Re: Automatic Indexing

[Marcia Coulter <notjust -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

Tara Edwards Barber wrote:

>Hi, folks.  I've been asked by my engineering manager to try and find
>an automatic indexing package for documents.  What's desired is not
>the type of indexing that most of us do in word processing packages;
>i.e. inserting index codes/  What he would like to find is a package
>that can be given a list of key words to search on, and automatically
>compile an index based on that word search.

Most word processing packages will index in this manner. (I know for a
fact that Word, WordPerfect, and AmiPro do, which makes me think it's a
pretty standard feature. You just have to know it's there.) For
specific instructions, look up "concordance."

>He also thinks it would be nice if the search could
>include logic statements, such as "search for this word, but not this
>one," i.e. search for "data", but not "database."

What gets handled depends on the package you're using; check the
documentation.

>If you've actually used such a thing, your opinions on it would be
>very welcome; it sounds to me like an index compiled by such a product
>would require quite a bit of tweaking.  But that may just be my
>personal prejudices speaking.

I don't like them, but I've had clients who want it done that way. And
the person signing the checks gets the final say.

--------------------
Marcia Coulter
notjust -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com