FAQs

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How to Install / Run PDF Index Generator?

  1. Download the program from here.

  2. Windows users:
    • Double click the downloaded PDF Index Generator exe installer to install the program in the location you prefer.
    • Double click “PDF Index Generator.exe” and the program will start normally.

  3. Mac OS X users:
    • Double click the downloaded PDF Index Generator “.dmg” file to mount the program.
    • Double click “PDF Index Generator.app” file to run the program.
    • You can drag “PDF Index Generator.app” to the “Applications” folder shortcut to directly run the program from “Applications” instead of mounting the program every time.

  4. Linux users:
    • Extract the downloaded PDF Index Generator linux *.tar.gz file.
    • Double click the executable file “PDF Index Generator” to run the program.

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Should i install Java in order to run PDF Index Generator?

Since version 2.9 of PDF Index Generator; Java comes embedded inside the program, for the Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux editions, so you don’t have to bother yourself with downloading & installing the right Java edition to be able to run PDF Index Generator.

If you’re using a version of PDF Index Generator older than 2.9 then you should download and install Java on your machine in order to be able to run PDF Index Generator. In that case you can download Java from here.

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When i enter my activation data in the program i get a message: “Wrong activation information”. What can i do?

Please copy and paste your activation data that you have received in your activation email, encluding the dashes, and do not write it manually, to prevent typo mistakes. If you did this, the program should be activated successfully.

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How to uninstall PDF Index Generator?

  1. Windows users:
    • Method 1: Go to PDF Index Generator installation folder, browse to ‘Uninstaller‘ folder, double click on ‘Uninstaller.jar‘, and follow the instructions there.

    • Method 2: Run ‘Add/Remove programs’ or the corresponding panel, choose ‘PDF Index Generator‘ and uninstall it.

  2. Mac OS X users:
    • Delete “PDF Index Generator.app” file or the “.dmg” file from your Mac.

  3. Linux users:
    • Delete the program folder that you have extracted from the downloaded *.tar.gz file from our website.

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Mac: Will PDF Index Generator run on Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6?

Yes, PDF Index Generator can run on any Mac OS X. The program comes with Java embedded inside it to make sure it can run on any Mac operating system with no problems at all.


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Mac: When i run PDF Index Generator on Mac OS X, i get the warning “PDF Index Generator cannot be opened because it was not downloaded from the App Store”. How can i fix that?

  • Here is how this warning looks like on Mac OS X Ventura:

    App not downloaded from the App Store

  • Since PDF Index Generator is not downloaded from the Mac App Store, your system prompts you with this alert. It is an Apple routine security check that you don’t have to worry about. Our program is 100% clean from Malware, as reported here. Apple Inc. explains this issue on their website here.

  • To fix this issue and run our program safely on your Mac OS X please follow those steps:
    1. Open System Settings/Preferences, and select Security & Privacy:

      Mac: Security & Privacy image

    2. Just press the “Open Anyway” button. You might then be asked to enter your administrator password to allow that:

      Mac: Security & Privacy - Open Anyway image

    3. You might then get a message to confirm opening “PDF Index Generator”. Press “Open”:

      Mac: Confirm opening PDF Index Generator

    4. Once done, PDF Index Generator will run fine, and you won’t be prompted about this when running the program again.

      Mac: PDF Index Generator startup screen



    5. If you prefer to allow running any similar applications downloaded from the internet without getting this error anymore please read this post from Apple’s website. or watch this video tutorial.

    6. Note: We’re not distributing our Application through the Mac App Store, because Apple’s fees policy on the Mac App Store is not financially respectful for developers, small and medium companies, and consequently, at the end, for customers.


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Mac: When i run PDF Index Generator on Mac OS X, i get the warning “PDF Index Generator cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified”. How can i fix that?

  • Here is how this warning looks like on Mac OS X Ventura:

    Developer cannot be verified Mac warning image

  • Since PDF Index Generator is not downloaded from the Mac App Store, your system prompts you with this alert. It is an Apple routine security check that you don’t have to worry about. Our program is 100% clean from Malware, as reported here. Apple Inc. explains this issue on their website here.

  • To fix this issue and run our program safely on your Mac OS X please follow those steps:
    1. Open System Settings/Preferences, and select Security & Privacy:

      Mac: Security & Privacy image

    2. Just press the “Open Anyway” button. You might then be asked to enter your administrator password to allow that:

      Mac: Security & Privacy - Open Anyway image

    3. Once done, PDF Index Generator will run fine, and you won’t be prompted about this when running the program again.

    4. If you prefer to allow running any similar applications downloaded from the internet without getting this error anymore please read this post from Apple’s website. or watch this video tutorial.

