diff --git a/docs/source/conf.py b/docs/source/conf.py
index 145eded3..85764c9f 100644
--- a/docs/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/source/conf.py
@@ -253,6 +253,10 @@
 
 #this allows \AA to be used in equations 
 'preamble': '\\global\\renewcommand{\\AA}{\\text{\\r{A}}}',
+
+# Suppress Sphinx's automatic \printindex at the end of the PDF;
+# the index is printed explicitly in indices.rst instead.
+'printindex': '',
 }
 
 # Grouping the document tree into LaTeX files. List of tuples
diff --git a/docs/source/indices.rst b/docs/source/indices.rst
index cb046c52..7e5155c6 100644
--- a/docs/source/indices.rst
+++ b/docs/source/indices.rst
@@ -16,8 +16,4 @@
 
     .. raw:: latex
 
-        \renewcommand{\printindex}{%
-          \begin{theindex}
-          \printindex
-          \end{theindex}
-        }
+        \printindex