Improper Index References

Katherine wrote to indicate that she has some problems creating an index where the same term is indexed on page i and page 1 or on page ii and page 2. If the indexed term is on page i and page 2, there is no problem; the problem only exists when the page numbers are counterparts of each other.

From what I can tell, Word is designed to behave like this. As far as the program is concerned, there are duplicate page numbers in the document (i is the same as 1, and ii is the same as 2), so Word thinks that one page reference covers both occurrences.

Normally, this behavior by Word wouldn't be a problem. Commonly accepted page numbering practices use lowercase Roman numerals to paginate front matter or introductory matter. In the publishing world, front matter is seldom—if ever—indexed. Instead, the main body of the manuscript is indexed, and sometimes the appendices.

The only way around this behavior by Word is to take a look at the structure of your document, and consider moving any indexable content to the main body of the document—to page numbers where you use Arabic numerals.