    5. Note: We’re not distributing our Application through the Mac App Store, because Apple’s fees policy on the Mac App Store is not financially respectful for developers, small and medium companies, and consequently, at the end, for customers.


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Mac: When i run PDF Index Generator on Mac OS X, i get the error “PDF Index Generator.app is damaged and can’t be opened”. How can i fix that?

  • This warning might appear for old Mac OS X releases. Here is how this warning looks like:

    Mac - App damaged warning

  • Since PDF Index Generator is not downloaded from the Mac App Store, your system prompts you with this alert. It is a routine Apple security check.

  • To fix this issue and run our program safely on your Mac OS X please follow those steps:
    1. Right click the PDF Index Generator application file and click “Open”. This confirmation message will then appear to you:

      Mac - Confirm open app from unidentified developer

    2. Just press open for the above message. You might be asked to enter your system password to confirm this.

    3. Once done, PDF Index Generator will run fine, and you won’t be prompted about this when running the program again.

    4. If you prefer to allow running any similar applications downloaded from the internet without getting this error anymore please read this post or watch this video tutorial.

    5. Note: We’re not distributing our Application through the Mac App Store, because Apple’s fees policy on the Mac App Store is not financially respectful for developers, small and medium companies, and consequently, at the end, for customers.


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Windows: When i run the program on Windows os i get the error “Required at least Java Runtime Environment version 1.9.0”. How can i fix that?

This error appears because you have Java files on your computer older than version 1.9.0 (Even if you have uninstalled old Java releases from your computer). When you try running “PDF Index Generator” your computer tries to run it using those old Java files, which results with showing this error message:

Java 1.9.0 at least is required

To fix this issue please do the following:

  1. Uninstall any Java version that’s now installed on your computer.

  2. Access the folder c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath and delete any of those files in this folder if they exist: “java.exe”, “javaw.exe” and “javaws.exe”.

    Access the folder c:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath and delete any of those files in this folder if they exist: “java.exe”, “javaw.exe” and “javaws.exe”.

    Access the folder c:\Windows\System32 and delete any of those files in this folder if they exist: “java.exe”, “javaw.exe” and “javaws.exe”.

  3. Try running “PDF Index Generator” after that, and it should run just fine, as it will run now using the Java files that come with the program.

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Windows: When i run the program on Windows OS, i’m getting error “Java JRE v1.8 at least is required”. How to fix this?

Inside Windows operating system you might get this error message when running the program:

32-bit error message


This error appears if you’re installing our program on a 32-bit computer. In that case just uninstall the current version of the program that you’ve installed, then download and install the 32-bit edition of our program from here.

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Windows: When installing the program on Windows OS, i’m getting a Windows Defender warning. Is the program safe to install?

The warning might look like this for Windows Defender, and might vary if you have another Antivirus:

windows defender warning



And might also look like that:

Unknown publisher warning


This is a normal safety warning (False Alarm) from Microsoft Windows, that you can see for PDF Index Generator, and many other programs that you install. To assure our program safety, we have scanned our program using 69 famous Antivirus programs, and our program is 100% clean. You can check the output report below:

PDF Index Generator Antivirus Report


So all you need to do is add our program to your Antivrus or Windows Defender safe list, and all should work just fine.

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Windows: When i click “Generate index” button in Step 2 the program disappears from the taskbar. I can no longer see a window. How can i fix that?

Please follow those steps:

  1. Right-click on “PDF Index Generator” shortcut of the program on your desktop and select “Properties“.

  2. In the Properties window, go to the “Shortcut” tab, and change the Run option from ‘Normal’ to ‘Maximized’. This will ensure the program opens in full screen.

  3. Click Apply and then OK to save your changes.

  4. Right-click on “PDF Index Generator” shortcut found on the desktop once again and select “Run as administrator“.

  5. The program should now run without any issues.


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Linux: When i run the program on Linux operating system, I get errors on start-up. What can I do about it?

You might be missing Java on your operating system. On Linux you might still need Java to be installed first before running PDF Index Generator.

To do that please follow this:
  1. Run Terminal: Press the Windows key (also known as super key in Linux) and type terminal.

