How to make table of contents in word

Insert a table of contents

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

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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.

    Create a table of contents

  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.

    Add a heading

  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.

    On the References tab, click Table of Contents, and then select an Automatic Table of Contents style from the gallery

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.

    Add a heading

  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 

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  • Adding a Table of Contents
  • |

  • Updating the Table of Contents
  • |

  • Stylizing the Table of Contents
  • |

  • Video

This wikiHow teaches you how to customize and update the table of contents in your Word document. When you create a table of contents in Word, page numbers are added automatically based on the headings you’ve added to each section. Word makes it easy to customize the way the page numbers and section titles appear on the table. If you make changes to your document that affects your section headers or page numbers, you’ll need to choose the Update Table option so the table of contents remains correct.

  1. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 1

    1

    Format the headings of each section of your document. Word’s table of contents builder automatically generates a table of contents based on the headings in your document.[1]
    This means each section that you want represented in your table of contents must have a properly-formatted heading.

    • If a section should appear as a primary section in the table of contents, select its heading, click the Home tab, and then select Heading 1 on the «Styles» panel.
    • To add a sub-section to the primary section in the table of contents, give that section a Heading 2 header: Select its heading and choose Heading 2 from the Styles section.
    • You can can also use Heading 3, Heading 4, etc., to add even more pages to your table of contents.
    • Make sure any page you want to include in the table of contents has a heading.
  2. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 2

    2

    Click the location where you want to insert the table of contents. Typically this will be at the beginning of your document.

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    3

    Click the References tab. It’s at the top of Word.

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    4

    Click Table of Contents on the toolbar. It’s at the upper-left corner of Word. A list of Table of Contents styles will expand.

  5. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 5

    5

    Select an automatic style template. Several style options appear for your table of contents—choose one of the suggested styles to get started. Once selected, this will add a table of contents that lists the page numbers for each of your formatted sections.

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  1. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 6

    1

    Click the References tab. It’s at the top of Word.[2]

    • Use this method if you’ve made a change (changing a heading, adding/removing pages) to your document and need to update the table of contents to reflect that change.
    • The only way to change the name of a section on the table of contents is to change the name of the corresponding header in the document.
  2. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 7

    2

    Click Update Table on the «Table of Contents» panel. It’s in the upper-left corner. Two options will appear.

  3. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 8

    3

    Select an update option.

    • Select Update page numbers only if you want to refresh the page numbers without applying any changes you’ve made to the headings.
    • Select Update entire table to apply all heading and page number changes.
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    4

    Click OK. The table of contents is now up-to-date.

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    1

    Click the References tab. It’s at the top of Word.

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    2

    Click Table of Contents on the toolbar. It’s at the upper-left corner of Word. A list of Table of Contents styles will expand.

  3. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 12

    3

    Click Custom table of contents on the menu. This opens the Table of Contents dialog box.

  4. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 13

    4

    Adjust your general preferences. The «Print Preview» box at the upper-left corner shows you how the printed table of contents will appear, while the «Web preview» box displays how it will look on the web.[3]

    • Use the checkbox next to «Show page numbers» to show or hide page numbers. If you just want to hide page numbers on the web version of the table of contents, check the box next to «Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers.»
    • Use the checkbox next to «Right align pages numbers» top adjust the alignment.
    • To change the style of the line or pattern that separates the heading title and the page number, make your selection from the «Tab leader» menu.
    • To choose another theme, select something from the «Format» menu.
    • To adjust how many heading levels are displayed in the table, select an option from the «Show levels» menu (the default is 3).
  5. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 14

    5

    Click the Modify button. It’s in the lower-right corner of the window. This is where you can change the properties of the text on the table of contents page.

    • If you don’t see this button, click the «Formats» menu and select From template. It should appear then.
  6. Image titled Edit the Table of Contents in Word Step 15

    6

    Select a style and click Modify. The styles you can change appear in the «Styles» box on the left side of the window. When you click a style (e.g., TOC 1), you’ll see the font size, spacing, and other details—clicking Modify allows you to change these details.

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    7

    Make your changes and click OK. You can choose different fonts, alignments, colors, and numerous other details for each selected style. Alternatively, you can keep the defaults, which come from the table of contents template you selected.

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    8

    Click OK. The style changes you’ve made will apply to your table of contents immediately.

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About This Article

Article SummaryX

1. Click the References tab.
2. Click Update Table.
3. Select an update option.
4. Click OK.

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Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 59,876 times.

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Look at the nearest Microsoft Word document you have. There’s a good chance that it’s a document that’s just a few pages long. And without a Word table of contents.

But pick up software documentation or a research report. It wouldn’t be called a “professional document” without a pretty well-formatted Table of Contents.

