Book table of contents word

Insert a table of contents

A table of contents in Word is based on the headings in your document.

Create the table of contents

1. Put your cursor where you want to add the table of contents.

2. Go to References > Table of Contents. and choose an automatic style.

   

3. If you make changes to your document that affect the table of contents, update the table of contents by right-clicking the table of contents and choosing Update Field.

To update your table of contents manually, see Update a table of contents.

If you have missing entries

Missing entries often happen because headings aren’t formatted as headings.

1. For each heading that you want in the table of contents, select the heading text.

2. Go to Home > Styles, and then choose Heading 1.

   

3. Update your table of contents.

To update your table of contents manually, see Update a table of contents.

Create the table of contents

Word uses the headings in your document to build an automatic table of contents that can be updated when you change the heading text, sequence, or level.

1. Click where you want to insert the table of contents – usually near the beginning of a document.

2. Click References > Table of Contents and then choose an Automatic Table of Contents style from the list.

   Note: If you use a Manual Table of Contents style, Word won’t use your headings to create a table of contents and won’t be able to update it automatically. Instead, Word will use placeholder text to create the look of a table of contents so you can manually type each entry into the table of contents. To update your manual table of contents, see Update a table of contents.

   

If you want to Format or customize your table of contents, you can. For example, you can change the font, the number of heading levels, and whether to show dotted lines between entries and page numbers.

If you have missing entries

Missing entries often happen because headings aren’t formatted as headings.

1. For each heading that you want in the table of contents, select the heading text.

2. Go to Home > Styles, and then choose Heading 1.

   

3. Update your table of contents.

To update your table of contents manually, see Update a table of contents.

Word uses the headings in your document to build an automatic table of contents that can be updated when you change the heading text, sequence, or level.

1. Click where you want to insert the table of contents—usually near the beginning of the document.

2. On the toolbar ribbon, select References. 

3. Near the left end, select Insert Table of Contents. (Or select Table of Contents > Insert Table of Contents. 

   The table of contents is inserted, showing the headings and page numbering in your document.

If you make changes to your document that affect the table of contents, you can update it by right-clicking the table and selecting Update Table of Contents.

Get the learning guide

For a hands-on guide that steps you through the process of creating a table of contents, download our Table of Contents tutorial. Or, in desktop Word, go to File > New, and search for table of contents.

See Also

Update a table of contents 

Is this article up to date?

Formatting a Book in Microsoft Word

Font

Setting Paragraphs and Spacing

Next, under the Indentation heading, there’s a Special column on the right. Set that to First Line and place the indentation at 0.2”.

Then you’ll want to make sure that Line Spacing is set to Single.

Chapter Headings

Click the Heading 1 style. You’ll see the heading change. Once it has changed, you can select whatever font style you want without removing the Heading 1 style from the chapter heading.

Table of Contents

That’s it! I can’t say that it’s easy exactly, but it’s not the hardest thing in the world. Next, you can upload the .docx MS Word document to Kindle Direct Publishing and Amazon will convert it to an EPUB file for you.

Double-Check Your Work!

Next Steps: Formatting for Print in Microsoft Word

Book Size and Page Setup

Margins

Next, navigate to the Margins tab on the left-hand side of the Layout toolbar. Click on it and select Custom Margins at the very bottom of the dropdown menu. Depending on your book’s word count, you may have a little room to make them smaller. The important thing is to not make them too small because doing so can cut off some of the text when the book is bound.

You generally don’t want to go smaller than 0.325”. For this book, we’ll set all the margins to 0.75”. When you preview your book before you send it to be printed, you’ll be able to ensure that none of the text is cut off by the binding.

Copy and Paste Your Book

Now is a good time to copy and paste your manuscript into the formatted document. This way you can have a different document for print books and one for ebooks. Plus, the next section is easier when you can see what you’re doing and where your different sections start.