  2. Update the apt package index with:
    sudo apt update

  3. Once the package index is updated install the default Java OpenJDK package with:
    sudo apt install default-jdk

  4. Verify the installation, by running the following command which will print the Java version:
    java -version

    The output will look something like this:
    openjdk version "11.0.8" 2020-07-14
    OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.8+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04)
    OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.8+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04, mixed mode, sharing)


    That’s it! At this point, you should have successfully installed Java on your Ubuntu system.

  5. Now try running PDF Index Generator once again by double clicking the “PDF Index Generator” executable file.


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Why do i get an error when running the program with Java 8?

If you are running PDF Index Generator version 2.1 or an earlier version, and you have Java 8 installed on your computer, then you will mostly get an error message. This happens because Java 8 was released after version 2.1 was out, causing some errors with PDF Index Generator. This was handled in version 2.2 of PDF Index Generator, so version 2.2 now runs fine with Java 8.

We suggest you upgrade to the latest version of PDF Index Generator to overcome this, or downgrade to Java 7 or Java 6 if you want to use an earlier version of PDF Index Generator.

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How can i increase the speed of the program?

You need to increase the memory allocated to the program in order to get faster performance. To do that:
  • Run the program.

  • Click (Tools -> Settings) to run the program settings.

  • In the General Tab you will find the “Memory” field. The default value is 800 MB. You can change this to a higher value: 1000 or 1200, so use a value suitable for your memory(Maximum 60% of your memory), then save your settings.

  • Close the program, then restart it to apply the changes.

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When writing the index to a document file in Step 4 the process fails with the error “Times font is missing”. How can i fix that?

To write the index to a MS Document file (*.doc or *.docx) using PDF Index Generator, you must have the ‘Times’ font installed on your computer. To do that:
  1. Download the ‘Times’ font from here:

  2. Install the downloaded TTF font file on your operating system:
    • Windows os: Right-click on the TTF file and choose “Install”.

    • Mac os x: Double-click on the TTF file, and Font Book will open, allowing you to install the font.

    • Linux: Copy the TTF file to the fonts directory (e.g., /usr/share/fonts/truetype/) and run fc-cache -f -v to update the font.


  3. After installing the font restart the program.

  4. Write the index to a document file in Step 4. It should function properly this time.

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What are the supported PDF languages that PDF Index Generator can Index?

Since version 2.6 of PDF Index Generator, the program can read & write any language from/to the PDF file. The program supports Latin languages like Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. It also supports non-Latin languages like Czech, Hungarian, Turkish and Polish. It even supports Right-To-Left languages like Arabic, Hebrew and Persian.

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Can i index a phrase having multiple words, like
Medical representative“?

By default PDF Index Generator indexes single words in your book, but you can ask the program to index phrases, by following those steps:

  • Click Tools -> Settings -> Include/Exclude Words -> Include words.
  • Click Add to add a new category of words.
  • Write any words/phrases you want to index, each one in a separate line, then click Save.
  • Click Ok to apply the settings.
  • Start indexing your book normally, and in Step2 enable the second option ‘Index specific words in the book‘. The 2 links below it will become enabled.
  • Click the Include words link.
  • The Include words window is opened.
  • Enable the category that you have created.
  • If you’d like to index the terms in the specified category, and ignore any other terms in the book, then enable the option Index those words only.
  • Click Ok to apply the changes.
  • Continue your indexing process normally, and you will see the phrases that you have specified appear in Step3 index results.

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Can i index a name like “William Shakespeare” and convert it to “Shakespeare, William“?

There are 2 ways to accomplish this:

  1. Using Include Words:
    • Use this method if you have a list of all the names to Index.
    • Choose Tools -> Settings -> Include/Exclude Words -> Include words.
    • Click Add to add a new category of words.
    • Write all the names to Index like William Shakespeare, each name in a separate line, then click Save.
    • Click Ok to apply the settings.
    • Start indexing your book normally, and in Step2 enable the second option ‘Index specific words in the book‘. The 2 links below it will become enabled.
    • Click the Include words link.
    • The Include words window is opened.
    • Enable the category that you have created.
    • If you’d like to index the names in the specified category, and ignore any other terms in the book, then enable the option Index those words only.
    • Click Ok to apply the changes.
    • Continue your indexing process normally, and you will see the names that you have specified appear in Step3 table of results.
    • In Step3 click Filter table results found beside the Search box, and select By Include category, then select the category name that you have created. That will filter the table of results to show only the names of your created category.
    • Select all the records in the table(Ctrl + A).
    • Click Format words in the tools bar and select Deal as a name – Format 2 from the appearing list.
    • You will see all the selected names in the table like William Shakespeare are converted to Shakespeare, William as requested.

