Page) or Zotero (http://www.zotero.org/). Both programs are free and open

source and are reported to work well with Writer.

Bibliographies 35