help with formatting biblical reference index (Sky 8)

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AElfwine Mischler

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Sep 11, 2025, 1:26:22 PMSep 11
to SKYIndexUsers
I'm doing my first biblical reference index, along with quranic references and subject index. I just realized today (2/3 of the way through a dense book) that I've done it wrong, and I'm hoping there's a way to fix this easily rather than having to go through each record.

I made only one level of subs, so my main heads are Old Testament and New Testament. Then in the subs I have the book and chapter and verse.

I realize now that the books should be in level 1 subs, and the chapter and verses in level 2 subs. I know that I could click through each and every record, place the cursor at the end of the book name, and hit F6 to move the chapter and verse to the right (i.e. to the second sub level). But maybe there's a smarter way to do this, perhaps book by book???? 

Hmmm. Something may be cooking in my brain as I write this.

Thanks and happy indexing.


Ælfwine Mischler
mid-May through mid-September: time zone UTC -4

Personal email: aelfwine...@gmail.com
American Society for Indexing (ASI)


gina weightoftheword.com

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Sep 11, 2025, 1:34:35 PMSep 11
to AElfwine Mischler, SKYIndexUsers
Hi Ælfwine

When I do scripture indexes, I do not use Old Testament and New Testament as mains. Instead, once I generate the index, I manually add Old Testament above the first entry, usually Genesis, and add New Testament above first entry there. None of the clients I've indexed for want the various books indented under those headings and I usually have other headings, if it is a full ancient sources index (Classical Works, Rabbinical Writings, etc.)

So it will look like:

Old Testament
Genesis
    xxx
    xxx

Exodus
    xxx
    xxx

Etc. 

Warmly,
Gina

___________________
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Officer ASI/Rocky Mountain Chapter, 2012-2016
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Subject: [SKYIndexUsers] help with formatting biblical reference index (Sky 8)
 
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AElfwine Mischler

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Sep 11, 2025, 1:41:02 PMSep 11
to gina weightoftheword.com, SKYIndexUsers
Thanks, Gina. That's how I want it to look, whether I add OT, NT manually at the end or within Sky. My problem is that I didn't put the book alone as a heading -- whether first or second -- but put the entire book chapter:verse as the heading. I think after a break -- maybe tomorrow -- I will have figured out a relatively easy way to do this in Sky.


Ælfwine Mischler
mid-May through mid-September: time zone UTC -4

Personal email: aelfwine...@gmail.com
American Society for Indexing (ASI)



Deborah Patton

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Sep 11, 2025, 1:44:16 PMSep 11
to AElfwine Mischler, SKYIndexUsers
I don't know anything about this type of indexing, but if you can group on the entries you need, then the swap is easy.
In the group, select all, press F4. It may ask which field, which you then select and click ok.
Ctrl+Z will undo it if you screw up.
SKY may not ask which field in a one-sub index -- the one I tried it was two-subs.
Deborah

Deborah Patton

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Sep 11, 2025, 2:39:02 PMSep 11
to AElfwine Mischler, SKYIndexUsers
If you have to move a whole section down a level, that's easy to. 
First, set SKY to have an extra sub-level
Then, select your group 
Press F12 and everything moves to the right one level
That leaves your main entry empty, but if you move to the Index Pane now, it's easy to edit that one entry as Old Testament or New, or whatever you want.
Yay SKY!
Deborah

AElfwine Mischler

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Sep 11, 2025, 3:11:10 PMSep 11
to Deborah Patton, SKYIndexUsers
Thanks, Deborah, but that wasn't quite the question. However, I did figure it out. Yay, Sky, indeed!

I didn't want to move stuff down a level, but split the contents into two levels. So instead of Gen 5:5 in one level, I wanted Gen in level 1 and 5:5 in level 2. Translations are set up so that Gen becomes {001}Genesis, with the numbers hidden to force the sorting.

1. I Saved As with a little different name, just in case things went south, and set the index to have 2 levels of subs. I'm still using Old Testament and New Testament as mains.

2. I grouped on the first book, Gen. Then I used F12 to demote all of Sub1 to Sub2. Sub1 was then empty.

3. I used Find and Replace in Sub2 only to find Gen and replace it with nothing.

4. I selected the column of Sub1, typed Gen in the first record, and hit Ctrl + Alt + Enter to propagate the change to all records.

Voila! I will have to repeat with each book, but it's a lot easier than placing the cursor in each record and demoting the chapter and verse.

And now back to the hard grind of the subject index 😭 


Ælfwine Mischler
mid-May through mid-September: time zone UTC -4

Personal email: aelfwine...@gmail.com
American Society for Indexing (ASI)



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