# DITA Best Practices : How to Add Index Items to Topics

Created by Kelly Mankenberg, last modified on Sep 22, 2015

Index entries appear in the Index tab of a WebHelp transformation. They do not appear in the PDF transformation.

## Step-by-step guide

To insert an indexterm:

1. Open a DITA file.

2. Within the prolog tag, locate the metadata element, then locate keywords.

3. Insert an indexterm element.

   Note

   indexterm elements may also reside anywhere within the body of the content (conbody, taskbody, etc.). However, as a direct link to the location of the indexterm is not created in the generated output (webhelp), it is a best practice to place them in the prolog section (prolog > metadata > keywords). This provides for easier identification when editing.

4. Within indexterm, type the new term.

   Tip

   Multiple indexterms can be inserted in the same location.

## Related articles

- Page:
  How to Add Index Items to Topics

## Attachments:

IndexPane.png (image/png)
indexterms.png (image/png)