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bradholtz's avatar
bradholtz
Copper Contributor
Sep 18, 2025

Index tab leaders don't reflect tab leaders in the Index Style

Contex: 700 page word document with multiple indexes - about 1500 index items in each of three indexes

Issue: Indexes appear with dotted tab leaders in front of page number. Index 1 style (and the other levels as well) have a tabs without dotted leaders.

Question: How to get rid of the dotted tab leaders if they don't follow the relevant index style when the index is updated.

Note that I have tried

  • clearing the index style
  • changing the index style
  • creating a clean document with good styles and copying the index definition from that document
  • creating a clean document template with good styles and adding that (and activating it) to the document

And numerous other methods that I have not documented.

Any thoughts on how to address this (other than applying the style every time I update)?

 

word

3 Replies

  • Charles_Kenyon's avatar
    Charles_Kenyon
    Bronze Contributor
    Sep 21, 2025

    You might try changing the tab setting in the generated index paragraph and then updating the style to match.

    Can you perhaps save a pared-down copy of your document on OneDrive or DropBox and posting a link here? It should have at least the problem index and some of the index entries that go to create it.

    It would also help if you specified the version of Word/Office by name and release number and your operating system.

    • bradholtz's avatar
      bradholtz
      Copper Contributor
      Sep 21, 2025

      Thank you. Your questions led me to a path to solution. A bit overkill, but it worked. Here's what I did:

      • Reboot
      • Open Word (Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2509 Build 16.0.19231.20044) 64-bit )
      • "Open and Repair" the file with issues
      • Save the file as "REPAIRED.docx"
      • Confirmed that Index 1 and Index 2 Styles are set as desired (no dot leaders)
      • Alt-F9 to expose parameters for each of the three indexes (noting that the \e parameter is a tab -->):

        \e " " |h "A" \f "f" \c "1" \z "1033"

        \e " " \f "d" \c "1" \z "1033"

        \e " " \f "b" \c "1" \z "1033"

      • Save the file as "NOINDEX.docx and close
      • Open "NOINDEX.docx" and confirm Style settings
      • Close WORD and Reboot
      • Open Word
      • "Open and Repair" NOINDEX.docx
      • Save as "NOINDEX - REPAIRED.docx"
      • Go to location for first index (Index of First Lines)
      • Create INDEX with simple parameters (\e " " \c "1" \z "1033"
      • Add the \f parameter
      • Alt-F9
      • Update index
      • Repeat for the second and third indexes ("d" and "b")
      • Save the file as "FIXED.docx"

      Hopefully this will be a useful note for others who run into the same issue.

      • bradholtz's avatar
        bradholtz
        Copper Contributor
        Oct 02, 2025

        Oddly, two weeks later, with no other changes (other than Windows updates) the dot leaders reappeared on update (had not reappeared on update during the prior period).

        I could probably repeat the process above, but what is going on?


        Suggestions?

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