Once your manuscript is pasted into the formatted Word file, head over to the Insert toolbar. Then navigate to the Header tab. Once you click it, a dropdown menu will appear and you’ll be able to choose the header style you like best for your book.

If you’re not sure, take a look at a couple of your books to see what style you like best. Usually, the header is used for the author’s name and the title of the book. Most of the time the text of the header is smaller, but not always. It’s always differentiated in some way from the main text.

Next, you’ll see that the top toolbar has switched automatically to the Header and Footer tab. The Link to Previous button should be highlighted. Deselect this.

Then, navigate to the left and find the Page Number button. Click it to access the dropdown menu. Select whichever style of page number you like. The numbers should only start at the bottom of the page you’re on.

Once you’re done adding the page numbers, you’ll have a print-formatted manuscript!

Triple Check Your Work!

Video: How to Format a Book in Word

For a nice summary of this article, along with a few of my own personal thoughts on the subject, be sure to check out this video on how to format a book in Microsoft Word.

Want more videos like this? Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for weekly videos!

Formatting With Atticus

You can also customize the paragraph styles, making them indented or spaced. You can also add custom paragraph breaks or choose from existing ones. There’s an option for lead-in small caps and, of course, the always classy drop cap option. And, you can preview the changes in real-time.

Atticus also makes it easy to change your headers and footers without all the trouble that doing it in MS Word entails. You can choose what page number format you want, as well as what header format.

And, perhaps best of all, it also allows you to pick your print options easily. Atticus will then automatically format it, giving you an excellent-looking file that you can use with any print-on-demand companies. You can use it as a word processor or just for book formatting. Or both!

So if you want to save time (and time is money, especially for indie authors, isn’t it?), then head on over to Atticus.io and get yourself a copy for a one-time price. No monthly fees here. And you’ll always get the latest updates as we continually upgrade and make Atticus even better.

When you’re creating or editing a long document, you’ll
probably have to create a table of contents. That might sound like a chore, but
fortunately, you can do it in just a few clicks. Then, if you change the document, Word can update the table of content instantly. 

Best of all, Word includes hyperlinks to the various sections in your table of contents, so it isn’t just a visual aid for
printed documents, but it’s also perfect to make easy-to-browse online documents and PDFs with.

Creating the table of contents in Word itself is simple, but the tricky part is getting it to work the way you want. In this tutorial, I’ll show you everything you need to make a simple, auto-generated table of contents, and then get it to look the way you want in every version of Microsoft Word.

How to Make a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word (Screencast)

You can follow along using your own document, or if you prefer, download the zip file included for this tutorial. It contains a document called The Age of Einstein.docx, which is a public domain physics textbook (credit to the author, Professor Frank W.K. Firk).

Watch the video screencast above or follow the written tutorial instructions below for more detail on how to make a table of contents in Word.

Creating Your Table of Contents in Word

There are a few ways of creating a table of contents in Word, but only two that you’ll
ever use

• Create them automatically from built-in styles
• Create them from your custom styles

These methods work mostly the same in Windows and Mac versions of Microsoft Word.

Using MS Word built-in styles is the fastest and most common
technique, and using custom styles takes only a little more work. Sometimes,
you’ll want to use both techniques in the same document. Once you have a table of contents (TOC) in
a document, you can format it with its own styles. You don’t want to format the
TOC like regular text, because the formatting can easily get wiped out.

How the Textbook is Organized

Before doing anything to the document, let’s see how it’s
organized. Page 1 is the title, page 2 is blank and will hold the table of contents, page 3
is the preface, and after that comes the text. As you scroll down, notice that headings
and subheadings are formatted.

The best way to see the structure of the document is with
the Navigation Pane. (In some versions of Word for Mac, it may be called the Document Map Pane.)

In Windows, go to the View
tab, then click the check box to enable the Navigation Pane.

On the Mac, click the Sidebar option to show the drop-down menu. Click the arrow next to the option and click Navigation. (On older versions of the Mac software, the option is called Document Map Pane.)

