As promised last month, I am going to show you how to index multiple exhibits on the same page.
First, let’s take a look at our single-exhibit marking parenthetical, just for a refresher.
A parenthetical for two exhibits would say something like “Exhibits # and # marked for identification,” while more than two would need to say “Exhibits # through # marked for identification,” unless you wanted or needed to list the numbers individually (#, #, #, and #, for instance). You could either make two new exhibit marking block files to cover the two-exhibit and multiple-exhibit issues, or you could just modify each parenthetical (and code) as you edit.
Two exhibits marked at the same time is probably easier to do with a new block file, so I will walk you through that process before going into multiple exhibits.
First, create a new file (Alt+E to open a file, then name the file with a name that doesn’t already exist).
Inside that new file, type in your two-exhibit parenthetical.
Next, insert an Index Command (Alt+N+I) and add your elements as necessary. Then do it again, so that you have two Index Command lines in this parenthetical.
Then close the file.
If you wish, you can define steno strokes to bring this file in while you’re writing and two exhibits are marked at once instead of the single-exhibit parenthetical. Maybe /TWO /TWO /PHARBG or something equally memorable for you. This step is not necessary unless you don’t want to take the time to include this particular block file while scoping.
For multiple exhibits, the process is mostly the same, but since you don’t know how many exhibits will be marked at once, you just have to make sure you have more than two, but make sure it’s a manageable number. For this lesson, I used three, and the idea is to change the “and” in the previous file to “through,” and have three Index Commands in the parenthetical (or just copy/paste them while scoping). If you have more than three, you will need to copy/paste the codes and change the descriptions and exhibit numbers for each exhibit marked within the scope of the parenthetical. Below is a three-exhibit example.
You can also have a block file for a multi-exhibit parenthetical with only three codes to start with and just copy/paste more as needed while editing. If the exhibit numbers aren’t continuous, say exhibits 4, 6, and 9, you can type over the “# through #” with whatever number list you need. This block file can also be brought in using an auto-include, as with the single- and two-exhibit parentheticals.
Once you’re finished editing, all you need do is build your index (Ctrl+I), and each of these exhibits–as long as there isn’t an error in your code, which there shouldn’t be, since you copy/pasted anything that didn’t need to be changed–will show up in your index on their own line, with the same page number.
And there you have it. It’s as simple as copy/paste.