Like any well-written document, an index needs to be edited. Editing ensures consistency, clarity, completeness and accuracy. And an effective index contributes substantially to the usability of a document.
Indexes assist users to find specific information within a document, in print or online.
As such, index entries refer to concepts, tasks or objects not simply to individual words in the text. Editing an index can take almost as much time as writing the first draft and possibly longer if the index markers embedded in the main document are difficult to access. Editing requires close attention to both detail and the overall structure of the index. Although time consuming, be sure to correct the index markers in the main document rather than editing the text of a generated index directly. Otherwise, when you regenerate the index, all your editing will disappear.