On your Mac or PC, go back to the Home
tab if you’re not already there. Keep your eye on the Styles box on the ribbon,
and click the items in the pane to navigate through the book. 

Notice that the
items with whole numbers – like 2.
Understanding the Physical Universe – are formatted as Heading 1, and items
with decimals – like 2.1 Reality and Pure
Thought – are formatted as Heading 2. There are also a few decimal items –
like 4.5 Space Travel – that are
formatted as Heading 3.

Tip: when
creating a document, the shortcuts for applying the Heading 1, 2 and 3 styles
are Ctrl-Alt-1, Ctrl-Alt-2, and Ctrl-Alt-3
(and Command-Opt-1, Command-Opt -2, and Command-Opt-3 on the Mac).

Generating a Table of Contents Using Built-In Header Styles in Word

Word can now turn those Heading styles into table of contents
entries. Click at the top of page 2. (Tip: in Windows, press Ctrl-G,
type 2, then press Enter. On the Mac, press Command-Opt-G, type 2, then press Return.)

In Windows, go to the References
tab on the ribbon, click the Table of
Contents button on the left, then choose one of the two built-in tables
from the list. Note that the thumbnails show that Headings 1, 2 and 3 will be
included.

It’s almost the same on the Mac. Go to the Insert menu, choose Index and Tables, then pick one of the
formats on the left and click OK.
This dialog box also shows that Headings 1-3 will be included.

As soon as you choose one, the table of contents gets inserted starting on
page 2, and Word automatically inserts a couple of more pages, so it all fits. In Windows, you can Ctrl-click one of the items, and it will hyperlink to the item in the document.

This works great, but there’s one problem. Before the
Introduction, there is a Preface that
should be included in the table of contents. And just before Appendix A1 is the heading for
the Appendix, and that should also be
included. But they weren’t, because they’re both formatted with a custom style
called Large heading, and custom
styles don’t get included in the default table of contents. The second method of creating table of contents in Word will fix that.

Creating a Table of Contents From Custom Styles in Word

Word can include any styles in a table of contents. We just
have to tell it which ones to choose. And we can update the table, rather than having
to delete it and start over.

In Windows, go back to the References tab, click the Table
of Contents button, then near the bottom of the menu, choose Custom Table of Contents. Click the Options button near the bottom of the dialog box to display the Table of Contents Options dialog box.

On the Mac, go to back to the Insert menu and choose Index
and Tables. In the Table of Contents section, click the Options button.

On the Mac or PC the Table of Contents Options dialog box shows that the Heading 1 style will have TOC level 1,
the Heading 2 style will have TOC level 2, and the Heading 3 style will have
TOC level 3.

Scroll down to the bottom of the list (on the Mac, you’ll use the down slider). Then, in the box for Large heading, type a 1 to make it level 1. Table of Content levels can
come from more than one style.

Click OK in the
Table of Contents Options dialog, then OK again in the Table of Contents dialog box. When Word displays a message asking if you want to replace the
table, choose Yes. The Preface and Appendix are now both included in the table
of contents.

Manually Updating the Table of Contents in Word

There are other times when you’ll want to update the table
manually. This is handy when you change the text of one of the headings and
want the change reflected in the table of contents.

Scroll down to the page with the preface. At the top of the page replace
PREFACE with FORWARD. Make sure it still uses the Large heading style.

Go back to the top of the table of contents and click in it. Note that it
has a gray background; that means it’s a field, and fields can usually be
updated. 

Click the Update Table
button either on the TOC itself (that button doesn’t always appear) or on the References tab, and the first entry changes to FORWARD. (On the Mac, right-click the table and choose Update Field from the pop-up menu. Choose the Update entire table option and click OK.)

Now that the table of contents displays the correct text, we
can apply nicer formatting though.