You shouldn’t look at the job of making a Table of Contents (we will occasionally call it a TOC also) as a chore. Making a TOC isn’t only for dense reports or your next bestseller. It can be for something as simple as a daily journal or a school assignment. You should create a Table of Contents whenever appropriate.

Microsoft Word makes it easy. We will look into a few ways to create a Table of Contents in Word.

But first, let’s go into the benefits of a Table of Contents for a Word document.

Get your free Word shortcuts cheatsheet!

Download the print-ready shortcut cheatsheet for Word.

Why is a Table of Contents so essential?

Create-table-of-contents-Word

Are TOCs relevant when we have bookmarks and advanced search features on digital devices? The short answer is — Yes. A Table of Contents isn’t just for navigating long documents.

Here are five benefits you should immediately look at:

  1. It gives the reader a bird’s eye view of the document. A TOC is like an outline. At a glance, you can see how a document will flow from one topic to the next.
  2. It makes a document look professional. A document with a TOC looks more organized and professional than a document that lacks one.
  3. It is a key organizational aid for the author. Think of it like a roadmap and the first draft for a TOC can help you arrange your thoughts (and even brainstorm).
  4. It makes a document easier to discuss. A TOC can signal the quality of the document. Your teacher or your book agent can tell at a glance if the material is worth a read by just glancing at the table of contents.
  5. It gives you a learning path. A TOC is a well-ordered series of steps. Steal them from an instructional book to understand the learning path on any subject of your choice.

Check out this quick video on how to create a table of contents in Word:



How to Create a Table of Contents in Word

Microsoft Word can automatically build a Table of Contents for you. You need to only outline the content and then specify the heading styles with basic formatting. Let’s take this step by step.

1. Format your document using heading styles. Select each chapter in your document and apply Heading Styles to them. Here, you are marking up the section headers so that Word can recognize them.

Go to Ribbon > Home > Styles. Select the text and apply headings for all the text you want to include in the table of contents.

You can create a hierarchy within the main chapters with the help of the heading styles. For instance, use Heading 1 for new sections or chapters. Heading 2 for subsections within the section, and Heading 3 for smaller units or topics inside them.

Word scans the document for any text formatted as either Heading 1, 2, or 3 and then uses these to create the format for the TOC.

Create-table-of-contents-Word

2. Position the Table of Contents on the page. Place the cursor on the specific position where you want the TOC to appear in your document. This is commonly somewhere at the beginning of the document.

4. Click the Table of Contents command. Go to Ribbon > References > Table of Contents. Choose from one of the two automatic types available. The only difference between the two is the heading of «Contents» or «Table of Contents» at the top.

Create-table-of-contents-Word5. The Table of Contents is inserted automatically. Word scans the document and uses the heading styles to construct the order of the sections and subsections and their page numbers. This is a barebones TOC and you can continue to work with this and make it more stylish.

Create-table-of-contents-Word

6. Update the Table of Contents anytime. You can always update a Table of Contents that has been created automatically. Update the table if you change the heading styles, rearrange the contents, or change the text. Also, update it if you make any changes to the content that affects the page numbers.

To update a table of contents that was created automatically, click References > Update Table.

Create-table-of-contents-WordChoose to Update page numbers only or Update entire table if you want to update the page numbers and the text.

word-table-of-contents7. Create a Table of Contents manually. When the automatic method is so effortless, why would you feel the need to make one manually? There could be two reasons:

  • The document is without any styles which Word can recognize.
  • The document has too much of variety makes an automatic TOC difficult.

To create a manual table, go to References > Table of Contents > Click the dropdown to reveal the option for Manual Table.

Create-table-of-contents-Word

Microsoft Word inserts a TOC with placeholders which you can now edit. You can modify this with your own fonts and colors. Do remember that you also have to insert the page numbers manually too.

A TOC created manually cannot be updated automatically.

You do not have to settle for the basic Table of Contents that Microsoft Word creates for you. You can modify any TOC and even create a custom Table of Contents of your own.

How to customize the Table of Contents

You can easily customize a TOC with the Table of Contents dialog box. Go to References > Table of Contents > Custom Table of Contents to launch the dialog.

Create-table-of-contents-Word

Any changes you make here will be visible in the Print Preview and Web Preview windows.

Seven advanced techniques to customize the TOC

1. Choose a different format for the TOC

You can change an entire table by choosing a different format. In the General section, expand the dropdown for Formats and choose an appearance.

word-table-of-contents

2. Change the appearance of the items in the TOC

Remember, the appearance of your TOC is ultimately controlled by style definitions. You may want to tweak the overall look of the TOC by creating your own styles for the headings. These modified styles can be saved alongside the in-built ones and applied across the document for a consistent look. Follow these steps.

