Create a Thumb Index

How to create a thumb index for a Word document

Word users often ask how to create a “thumb index” in a document. This is sort of a loaded question, for two reasons:

A real “thumb index” (like a real “watermark”) is not just something printed. Look at a dictionary or other large reference book and you’ll likely see carved indentations like a quarter of a sphere; at the bottom of each is a glued-on label. Clearly this is not something you can do with Word and your desktop printer.
Even if what you mean by a “thumb index” is just a series of stacked “tabs” on the edge of the page (as described and illustrated below), you probably won’t be able to achieve all of what you want for these, either, because most desktop printers cannot print to the edge of the page.

If, however, you are creating a document to be sent to a commercial printer (perhaps as a PDF) to be printed on oversized paper and cropped (the only way even commercial printers can print “full bleed”), then the methods below will allow you to do so. You can also adapt them to create a thumb index just clear of the unprintable area of your printer.

There is, as they say, more than one way to skin a cat, and doubtless there are other ways to create “thumb indexes” or page tabs, but the following method is one way to do it.

How it works

We are going to assume that you want one tab for each of several divisions in a document (chapters, alphabetical sections, etc.) and that you want the tab on the first page of the section, which will be a recto (right-hand) page or on all the recto pages. We’ll also assume that you want each tab to be black or a dark color, with white text reversed out of it.

The tabs will be created as a tall, skinny (single-column, multi-row) table anchored to the document header. The table will be the same in all the sections, but in each section a different row will be highlighted and have text in it (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Pages with “thumb index” tabs

Prepare the document

Go to File | Page Setup and choose the Layout tab. If you want your tabs on just the first page of each section, check the box for “Different first page,” and make sure that it applies to “Whole document.” If you want the tabs on all the right-hand pages, check the box for “Different odd and even.” Note that you may need both boxes checked for reasons that have nothing to do with these tabs—for example, if you have different running heads on odd and even pages and no running head on the first page of a section. If you have little experience working with headers, you may want to read "Making the most of headers and footers" before proceeding further.
At the beginning of each division (that is, each place that you want a tab), go to Insert | Break and select Odd page under Section break types, then click OK.

Insert the table

Word 2000 and above support “wrapped” tables, that is, tables that are not In Line With Text and can be placed anywhere on the page. So it should be possible to use a wrapped table for this exercise. Sadly, it’s not. For whatever reason, a wrapped table in a document header can’t be made to extend beyond the vertical midpoint of the page. Since you’ll want your tabs spread out down the length of the page, this obviously won’t work. So you’ll need to put the table in a text box or frame. A frame is a little easier to deal with, but most users are more familiar with text boxes. I’ll give instructions for both.

Note: If you have checked the boxes for both “Different first page” and “Different odd and even” on the Layout tab of Page Setup, you will need to insert a text box or frame in both the First Page Header and the Odd Page Header.

Insert a text box

View | Header and Footer to open the header pane (in Word 2007 or 2010, you can just double-click in the header area). Make sure you are in the correct header (click Show Next or Show Previous on the Header and Footer toolbar as needed to get to the First Page Header or Odd Page Header).
Click Text Box on the Insert menu or the Text Box button on the Drawing toolbar and draw a text box anchored to the header. Don’t worry too much about the size; you can fine-tune that later. (In Word 2007 or 2010, open the Text Box gallery/menu on the Insert tab and select Draw Text Box from the bottom. The sizing handles will look different from those in Figure 2, but the text box should behave the same.)

Figure 2. A simple text box (note dotted border and circular white sizing handles)

Double-click on the text box border to open the Format Text Box dialog (Figure 3). (In Word 2007, just selecting the text box will display the contextual Text Box Tools | Format tab on the Ribbon. Most of the tools you need to carry out the steps below appear on that tab. In Word 2010, selecting the text box displays the contextual Drawing Tools | Format tab, which also has most of the same tools.)

Figure 3. The Format Text Box dialog, showing the Layout tab

On the Colors and Lines tab, select “No Line.” You may also want to select “No Fill,” though this is not vital. (In Word 2007 the Line and Fill controls are on the Text Box Tools Format tab.)

On the Size tab, set the desired height and width for your strip of tabs. Those in Figure 1 are 0.5" wide and 0.75" high. To determine the required height, decide how much of the page you want your tabs to occupy and then divide that space by the number of tabs needed. If you like, you can add a little bit for the empty paragraph that Word will insist on adding below the table, but if you don’t, it won’t matter.

On the Text Box tab, set all the internal margins to 0". (The dotted lines inside the text box in Figure 2 represent the default internal margins.) To access this control in Word 2007, you will need to click on the dialog launcher in the bottom right corner of the Size group, which will open the Format Text Box dialog.

On the Layout tab, set the wrapping to “Square.” (In Word 2007, use the Text Wrapping button in the Arrange group.)

On the Layout tab, click Advanced. In the Advanced Layout dialog (Figure 4), set the correct location for your text box. (Access this dialog in Word 2007 or 2010 by clicking Arrange | Position, then More Layout Options...) This may require some trial and error, but both vertical and horizontal settings should be “Relative to Page.” If your tabs will extend the full length of the page, then you can use “Top Relative to Page” for “Alignment”; otherwise, you will need to use the “Absolute position” settings for both horizontal and vertical alignment. The horizontal setting will be the width of your paper minus the width of your text box (note that “Right Relative to Page,” contrary to expectation, places the text box just outside the right margin rather than at the right side of the page).