How to Modify Table of Contents Styles in Word

Each heading level of the table of contents has its own
style that’s automatically applied. All we have to do is change the formatting
of the styles to change the table’s appearance, here’s how:

1. In Windows, in the References tab of the ribbon, click again on the Table of Contents button and choose Custom Table of Contents, near the
   bottom. In the Table of Contents dialog box, click Modify.
2. On the Mac, click Insert > Index
   and Tables. On the left side, choose From Template, then
   click Modify. Everything else works
   the same way as in Windows.
3. In the Table of Contents dialog box, click Modify, and another dialog box appears,
   showing style names and formatting for the TOC heading levels. Select TOC
   1.
4. Click the Modify
   button just below it, and the Style dialog  box appears. (On the Mac, it’s called the Properties dialog box.)

Format the style with Arial or Helvetica, 12 points, bold.
Then click OK.

• Repeat for the TOC 2 style, and set it to Arial
  or Helvetica, 12 points, normal.
• Repeat for the TOC 3 style, and set it to Arial
  or Helvetica, 11 points, normal.

The table of contents should now look like this:

Conclusion

When you have a long document, you don’t have to fear
creating a table of contents. Whether you’re using Windows or a Mac, you can
insert one in just a few clicks, then use the same dialog box to change the
formatting.

As you learned in this table of contents tutorial, remember not to apply formatting directly to the table, because it
can get wiped out if you replace it. If you make any changes to the Word document itself, remember to click the top of the TOC and update it. Leave a comment below if you have any trouble making or tweaking your table of contents.

To learn more about working with Microsoft Word, study the following tutorials:

Editorial Note: This post was
originally published in 2014. It has been comprehensively revised to make it
current, accurate, and up to date by our staff—with special assistance from Laura Spencer.

Did you find this post useful?

Bob Flisser has authored many videos and books about Microsoft and Adobe products, and has been a computer trainer since the 1980s. He is also a web and multimedia developer. Bob is a graduate of The George Washington University with a degree in financial economics.

How to Create a Table of Contents in Word – In this post, we will explain how to create a table of contents automatically and will also explain how to create pages in Microsoft Office ( Ms.Word ).

In writing, a table of contents is a very mandatory component. The reason is that writers are required to provide a table of contents in a written work.

Read more:

• 5 Ways To Activate Microsoft Office 2013 Permanently Offline
• How to Activate Microsoft Office 2010 Permanently Offline
• How to Activate Microsoft Office 2019 Permanently Offline
• 15 Ways To Speed ​​Up Windows 10 Laptop PC

For example in writing a book, the table of contents is very important in writing scientific papers such as theses, papers, theses, dissertations, and many more.

What are the benefits of a table of contents in an essay?
The first is initial information about what will be discussed in a book or scientific paper.

The term table of contents is the subject of discussion, in some books have written a synopsis at the back of the book that tells the reader about the material topics or discussions in a book.

The table of contents also contains information on discussion topics contained in chapters or sub-chapters on each page.

In addition, the table of contents can also make it easier for readers to find information in a book or written work they are looking for.

The contents of the book are applied based on chapters and subchapters on each page. The existence of flat content can make it easier for people who are looking for material on the book page because it can be seen from the table of contents.

The discussion below will explain also how to create pages in the word correctly. Check out the explanation below!

How to Create an Automated Table of Contents and Pages in Word

#1. Create an Automatic Table of contents

1. Open the Microsoft Word that you use, then create a file in Microsoft Word. If you have selected the References menu, then select the Table of Contents menu. Choose according to your needs. The explanation here selects the Automatic Table 1 type.
   

   Then on your word screen will appear as shown below.

   It can be seen in the picture above that there is a Table of Content description or the table of contents is not found. Because there are several steps that must be made first.
2. Next, you must first create any chapters or sub-chapters that you will create in the table of contents. For example, as follows:> Preface
   >Prologue
   > Introduction
   > Introduction to Ms. Word
   > Benefits of using Ms. Word
   > How to use Ms. Word
   > About the Author
   > IndexThe chapter above is made with different pages.
3. Then set the style of the chapter title writing to be Heading 1 or Heading 2. The trick is to block writing and then on the Styles menu in Home select Heading 1 or Heading 2 and do it on all pages.
   
