deleting index entries

[fltii]

hey, i have some index entries that are no longer relevant. how do i delete them from the index explorer?

[LTinker68]

You have to open the topics they're in and delete the index entries from there (or use find-and-replace to do it for you). The Index Explorer will update automatically as soon as you save the modified topic(s).

[fltii]

thank you thank you...

actually there are some instances where the index entry was deleted (at least i think it was) and it still shows in the index explorer.

and actually it is that there is an index subtopic, that i want to remove... i guess the link goes to the right place.

but in the attached screen shot, i want to remove tasks from the list of dashboard sub-entries.

how do i do that?

[NorthEast]

thank you thank you...

actually there are some instances where the index entry was deleted (at least i think it was) and it still shows in the index explorer.

and actually it is that there is an index subtopic, that i want to remove... i guess the link goes to the right place.

but in the attached screen shot, i want to remove tasks from the list of dashboard sub-entries.

how do i do that?

If you double-click on the topic listed, it will open the topic, then look for the green index marker for that entry. If you can't see markers in topics, click the <t> button on the topic toolbar and select Show Markers.

[fltii]

If you double-click on the topic listed, it will open the topic, then look for the green index marker for that entry. If you can't see markers in topics, click the <t> button on the topic toolbar and select Show Markers.

i am sorry maybe i wasn't clear enough in my last clarification.

i want to keep the index entry "tasks", (see my screen shot above) but i don't want it to show as a sub-category of "dashboard". so i would just like to remove "tasks" from the "dashboard" branch. does that make sense? how can i do that?

[NorthEast]

i want to keep the index entry "tasks", (see my screen shot above) but i don't want it to show as a sub-category of "dashboard". so i would just like to remove "tasks" from the "dashboard" branch. does that make sense? how can i do that?

Edit the index entry in the topic for Dashboard: Tasks (the colon : makes the 'branch'), and set it to Tasks or whatever you need.

[fltii]

okay, that is helpful... i am able to remove/edit the terms in the index entry window, but how do i save (apply) those changes?

when i click "save all", nothing happens to the asterisk in the index entry window, and also the top category that i was editing did not change int he index explorer either...

[LTinker68]

Same as I mentioned previously -- you make the changes in the topic. When you save the topic, the Index Explorer (should) update automatically. I don't remember having to do a refresh in that pane, so I'm pretty sure it's automatic. But it won't change until you save the topic(s). And if you've used that same branching in a couple of topics, you need to make the change to both topics. If you only make the change in one topic, then you'll have "Tasks" plus you'll have "Dashboard: Tasks", because you didn't change the second topic.

[fltii]

thanks that did work.

sorry about the confusion, i think i did have to close and re-load the index explorer to get that change to display.

[LTinker68]

Couldn't remember. It might be you have to do that if you modify a branching index. Or it could depend on whether the project is on the local drive or a networked drive (there tends to be a delay with the refresh option if you're on a networked drive; you'd see the same behavior when you create or rename a topic in the Content Explorer). You might be able to do a refresh by left-clicking on an entry in the Index Explorer and then pressing F5. I think I did sometimes.

[Adrian Durand]

Hi,

With regards to the refresh of the index explorer, I deleted and recreated the index for my entire project yesterday, and each time the index entry was updated in the topic, and the topic saved, then the index explorer updated automatically.

It appears to be the Save that is the trigger to update the index eplorer, rather than just deleting or amending the actual entry in the topic.

Regards

Adrian

[ccardimon]

I deleted and recreated the index for my entire project yesterday

How difficult was that to do?

My Index Explorer does not seem to be updating automatically for one of my projects.

[Adrian Durand]

Hi,

Not difficult, just a looooonnnnng, tedious, boring job

Although, I must admit that I kept it simple when recreating the index, each topic only has two entrieas (and I deliberately did not include all of the pop-ups etc as that would at least double the size of the index).

One thing to try..

From the Index Explorer, open one of the topics and delete the index entry from the topic,then save.
See if that automatically updates the Index Explorer.
I suppose the other question is, do you have the project checked into Source Control ? and if so, could this be preventing the update.
For myself, with being the only author in the company, I don't have the added level of Source Control (everything just backed up at night).

Regards

Adrian

[ccardimon]

Thanks for replying, Adrian.

From the Index Explorer, open one of the topics and delete the index entry from the topic,then save.
See if that automatically updates the Index Explorer.