  2. Using Include Queries:
    • Use this method if you want the program to approximately detect the names in your book.
    • Choose Tools -> Settings -> Include/Exclude Words -> Include words.
    • Click Add Query to add a new Query.
    • Specify the query name, i.e: “Names Query”.
    • From the Template combo box select Names 2. This query should grab all names from your book like William Shakespeare and automatically inverse them like Shakespeare, William.
    • Click Save.
    • Click Ok to apply the settings.
    • Start indexing your book normally, and in Step2 enable the second option ‘Index specific words in the book‘. The 2 links below it will become enabled.
    • Click the Include words link.
    • The Include words window is opened.
    • Enable the query that you have created, then click Ok.
    • In Step3 you should see all the names in the table like Shakespeare, William as requested.

    Note: Please note that the Names 2 query may detect other words that appear like names but they are not, for example it may index United States and automatically convert it to States, United as it looks like a name where its both words start with a capital letter also. So be aware when using the Include queries.

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How can i index a word containing an apostrophe, like
“compare Sainsbury’s and Harrods”?

By default PDF Index Generator skips indexing any apostrophes in the book as they are mostly not important as in the words (he’s, haven’t, i’m, …), but if you want to force indexing a word having apostrophe, PDF Index Generator allows you to do this through 2 ways:

  1. Define your list of words manually(Include category):
    • Choose Tools -> Settings -> Include/Exclude Words -> Include words.
    • Click Add to add a new category of words.
    • Write the words containing the apostrophes to force indexing them, each one in a separate line , then click Save.
    • Click Ok to apply the settings.
    • Start indexing your book normally, and in Step2 choose the second option Index specific words in the book. The 2 links below it will become enabled.
    • Click the Include words link.
    • The Include words window is opened.
    • Enable the category that you have created, then click Ok.
    • Continue your indexing process normally, and you will see the word Sainsbury’s appear in the index results.

  2. Define an Include query:
    • Use this method if you have many words containing apostrophes and you can’t write them manually using an Include category.
    • Choose Tools -> Settings -> Include/Exclude Words -> Include words.
    • Click Add Query to create a new query.
    • Use the Query generator tool to create your query in seconds that will index such words. You can check this guide for more details on how to create a query
    • Click Ok to apply the settings.
    • Start indexing your book normally, and in Step2 choose the second option Index specific words in the book. The 2 links below it will become enabled.
    • Click the Include words link.
    • The Include words window is opened.
    • Enable the query that you have created, then click Ok.
    • Continue your indexing process normally, and you will see the words containing apostrophes appear in the index results.

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How can i index a word containing digits, like “TT72“?

By default PDF Index Generator skips indexing any digits in the book as they are mostly not important, but if you want to force indexing a word having digits, PDF Index Generator allows you to do this through 2 ways:

  1. Define your list of words manually(Include category):
    • Click Tools -> Settings -> Include/Exclude Words -> Include words.
    • Click Add Category to add a new list of words.
    • Write the words containing the apostrophes to force indexing them, each one in a separate line , then click Save.
    • Click Ok to apply the settings.
    • Start indexing your book normally, and in Step2 choose the second option Index specific words in the book. The 2 links below it will become enabled.
    • Click the Include words link.
    • The Include words window is opened.
    • Enable the category that you have created, then click Ok.
    • Continue your indexing process normally, and you will see the Alphanumeric words that you have defined in your category appear in the index results.

  2. Define an Include query:
    • Use this method if you have many words containing digits and you can’t write them manually using an Include category.
    • Click Tools -> Settings -> Include/Exclude Words -> Include words.
    • Click Add Query to create a new query.
    • Choose the Alphanumeric words template to load its query, then click Save. This template already comes with the program to index such words, to make things easy for you.
    • Click Ok to apply the settings.
    • Start indexing your book normally, and in Step2 choose the second option Index specific words in the book. The 2 links below it will become enabled.
    • Click the Include words link.
    • The Include words window is opened.
    • Enable the query that you have created, then click Ok.
    • Continue your indexing process normally, and you will see the Alphanumeric words appear in the index results.

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How can i import my own list of words inside the program to force index them?