4. Then if every page has been completed, the next step is to create a page or Page Numbers. The step is that you select the Insert menu, then in the Header and Footer column click Page Number.
   

   If you have selected Page Number, you will see that there are several page number options. Here is an example of using page numbers in the bottom center, see the image below.

5. Then the next step is to open the first page where the table of contents will be created, then click Update Table.
   

   If you have selected the update table it will appear writing on each chapter of your page.

Note: The following explains how to create an automatic table of contents for page chapters, if you make changes to each page, change titles or add pages, you only need to click on the update table as in the fourth step above.

The changes you make will appear as shown above. Select Update Page Numbers Only if the table of contents page has not changed, on the title name then select Update Entire Table if there is a change in the title name or the addition of a title on the page.

#2. Creating Word Pages

Creating a Page Number 

• Open Microsoft Word, select insert in the header & footer section, then click page number.

• Then select the page number location:

1. Top of Page, the placement of the page number at the top or header.
2. Bottom of the Page, placement of page numbers at the bottom or footer.
3. Page Margins, the placement of the page number of the page margin.
4. Current Position, the placement of the page number at the cursor position.
   

• Then click the page number according to your wishes
• If you have closed the header or footer by double-clicking on the inside of the document or you can click the Close Header & Footer button.

Change Page Number 

The example here will change the page number format from 1,2,3 to I, ii, iii.

Creating Word Page Margins Size

• Open the Microsoft word that you are using
• Then on the top menu of the word page select page layout.
• If so, there are many choices, just click on the very bottom ” Custom Margins “.
  
• If you have clicked on the customs margins section,  then you will be shown a setup page.
• In the page setup section, set the margins to op, left, bottom, right, gutter, and gutter position according to your needs.
  
• Then click paper in the page setup section, to set the paper you are using.
  
• Then click OK.

Conclusion:

That’s the discussion on how to automatically create a table of contents and pages in word, hopefully, it’s useful.

Don’t forget to bookmark and always visit every day Technadvice.com because here you can find the latest technology information such as How-to Guide Tips and Tricks Blogging Digital Marketing Windows Android Root Social Media games, ETC. Best of luck.

Before you publish, you always need to create a book table of contents.

Adding a table of contents (TOC) is often the last task you think about after you finish writing a book.

But when you try to add one, it can lead to some confusion or frustration.

Let’s look at how to do it correctly.

Table of contents tutorial

A table of contents in books needs the correct formatting before you can insert it into your contents page.

When you learn to apply heading styles correctly, it is easy to create an updateable TOC.

But most errors occur due to inconsistent heading formatting.

In this guide, we will look at how to add a TOC using a word processor in:

1. Microsoft Word

2. Apple pages

3. Make A Clickable TOC

4. In an ebook

I’ll take it step-by-step to make it easier.

However, if you prefer, we have a short video showing you how to add a table of contents.

Heading styles create your Book Table of Contents

Creating a book table of contents to show what your book includes depends completely on the heading styles you have used for your chapter titles throughout your book.

It is an automatic table, so before you start, you need to check all the heading text in your document.

To do this, in Word, go to the Home Tab, then Styles Toolbox from the View menu. In Pages, under the Text menu, click on the arrow near the Default tab.

Consistent headings are the most important step before creating references, a table of contents, or footnote insertions. So make sure every heading is correct.

You need to check all your heading text. In most cases, you will choose heading 1 style for your book title and heading 2 style for your chapter titles.

On rare occasions, you might want to have sub-headings in a chapter. If you want to use this heading level, select heading 3 style.

Make sure you don’t use and headings in your copyright notices. You don’t want these appearing in your TOC.

