Indexing - Partial Success

I've created a witness index, but I'm having mixed results when using it.

If I only have one or two examinations of a witness, it works perfectly.  Once I have a third exam, I get an error saying I have "multiple <Index Cell 2> entries for <Index Heading on A>."

In my template, I use Cell 1 for EXAMINATION BY WHOEVER, Cell 2 is for the exam's beginning page number, Cell 3 is just a hyphen, and Cell 4 is for the exam's ending page number.

 When I set up a witness oath, the wit's name is entered as follows: <Index Heading On A>wit's name<Index Heading Off A>.

The exam in as follows: EXAMINATION BY <Index On A>By Whoever<Index Cell 2><Index Off A>

Like I said, with one or two exams per witness, everything is fine.  Add a third exam, error message.  Any ideas?

 Thanks.

 You may have to put in a "dummy" Index Heading On/Off pair.  So after your second exam, just put in:

<Index Heading On A> (hard space) <Index Heading Off A>

This makes CC think there's a second witness (when there really isn't one), and it allows for more exams to be listed.  You will have to remove a blank line in your index (for where the name of the "dummy" witness would have appeared).

So you may see this:

JOE SCHMOE

EXAMINATION BY  MR. SMITH   1 - 20
EXAMINATION BY  MR. JONES  20-21

(blank line where CC would have put the witness' name for the second Index Heading On/Off commands had there been something in between them)

EXAMINATION BY......

I hope that makes sense.  If it doesn't, please let me know and I will try to explain it a little better.

The above description is a little sketchy, but an indexing scheme that includes both beginning and ending page numbers for examinations can work.  I don't quite understand why one might need that, but nevertheless it can be implemented.  In addition to codes at the beginning of each examination, you will need another set of codes in hidden text at the end of each examination.

If I'm following the above description correctly, the index table needs to be set up along these lines.  I tested this with three and four examinations and multiple witnesses, and it works perfectly:

In the body of the transcript, the witness' name needs to be coded thusly, preferably in a swear blurb so this same index can be used with multiple witnesses:  <Index Heading On A>John Q. Witness<Index Heading Off A>.

At the beginning of each examination, the attorney's name needs to be coded thusly: <Index On A>Mr. Attorney<Index Cell 1><Index Off A>.  If you are using fields for speakers, of course, it would be like this:  <Index On A><Field><Index Cell 1><Index Off A>.

At the end of each examination, you need this coding, and presumably you want to put it into a hidden text so it doesn't print in the transcript:   <Index On A>Mr. Attorney<Index Cell 2><Index Off A> or <Index On A><Field><Index Cell 2><Index Off A> IMPORTANT:  Everything must be the same within this Index-On/-Off pair as at the beginning of the exam, with the exception of the cell number being different.  If you put extra spaces anywhere or a different ordering of components, the index will fail to build correctly.

EDITED LATER:  Be sure to read Liz's post that follows before getting excited that this is the perfect solution for all situations; it isn't.

Richard,

I'm confused: Are you saying that this works with examinations such as:

Examination by Attorney A
Examination by Attorney B
Examination by Attorney A
Examination by Attorney B . . . etc.

OR

Examination by Attorney A
Examination by Attorney B
Examination by Attorney C
Examination by Attorney D . . . with no attorney reexamining?

It certainly will work in the second example, but have you had it work with reexaminations by the same attorney(s) as in my first example?

It wouldn't be very difficult if the exams were listed horizontally, but if they're vertical, I'm thinking in that case each subsequent examination by an attorney would have to use higher index cell numbers, thus calling for multiple rows in the template.

What am I missing?

 Hi, Liz,

No, you're not confused.  Without bothering to test it, I'm sure my scheme will fail given your first example.  That's perhaps what the original poster was trying to do and I missed it in his description.

Richard,

Hopefully John will clarify what he wants his index to look like. I just took a guess.

 My interpretation is your first example, Liz.  And you could do multiple rows in the template (i.e., Index On/Off 3-4, Index On/Off 5-6, etc.) or what I suggested to work around it. 

Still, my best advice is DON'T.  When indexing schemes become so cumbersome they require constant attention and ever-changing workaround, it counterproduces the intended goal of automatic indexing.  It's then time to use a more straightforward indexing design.

 Richard,

What exactly is "cumbersome" about either Liz's or my suggestions?

This is just to change the subject so as not to be misleading to the casual viewer. 

Liz Beardow:

This is just to change the subject so as not to be misleading to the casual viewer. 

LOL!

Liz Beardow:

This is just to change the subject so as not to be misleading to the casual viewer. 

 :)

And people ask me why I prefer not to try to teach automatic indexing in a large group, seminar-style setting. :-)

Wouldn't it be a wondeful world if everyone used ONE standard method of indexing, or maybe one or two different standard methods of indexing?  We could easily provide a standard index template and a set of instructions to use it that would meet everyone's needs and no one would ever have to think about it ever again.

Sigh.

Cindi,

I have to disagree. I think while making life easier, it would also make it boring. Of course, this comment comes from someone who really, really likes creating templates!

And, for anyone following this thread, Candis' suggestion is the BEST solution, with one change: Instead of a space between the index heading codes, use at least one character. I found the space did not work consistently.

My suggestion actually could be described by Richard's word: cumbersome!