Annex? Appendix? What's the difference?

Factual Questions
1

I have never been clear on what exactly is an “annex” to a long doc and what is an “appendix.”

For example, I have a bunch of forms and a bunch of checklists that should go along with my document. Should I make an Annex called “Forms” and have each Form being an Appendix? As in:

Annex 1 - Forms
Appendix A - One form
Appendix B - Another form
Appendix C - Still another form

Annex 2 - Checklists
Appendix D - A checklist
Appendix E - Another checklist

Am I totally off base here?

Thanks

2

I have never heard the term “annex” used in regards to documentation. I looked up the definition, and it seems pretty much synonmous with “appendix.” But I think more people are familiar with the term “appendix,” so I would go with:

Appendix A: Forms (listing all forms in this one appendix)
Appendix B: Checklists (listing all checklists in this one appendix)

My 2 cents.

3

I also have only ever heard the term “annex” as related to a larger building or country incorporating a smaller building or country. IME, it’s not commonly used as a synonym for “appendix”, or as a collection of appendices. I’d second milquetoast’s idea.

4

I have seen “annex” used in documents prepared for delivery by a single federal IT contractor. It was used instead of “appendix” and in exactly the same way. I have never seen both in the same document. I think this is an eccentricity of the company, as I have never seen it anywhere else since.

If were writing a document I would use “appendix” in favor of “annex” unless I was required by a style guide to do otherwise.

5

Ugh. The company in question is an enormous public service. It is quite possible that they have made up their own impenetrable rules, seems to be SOP around here.

Guess I should ask around the cube farm instead of the SDMB! I’ll report back.

6

I goggled “document annex” and got gobs of hits, mostly federal government but some others as well, so this is not quite as obscure as I had imagined.

My advice stands to go with appendix unless you have a style guide that sez otherwise.

7

In US military planning documents there are attachments, annexes and appendices. It’s been too many years for me to recall exactly how they differ & which are used when.

But at least for that massive bureacracy, those are distinct terms with specific and carefully prescribed uses. They are very definitely NOT interchangeable terms for the same thing.

There were also manuals radily available which described all this. If the OP woks for a big agency, they too will have manuals, maybe several feet of them, which prescribe how the paperwork is to be done.