Go through your Word document and select the text for each chapter heading and select heading 2. Use heading 1 only for your book title on the title page.

You might also want to insert page numbers in the footer if you haven’t done so already. But if you are formatting an ebook, you should not use page numbers for an ebook table of contents.

Once all the headings in your document are set correctly, you are ready to create a TOC.

Related reading: How to add an index to an ebook

1. How to insert a table of contents field in Word

Go to the point in your document where you want to insert your TOC and place your cursor at the insertion point. This is usually your contents page.

Then go to the Insert menu.

Click Insert Index and Tables. You will see the following dialog box.

You can select your TOC style from the Formats box. Next, click Options.

This is the most important setting.

Make sure that you number the priority of your headings.

Delete any other numbers in the Available Styles list and only retain the heading styles you are using for your chapter headings. Then click OK.

Now click the modify button.

In this box, you can change the look and feel of your TOC heading style. If you want to make font and style changes, click the Modify button.

Click OK when you have finished styling your text. Then click OK again.

Your custom table of contents is now in your document.

If you want to make changes to your TOC styling, select all the text in your TOC and right-click. You can then select from the menu to change the font or paragraph styles.

In the same popup menu in the image below, you can update the table of contents dialog box by clicking Update fields.

If you make any changes to your document, this will automatically update the page number or text changes you have made to your chapter headings.

Any time you make changes in your document, right-click on your TOC. Then update the table of contents and choosing update field.

The Toggle Field Codes is not very useful as it only shows the code behind your TOC.

The process above is similar for most versions of MS Word, including Word 2007, Word 2010, and Word for Mac.

2. Add a table of contents in Apple Pages

It is a similar process to Word, but with a couple of small differences.

First, choose Insert Table of Contents and then Document at your insertion point.

Next, select only the headings that you are using for your chapter titles. Again this is usually Heading 2.

To style your TOC, click into the table of contents field. This will change the menu tab on the right.

Now you can style your text and fonts. But there is one last setting to have your page number in the correct location next to your chapter titles.

Right at the bottom, you can change the tab stops, alignment and add a leader if you wish.

To make any alterations or changes, click into the TOC, and the same dialog box will appear.

3. Creating a navigational table of contents

There are some uses for having a fully navigational or clickable TOC.

While a standard TOC will navigate from the page numbers, it is not very obvious for readers or users.

It is a manual process, so you will not be automatically generating your TOC. But again, make sure your chapter heading style is consistent and using heading 2.

You start by adding a bookmark to your chapter headings.

Select your chapter text, and then from the Insert menu, Bookmark.

The next step is to name your bookmark. You cannot have spaces in the name. It can only be letters, so choose something recognizable for each of your chapters.

Click Add, and you have set your bookmark. Now you need to add your chapter title to your navigation list manually. As you can see, I have already added the first three chapters.

Now select the text and choose Hyperlink from the Insert menu.

In the next dialog box, select Document and then click Locate.

In the next dialog box, open the Bookmarks menu if necessary and then select your chapter bookmark. Then click OK.

You now have a hyperlink to chapter four. You can see the alt text box when you hover your cursor over the link. Clicking the link will take you to Chapter Four.

4. Adding a table of contents to an ebook

Good news. There is no need to create a table of contents in an ebook if you use the right software or upload it directly to Amazon KDP or an aggregator.

The only action you need to take is to ensure that ONLY your chapter headings are using heading 2. You should check your document carefully to make sure there are no other instances of heading 2.

If you use Draft2Digital (D2D) to publish your ebooks, you only have to supply a Word docx file with no copyright or title page. D2D will complete all the front matter, including your title page and table of contents.

If you are using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), it is almost the same. However, you need to create a title page and copyright page in your docx file before you upload.

If you want to create your own ebook files in mobi and epub, you can use Calibre to make the conversion.

Read this article for instructions: How To Convert A Document From Word To Epub Or Mobi

An automatic table of contents is created for you when you convert to epub or mobi using Calibre.