I did as you suggested above. The problem is, when I open the topic from Index Explorer, there is no index entry to delete from that topic! The entry just isn't there.

Also, being the Lone Writer here, I have no source control to deal with.

Any other suggestions?

[ccardimon]

You have to open the topics they're in and delete the index entries from there (or use find-and-replace to do it for you). The Index Explorer will update automatically as soon as you save the modified topic(s).

Makes sense. This is what I did. What happens if Index Explorer does not update automatically? What's my next step?

[LTinker68]

Makes sense. This is what I did. What happens if Index Explorer does not update automatically? What's my next step?

If you close the Index Explorer and re-open it, do you see the changes you made, or do you only see the changes when you shut down Flare and restart it?

Also, is your project on the local computer or a networked drive? If it's a networked drive, then you'll probably have to manually refresh the Index Explorer or wait for it to refresh on its own (it doesn't do it as quickly when the project's on a networked drive). Also be aware that apparently there is a bug with the generated index when the project is on a networked drive, but I can't remember if that bug applies to just print output or any kind of output.

[ccardimon]

Makes sense. This is what I did. What happens if Index Explorer does not update automatically? What's my next step?

If you close the Index Explorer and re-open it, do you see the changes you made, or do you only see the changes when you shut down Flare and restart it?

No, and no. I haven't seen any changes related to this particular index entry problem with Index Explorer. I also shut down Flare, rebooted my machine, and restarted Flare.

Also, is your project on the local computer or a networked drive?

My project is on my machine. No network drives are involved.

Gotta admit, this one has me stumped.

[KevinDAmery]

Just for grins, open the topic in question into a text editor and see if there are any index tags in there. If there's an index tag in a topic that is included in your output, it will show up in the generated index.

[ccardimon]

Just for grins, open the topic in question into a text editor and see if there are any index tags in there. If there's an index tag in a topic that is included in your output, it will show up in the generated index.

That's just it. The topic isn't there any more. I removed it. How can I delete index tags from a topic that I deleted?

[KevinDAmery]

That doesn't make any sense given how Madcap has told us the Index works. Time to punt, methinks: I'd open a support ticket with Madcap and see if they can find anything.

[ccardimon]

Might as well.

[ccardimon]

That doesn't make any sense given how Madcap has told us the Index works. Time to punt, methinks: I'd open a support ticket with Madcap and see if they can find anything.

Done.

[ccardimon]

Just for grins, open the topic in question into a text editor and see if there are any index tags in there. If there's an index tag in a topic that is included in your output, it will show up in the generated index.

Got it! Oh My God, I can't believe it. I opened the topic in the internal text editor and found the term in a tag that began with *<MadCap:keyword term = .....*

It is a list of hidden keyword terms. I deleted the term I was hunting for, saved, exited, rebuilt the output, opened the PDF, and -- TA-DA! -- no phantom Index entry!

Wow, those keyword terms really can mess you up.

Thank you so much for all your help, people! I can finally stop sweating.

This begs a question. Do I have to mess with the internal text editor every time I delete words that are also keyword terms?

[LTinker68]

Do I have to mess with the internal text editor every time I delete words that are also keyword terms?

The keyword isn't tied to any words you may have selected at the time you insert the index term. The keyword tag is a self-terminating tag, like the img tag is, so there are no opening and closing tags, just the one self-terminating tag. So if you delete a word in the content of a topic, that won't affect the keyword tag at all. You can only remove a keyword from a group of keywords (single keyword tag) by clicking close enough to the keyword tag to see its contents (keywords) displayed in the Index Entry pane. At that point you can delete a keyword from the group. To delete all the keywords, you'd need to right-click on the keyword tag marker or the keyword tag block and select Delete. The keyword tag marker appears inline in the topic content if the option to show markers is turned on. The keyword tag block appears along the top of the XML Editor if the option to show span blocks is enabled. If you have either of those options enabled, then you shouldn't need to open the topic in the Internal Text Editor in order to modify the keyword terms in the topic.

[KevinDAmery]

What Lisa said

I just like to look in the text editor any time things aren't behaving the way I expect. WYSIWYG editors always gloss things over a little when it comes to displaying the page, whereas in a text editor the code is the code and nothing is hidden. Once I know what's up, if possible I'll go back to WYSIWYG mode to fix it if feasible.