Please follow those steps:

  • First you will have to create an XML or TXT file that contains your list of words that you want to import inside the program. Such file has some specifications you must follow so the program can read it. Please check the program Help to check those specifications. They are explained there in details.
  • Open the program.
  • Choose Tools -> Settings -> Include/Exclude Words -> Include words.
  • Click ‘Import Categories‘ and select your *.TXT or *.XML file that you have created.
  • Click ‘Save‘ then ‘Ok‘ to apply your settings.
  • Start indexing your book normally, and in Step2 choose the second option ‘Index specific words in the book‘. The 2 links below it will become enabled.
  • Click the Include words link.
  • The Include words window is opened.
  • Enable the category that you have created, then click Ok.
  • Continue your indexing process normally, and you will see the words of the imported list appear in the index results.

Note: If you think importing a file is difficult, we encourage you to manually write any words/phrases you want to index in the same window that you have opened to import a file by creating a new category manually and writing all the words/phrases each in a separate line.

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How can i force exclude a list of words from the Index?

Please follow those steps:

  1. Run the program and Choose:
    Tools -> Settings -> Include/Exclude Words -> Exclude words.

  2. Click Add Category to add a new category of words, then:
    • Specify the category name. Make it meaningful to what the words refer to.
    • Write any words/phrases you want to exclude, each in a separate line, then click Save.
    • Click Ok to apply the settings.


  3. Now start indexing your book normally, and in Step2:
    • Select the second option Index specific words in the book. The 2 links below it will become enabled.
    • Click the Exclude words link.
    • The Exclude words window is opened.
    • Enable the exclude category that you have created, then click Ok.


  4. Continue your indexing process normally, and check the index results in Step3.


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Can i create a Header word and define Sub-Header words for it?

A Sub-Header word is a word that will be written indented inside the Index as a child for a Header word. The program allows 4 levels of words in the Index(Header, Sub-Header, Sub-Sub-Header, Sub-Sub-Sub-Header), each level will be written under its parent indented. Here is how you can create it:

  1. Generate your index normally till you reach Step3 in the program.

  2. Double click a word (ex: Transportation) to edit it. The Edit word dialog will appear to edit that word.

  3. Set the Word type selection box value to Header word. The Sub-Headers button beside the Word type selection box will become enabled.

  4. Click on the Sub-Headers button to define all the sub-header words for the Transportation word. The Sub-Headers dialog will appear.

  5. Enable all the sub-header words that you want to specify for the Transportation word.

  6. Click Apply to apply the changes.

  7. Repeat the above steps for all your Header / Sub-Header words, then when you write the final index to a PDF file, you will find the specified Sub-Header words indented under their Header words as you have wanted.

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How can i enable writing page numbers for header words in the index?

Please follow this:

  1. Run the program.

  2. Click Tools –> Settings –> Writing index –> Index content.

  3. Enable the option “Write the page numbers of Header words“.

  4. Save your settings and write the index in Step 4 to a file to see the changes.

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Can i index a book having more than 1 page inside the PDF page?

Every PDF page can be considered as 1 book page. We can not detect how many pages are inside a PDF page. But in fact there is a hard way to index such books, we have tested it and it worked fine. If you are facing this situation, please contact us and we will guide you through how to overcome this.

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My book is 1000 pages. Can PDF Index Generator index that?

PDF Index Generator has been tested on PDF books more than 3000 pages, and it just did fine. The process will take a couple of minutes to finish your work.

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Why do i get wrong pages numbers in the generated index?

  • Did you use the link “Advanced pages numbers” found in Step1?
    Please click on it to enter all the pages numbers of your book. If you have entered those numbers right as they appear in your book, you will see right pages numbers in Step3, and in the final Index.

    Note: You can watch this video tutorial to learn how to use this feature.

  • In Step3 even if the pages numbers appeared wrong for any reason, you can use the button Increment/Decrement pages numbers found on the Tools bar to fix that.

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Why do i get repeated words like “car” and “Car” in Step3?

Please note that the program is case sensitive by default, so a word “car” is not similar to “Car” because of the capital letter. You can currently overcome this by one of the following actions:

  1. Go to the program settings, select “Tools/Settings/Generating Index” and enable the option “Ignore case sensitivity“. This will make good difference, as it will deal with all book words as small letters, which will result both the 2 words “car” & “Car” be considered the same word. So just enable this option, and check the results in Step3.