Now go to your book on Calibre and click on the book or the file type to open it.

Click on the TOC icon, marked with the red arrow. Then you will see your all your chapters are listed.

They will be used as ebook navigation points on a Kindle device or any other ebook reading app.

Summary

For all the different ways you can create a table of contents, the most critical factor is formatting your chapter heading using styles.

Heading 2 must be used to make sure that all entries in the table are correct.

As all TOCs are automatic, if your styles are mixed or not reserved for chapter headings only, your TOC will be inaccurate.

Once you have mastered the basics, adding a book table of contents is a quick and easy task.

Table of contents (TOC) on a hard binding book helps readers to quickly navigate to any particular section of the book. This is also true for e-documents created with software like Microsoft Word. It not only helps other readers but also helps you, the creator of the document, to easily navigate to different sections. Sometimes, your project may have hundreds of pages long and it can be a problem to remember which page has what information. When you’re creating such a long document or report in Microsoft Word, there is a very good chance that you’ll have to add a table of contents to go with it.

Now, that might sound like a difficult task but it really isn’t. You can add or create a table of contents in just few clicks and then go about tweaking it. Then let’s say if you want to make some changes in the table content, you don’t have to completely replace it. You just need a single click to update the table of content. Let’s learn how to create table of contents in Microsoft Word Windows and Mac versions.

There are actually several ways of adding up a table of contents in Microsoft Word. In this article, we will show you the simplest way of creating the table of contents. These methods will work mostly in all Microsoft Word versions both on Windows and Mac. One more thing which we like about Microsoft Word is that each heading in the table of contents is automatically hyperlinked. With a single click, you can easily roll over to any page or heading in your long document.

1. Before Proceeding – Structure Your Document

It’s totally up to you, you can choose whatever document you like to make a table of contents. But there is an important point before you trying to create TOC. Microsoft Word will add only heading styles 1, 2 and 3 from your document in the TOC. So, you have to keep in mind that your document should have these headings (available under Home > Styles) in an arranged format as you wanted.

If you have a document in plain body text format without headings, it’s a good idea to first structure the format with h1, h2 and h3 headings. So, let’s jump on to the step by step guide on how to add a table of contents in Microsoft Word.

2. Using Navigation Pane

Before we start adding a table of content you need to turn on the navigation pane under ‘View > Navigation Pane’ in Windows platform. This ‘Navigation’ pane will show all headings that can be included in the TOC. You can click on the heading to navigate to that section. This way you can navigate to different sections of a document without creating explicit TOC inside your document.

3. Automatically Add Table of Contents with Built-in Style

Using pre-installed styles for table of contents is one of the fastest and the most common techniques we can see. Most of the people use it and make their work faster and save a lot of time. For adding a table of content automatically, you need to be at the page where you want to add a table of content. Generally you should add the TOC at the start of the document, so go to start of the document by pressing “Control + Home” keys on Windows and “Function + Command + Left Arrow” keys on Mac. Hit enter key to create enough space, again go up to the first line and follow the below steps for inserting TOC.

• Go to the ‘References’ menu and click on the ‘Table of content’ option.
• Now, you will see all the pre-installed styles and choose the style that suits your document.
• For this guide, we are selecting the ‘Automatic Table 2’. Once selected, you will see the TOC is added at the current cursor position.

The length of TOC depends on the length of your document and the number of headings you have added to your document.

4. Using Custom Table of Contents

The TOC with built-in style works great in most cases. But there are certain cases you may need to include additional headings created with custom styles. These custom heading styles are not included in the built-in TOC. At any case, you can customize the table of contents as per your need using custom table of contents option.

In Windows, go to the ‘References’ tab, click on the ‘Table of Contents’ button. At the bottom, you’ll see ‘Custom Table of Contents’ and click on that.

