Question

Been having some trouble implementing a single-column index in LaTeX.

I’ve been employing the idxlayout package along with multind in order to create an index that is catenated from a slew of other source idx files. First, the index is ALWAYS set to use two columns. Even though the idxlayout package is set to columns=1, and the itemlayout is set to singlepar, no dice. In addition (and more frustrating), the resulting output file consists of index lines have page instances that are split across lines as:

Index Data Term:
            Target Document with long filename A, pp(docA)
                                    , pp (docA)

More specifically,

Data Term:
                LongFilename.pdf, 45, 
                         59

Is there any way that the index lines can be FORCED to be on the same line as:

Index Data Term:
            Target Document with long filename A, pp(docA), pp(docA)

More specifically,

Data Term:
                LongFilename.pdf, 45, 59

Ideally, the index should look like:

XXXXXXXXXXX:
             XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX, XX, XX, XXX
XXXXXXXXXXX:
             XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX, XX, XX, XXX
XXXXXXXXXXX:
             XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX, XX, XX, XXX
             XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX, XX, XX, XXX
             XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX, XX, XX, XXX

rather than

XXXXXXXXXXX:                                XXXXXXXXXXX:
         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX,                 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX,
                XX, XX, XXX                                 XX, XX, XXX
XXXXXXXXXXX:                                XXXXXXXXXXX:
         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX,                 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX,
                XX, XX, XXX                                 XX, XX, XXX
         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX,        XXXXXXXXXXX:
         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX,                 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX,
XXXXXXXXXXX:                                               XX, XX, XXX                 
         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   XX,       
                XX, XX, XXX         

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Perhaps you could try the cuted package, or even the multicol package, instead of idxlayout. For cuted:

Standard LaTeX will only switch between \onecolumn and \twocolumn at the top of a page; the commands themselves clear the previous page. This package does away with the restriction, and allows you to mix one- and twocolumn modes on the same page.