  2. In Step3 click the “Merge duplicates” button in the top bar. This button will show a dialog with all the duplicate words in the results table to merge them all automatically , and the suggested final word for each duplicate words. This feature will make things very easy for you.


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How can i reduce the index results i am getting in Step3?

You can follow those practices to do that:

  1. Run the program and click “Tools -> Settings -> Generating Index” and set the option “Ignore words containing less than” to 4 letters. This will eliminate all words having less than 4 letters in the book, like “the”, “run”, …

  2. In Step2 select the second option “Index specific words in the book” and choose to Exclude those categories:
    Adjectives – Adverbs – Basic English words – Conjunctions – Contractions – Interjections – Prepositions – Pronouns – Verbs

    And please enable the option “Exclude words plurals”, so if “ball” is excluded in the above lists, “balls” will also be excluded automatically, then save your settings. The words that you will exclude here are mostly not important to you in the Index.

  3. Generate your Index normally to move to Step3.

  4. In Step3, please click the “Merge duplicates” button found in the Tools bar. This button will merge all duplicated words like “car” & “Car” that have same letters but different case sensitivity. Just click “Merge Now” button in the opened dialog. This will eliminate many words from the table.

  5. In Step3, please click the “Merge plurals” button found in the Tools bar. This button will merge all words that have both singular and plural forms in the results table like “car” & “cars”. Just click “Merge Now” button in the opened dialog. This will eliminate many words from the table.

  6. If you still see some unimportant words in Step3, you can simply right click this word(Or any group of words) and select “Ignore words”. That will add those words to an ignore list to automatically ignore them when indexing any other book later.

All the above suggestions should shrink the results you see in Step3.

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Can i use PDF Index Generator to index a *.doc file(Document) book?

Unfortunately, this is not supported yet. We are deeply thinking of creating another program to accomplish this, so this may be available soon. Currently you can use some of the available free programs to convert your *.doc file to a PDF book, then use PDF Index Generator to create an Index for it.

Note: If you are using Microsoft Word, you can simply save your document as a PDF file from the “Save As” menu.

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Can i use PDF Index Generator through the Command Line?

Yes, since version 1.8 of the program you can run the program through the Command Line (Terminal) through any operating system. You can write a command in the Command Line or write a script file to execute it directy from the Command Line, without any interaction needed from the program Interface.

For more details please check the online help page for how to use the program in the Command Line mode.

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How can i run the program in Command Line Mode in Mac OS X?

Please follow these steps:

  1. First download the program Mac edition from our website, run it, then drag and drop it to the “Applications” folder.

  2. Run Terminal(By clicking Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal).

  3. Write these commands in the Terminal window that appears:
    • cd “/Applications/PDF Index Generator.app/Contents/Plugins/jre/bin”
      (Then press Enter)
    • java -jar “../../../Java/PDF Index Generator.jar” cmd input_pdf_path=…
      (Write the indexing command instead of the “…”, then press Enter)

  4. You can check the help section to learn the Command Line Mode parameters.


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Can i merge more than one index together?

Yes, you can do this, by following these steps:

  1. Index your first book normally and in Step3 click Export words button found in the Tools bar.
  2. By clicking the Export words button a window will appear which will allow you to export all or some of the words in the table of results to an external file. You can also determine what data to export, i.e: word title, pages, count, type.
  3. You can export your book words to a *.txt file or a *.pdfig file. We recommend using the *.pdfig file.
  4. Create your new index project and when you reach Step3, click Import words button found in the Tools bar.
  5. The Import words button will allow you to import your first project exported words file to the current Index.
  6. When you import the words file, you will see your first project words are now merged with the current Index as required.

Note: If the 2 Index projects have duplicate words, then the duplicated words will not be overwritten by the imported words, but the duplicated words will be imported as new words. To remove the duplicated words you can click the Merge duplicates button found in the Tools bar.

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Can i split the book indexing work with my colleague, where each of us could work on a different computer?

Yes, that’s possible, by following those steps:

  1. You can split the indexing work with your colleague, where you index the 1st half of the book, and your colleague indexes the 2nd half of the book.
  2. Another way is that the you index terms from A to L, and your colleague indexes terms from M to Z.
  3. To accomplish this you should create a PDF Index Generator project, index your part of the book, make all the modifications required in Step 3, and when done you should click the Export words button found on the toolbar.
  4. By clicking the Export words button a window will appear which will allow you to export all or some of the words in the results table to an external file.
  5. You can export the indexed terms to a csv file or to a text file or to a *.pdfig project file. We recommend using the *.pdfig project file.
  6. You should then handle the output file to your colleague, who has already finished indexing his part in a different project on his computer.
  7. Your colleague should now open his project in Step 3, click Import words button found on the toolbar.
  8. The Import words button will allow him to import your project to Step 3.
  9. When he imports your file in Step 3, he will see your project terms are now combined with his terms in the results table of Step 3.