Figure 4. The Advanced Layout dialog

Click OK to close the dialog.

Alternatively, insert a frame

View | Header and Footer to open the header pane. Make sure you are in the correct header (click Show Next or Show Previous on the Header and Footer toolbar as needed to get to the First Page Header or Odd Page Header).
Click Frame on the Insert menu or the Insert Frame button on the Forms toolbar and draw a frame anchored to the header. Don’t worry about getting the size exactly right; you can fine-tune it later. (In Word 2007/2020, you can still insert a frame, but you'll have to jump through some hoops to do it. First you'll have to check the box for "Show Developer tab on the Ribbon" in Office Button | Word Options | Popular (2007) or File | Options | Popular (2010). Then, on the Developer tab, in the Controls group, click on the bottom right button, which is Legacy Tools. The Insert Frame button is in the Legacy Forms palette. Fortunately, once you've inserted a frame, it behaves pretty much as described below.)

Note: You won’t find Frame on the Insert menu unless you are using an older version of Word (earlier than Word 97) or have customized your Insert menu to include it, but if you later find that you have a frequent use for frames, you can use Tools | Customize to add it. Also, if you have inserted a text box but decide a frame would be better, you can click the Convert to Frame… button on the Text Box tab of the Format Text Box dialog.

In Word 2007 or 2010, you can add the Insert Frame button to the QAT by selecting Horizontal Frame from the All Commands category in the Customize Quick Access Toolbar dialog.

Figure 5. A simple frame (note hashed border and square black sizing handles)

Click on the frame border to select the frame. In the Format | Borders and Shading dialog, select None, or choose No Border from the flyout palette that appears when you click the arrow next to the Borders button on the Formatting or Tables and Borders toolbar. (In Word 2007, select the frame and display the Home tab. In the Paragraph group, the arrow beside the bottom right button opens the Borders flyout palette; select No Border.)
Double-click on the frame border to open the Format Frame dialog. As you can see from Figure 6, it is much simpler than the Format Text Box dialog.

Figure 6. The Format Frame dialog

The wrapping will probably already be set to Around; if it’s not, change it.

For the frame width, chose “Exactly” and enter an amount. The height may be left as “At least” or changed to “Auto” or an exact measurement as desired. For height and width determinations see the instructions above for text box sizing.

As with the text box, you’ll need to set the position Relative to Page. Again, use Top for the vertical setting if your tabs span the entire side of the document; otherwise enter a specific measurement; the horizontal setting will be the width of the paper less the width of the frame.

Click OK to close the dialog.

Insert a table and text

In your text box or frame, insert a table with one column and the required number of rows. The table will automatically fill the width of your text box or frame. Depending on your default Table AutoFormat or table style settings, you may need to remove a border from the table as well. A quick way to do this (all versions) is the shortcut Alt+Ctrl+U.
Select the entire table and go to Table Properties. (In Word 2007/2010, many of the controls mentioned below are on the Layout tab of Table Tools, which are active when a table is selected.)
On the Row tab, set the exact height you have determined for the tabs.
In each cell, type the text for one tab. Use Format | Text Direction to rotate the text if desired (see Figure 7). (In Word 2007/2010, the Text Direction command is on the Layout tab of Table Tools.)

Figure 7. Tab with rotated text

When you have inserted the text for all the tabs, select the entire table and use the Font Color button on the Formatting toolbar (or Format | Font: Font Color) to color the text white. (In Word 2007/2010, right-click to display the mini-toolbar, which contains the Font Color button.) All your text will disappear!
If you inserted a text box or frame in both the First Page Header and the Odd Page Header, repeat steps 1–5 for the other header.

Make the separate tabs

At the beginning of this exercise, you inserted section breaks between your chapters or divisions. Until now, however, you have been working on a text box or frame and table inserted in the First Page Header (or Odd Page Header, or both) for all the sections. Now you will unlink them and create the separate tabs.

Make sure you are at the beginning of the document. Click the Show Previous button on the Header and Footer toolbar (Previous Section on the Table Tools tab in Word 2007/2010) until the Header pane says “First Page Header – Section 1” or “Odd Page Header – Section 1.”
On the Header and Footer toolbar, click Show Next twice (or three times if you have checked the boxes for both “Different first page” and “Different odd and even” on the Layout tab of Page Setup) to get to the next First Page Header or Odd Page Header.
Click Link to Previous (or Same as Previous) on the Header and Footer toolbar (Design tab of Table Tools in Word 2007/2010) to unlink this header from the previous First Page Header or Odd Page Header.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you reach the last First Page Header/Odd Page Header in the document, then return to the beginning (Section 1).
Display the Tables and Borders toolbar (Figure 8). (In Word 2007/2010, these tools are on the Design tab of Table Tools.)

Figure 8. The Tables and Borders toolbar

Select the first row of your table. Click on the arrow beside the Shading Color button and choose black or the desired dark color from the palette. Your white text will now show on the first tab.
Go to the First Page Header/Odd Page Header in Section 2, select the second row of the table, and fill it with the desired color. If you’re using colors other than black, you may want to make each tab a different color; just be sure they’re dark enough for the white text to show up well.
Repeat until you have shaded one table row in each section.
Close the header pane. You’re done!