Now, you’ll see a dialog box ‘Table of Content’ and click on the ‘Options’ button. It will again display another small dialog box ‘Table of Contents Options’. Here you can choose the levels of headings, outline levels and choose table entry fields option.

When you have custom styles for headings, make sure that ‘styles’ box is checked and Heading 1, 2 and 3 are turn on with a small check on left side. Scroll down in styles box and select all custom heading styles like ‘Large heading’. If you want the outline levels to be turned on, it’s up to you. Click ‘ok’ and now you can see the Table of Contents has been added successfully including your custom heading styles.

5. Linking Sections from Table of Contents

When Word generates TOC, it links to the corresponding headings automatically. Hover the mouse on any of the headings on the table of contents. You will see a popup that says “Current document – CTRL + Click to follow the link”. When you press Ctrl key, your cursor will convert into a hand which shows it’s a link now and when you click on that link you will be rolled over to the section of that link in your document.

6. Creating Table of Contents on Word Mac Version

Microsoft has different versions of Word for Mac – Microsoft 365, 2016 and 2011. The Microsoft 365 and 2016 versions work as explained above while 2011 version works similar to earlier Word versions of 2002 or 2003 as explained below:

6.1. Document Map Pane (Navigation Pane)

On Word version for Mac, you should enable ‘Document Map Pane’ option available under the menu “View > Sidebar”. Latest version will have ‘Navigation’ option similar to Windows instead of ‘Document Map Pane’.

6.2. Insert Automatic TOC

Navigate to “Insert > Index and Tables…” menu. Go to “Table of Contents” tab and choose the available format of TOC for your document.

6.3. Custom TOC

Visit ‘Insert’ menu and chose ‘Index and Tables…’ options. Go to ‘Table of Contents’ tab and click on ‘Options’ button. In the options dialog box, it will show some options which allows you to build table of contents of your choice.

6.4. Hyperlinks

Unfortunately, the hyperlinks of table of contents will not work in Mac version of Microsoft Word.

7. Updating Table of Contents

If you want to update the table of contents, then simply ‘Right click’ on it and choose ‘Update fields’ option. You will have two options to update the TOC – update page numbers only and update entire table.

Choose to update the page numbers when you have added additional content in-between resulting the headings to move to different pages. If you have modified the document including headings then choose update entire table option to update the TOC based on new content.

7.1. Understanding Levels in Table of Contents

People get confused with the levels used in TOC. Below example explains how Word converts the headings from the content to links in the TOC.

1. Heading Level 1
2. Heading Level 1
   2.1. Heading Level 2
   2.2. Heading Level 2
     2.2.1. Heading Level 3
     2.2.2. Heading Level 3

The prefix 1, 2, 2.1, 2.2.1, etc. are the headings and sub-headings used in document. Whereas the level 1, 2, 3, etc. are the levels used in the table of contents.

8. Modifying Font and Styles of TOC

You can select the actual content in TOC and customize the font and paragraph settings. But this will be overwritten when you update the TOC. The easy way to modify the settings is to customize the themes of TOC. Word uses different style for each heading level in TOC. When you are in the options section, click on “Modify” button to open the style dialog box. Here you can choose the TOC level and customize the format and fonts as per your need.

9. Additional Options for Customizing TOC

Word treats entire TOC as a field, you can use the below points to customize the TOC further.

• Don’t use headings for titles if you don’t want it to be included in the TOC. Instead you can use title or book title styles.
• By default Word supports 9 level of headings for table of content. You can limit the levels in the options dialog box but you can’t increase the levels more than 9.
• Right click on the TOC and choose “Toggle field codes” option to see the entire TOC is converted into a field code like {TOC o f}. If you are aware, modify the parameters and customize the TOC as per your need.

Conclusion

With long document or report, it’s a good thing to add a table of contents page in them. It becomes a lot easier for the person to find the required sections quickly. As you have learned in this guide, adding a table of contents in your documents is not a hectic task. If you do any changes to TOC, always remember to update it.