Note: If the 2 Index projects have duplicate terms (Terms having same titles), then the duplicated words will not be overwritten by the imported words, but the duplicated words will be imported as new words. There is a program setting to control this behavior, you can check it through:
Tools -> Settings -> Editing Index -> When importing a word that already exists in the results table
You will see 4 options to choose a suitable action to execute then in that case.

Note: You can apply the same steps mentioned above to split the indexing work on more than 2 persons.

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Can i have 1 big index for my 20 volumes book?

PDF Index Generator is specialized in creating a single PDF file index, but at the same time this scenario is also possible to be achieved. You can do this through the following:

  1. Merge your 20 PDF files all together into one big PDF using any PDF merger tool.

  2. In Step1 of PDF Index Generator browse and select your big PDF book to index it.

  3. In Step1 click the Advanced pages numbers link to edit the default pages numbers defined for this book. By default you will see Arabic numbers defined for it. If your big book has 1200 pages, then the default pages numbers defined for it will be: 1, 2, 3, 4, …, 1200, each page number in a separate line. You can change those default numbers to any value you want. In your case you will change them to something like this:
    Vol1_Page1
    Vol1_Page2
    Vol1_Page3

    Vol2_Page1
    Vol2_Page2
    Vol2_Page3

    Vol3_Page1
    Vol3_Page2
    Vol3_Page3

    If you had any problems defining them please let us know and we can send you a file list with those custom pages numbers in a couple of minutes.

  4. Index your book normally, and in Step3 of the program you will see indexed words appear like this:
    Franklin, Benjamin, Vol1_Page120, Vol1_Page142, Vol4_Page23, Vol6_Page218

  5. In Step4 of the program you can write the final index to a new PDF file or to a new text file.

That will do the trick for you

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Can i index more than 1 book at the same time using PDF Index Generator?

Yes, you can accomplish this by using the program in the command line mode (Terminal) through any operating system. You can write a command in the Command Line or write a script file to execute it directy from the Command Line, to ask the program to index all PDF books found inside a folder path. Each book will have the generated index appended to it.

For more details please check the online help page for how to use the program in the Command Line mode.

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If i attach the index to my PDF manuscript, Will it cause any problem when uploaded onto KDP (Kindle)?

If you will upload the PDF file to KDP then it shouldn’t cause a problem, as it will be displayed exactly as laid out in the original PDF document, unlike eBook files where the user can change text size, increase the margins and line spacing and change the font. That way the hyperlinks that are created for the index terms and their page numbers should work fine on KDP. You can download this sample book with a hyperlinked index at its end so you could upload it yourself on Kindle to test it:




PDF Index Generator - point
When i try to import font files inside the program i receive a failure error. How can i fix that?

Font files can be imported inside the program as explained here.

Inside Windows operating system you might get this failure message when importing font files inside the program:

Import font failure message


To fix this issue please do the following:

  1. Move to the program installtion folder. You will see a file named “PDF Index Generator – Admin.exe“.

  2. Right click this file and click “Properties” -> “Compatibilty” -> Enable the option “Run this program as an administrator”.
    Note: You will need to do this step just once, and no need to repeat it when importing more fonts later.

  3. Click Ok.

  4. Double click the “PDF Index Generator – Admin.exe” file to run the program.

  5. Try importing the font file once again, and it should succeed this time.


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Can i have the program interface in another language?

The program interface is currently available in English, French, German and Italian languages. If you’d like to have the program interface in another language, please contact us, mention the language that you prefer to have for the program interface, and we will provide it for you in 2 days.

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Do you support other payment methods like PayPal?

You can order the program through our order page. It has various payment methods allowed, like Paypal and others.

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Can i request a refund?

Please check our refund policy here.You absolutely have the right to request a refund. Please contact us, request the refund, and mention the refund reason. We will process your refund request in less than 24 hours.

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Do you have an affiliate program?

Yes, we have a trusted third party affiliate program, and your commission is guaranteed to be safe. Please visit this page for more details.