1. Click Modify. If the Modify button is grayed out, change Formats to From template.

Create-table-of-contents-Word2. In the Styles list, click the level that you want to change and then click Modify. Here, TOC 1 corresponds to heading level 1 in your document, TOC 2 to heading level 2, TOC 3  to heading 3 and so on.

word-table-of-contents3. In the Modify Style dialog box, you can change the font or its color. Make any other formatting change like text indentation and then click OK.

word-table-of-contents

4. Before you click OK, you can choose whether the style change applies to the current document or to all future documents. To save it for future use, click the checkbox for Add to the Styles gallery.

3. Change the levels of the style headings shown

A TOC can be itemized, or you can just include the major sections. The Show levels number allows you to change the number of levels displayed in your table of contents. The “Levels” here refers to the style headings you have applied to your sections.

For instance: H1, H2, H3… etc. If you set it on 2, then all text with the Heading 1 style or the Heading 2 style is displayed.

word-table-of-contents

4. Change or add dot leaders in the TOC

Dot leaders are the lines or dots that connect the items in the index to page numbers. These leader lines are mentioned in many style guides as a necessary part of thesis documents.

In the Table of Contents dialog box, click the dropdown for the Tab leader list and select the dotted line option. Alternatively, choose the leader line you want or select “none” to remove it from the TOC.

Create-table-of-contents-Word

5. Add a non-heading style

Word won’t include a non-heading style when it inserts an automatic TOC. By default, Word only includes headings 1 through 9. But it gives you a method to include any other style you create in the index. Let’s say you want to add another heading called “A Brief Guide” at the top of the content and the TOC.

In the Table of Contents dialog box, click the Options button to open this screen:

Create-table-of-contents-Word

Right now, it maps the styles in use only to the TOC levels. As you can see, the three styles, Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 are mapped as levels 1. 2, and 3.

Go down the boxes until you find Title, which has no mapped TOC level. Enter 1 to map Title to the TOC top level.

Create-table-of-contents-Word

Click OK twice to exit the dialogs. Word will prompt you to replace the contents. Click Yes to replace the TOC.

6. Create a clickable Table of Contents

Creating a hyperlinked Table of Contents is expected in the digital age. Navigation is faster. It is also another condition to submit a thesis or dissertation.

Click the Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers checkbox.

Also, uncheck the Show page numbers box if you just want to use the hyperlinks.

Create-table-of-contents-Word

7. Place a simple border around the Table of Contents

You can use Word’s Shapes feature to insert a border around the TOC. Set Shape Fill to “No Fill” and then add Shape Styles or use Format Shape to design the look of the pseudo-border around the table.

Create-table-of-contents-Word

Remember to add Table of Contents to your documents

The automatic Table of Contents feature is a time saver. But to catch the eye, you need to dive into different styles and custom tables. To sum up:

  1. Structure your document.
  2. Decide the levels you want to display.
  3. Change the style attributes to match your needs.

As you begin making your own, you will have your own questions. Hopefully, this guide has illustrated the basic process well enough for you to take the plunge. Are you more comfortable with Table of Contents now?

If you are looking to sharpen your Microsoft Office skills, check out our Microsoft Word course to learn time-saving tips and tricks for formatting your documents.

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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.

Formatted headings and subheadings in WordFormatted headings and subheadings in WordFormatted headings and subheadings in Word

The textbook as level 1, 2 and 3 headings.

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.

Navigation Pane in the Windows versionNavigation Pane in the Windows versionNavigation Pane in the Windows version

The Word Navigation Pane is a great way of looking through a document.

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.)

Navigation option in the Mac versionNavigation option in the Mac versionNavigation option in the Mac version

On the Mac, use Sidebar > Navigation to navigate through a document.

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.

Choosing a built-in table of contents in WordChoosing a built-in table of contents in WordChoosing a built-in table of contents in Word

You can insert a table of contents in Word just by clicking one of the samples. (Example shown is on Windows.)

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.

MS Word table of contents with automatic hyphensMS Word table of contents with automatic hyphensMS Word table of contents with automatic hyphens

A table of contents is a field that you can update in MS Word. In Windows, fields have a gray background.

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.

Options dialog box showing heading stylesOptions dialog box showing heading stylesOptions dialog box showing heading styles

Word uses its built-in styles to determine what goes into the table of contents. (Windows example)

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.

Custom styles in the Headings dialog box in WordCustom styles in the Headings dialog box in WordCustom styles in the Headings dialog box in Word

To include a custom style in the table of contents, assign a heading level to it.

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.

MS Word table of contents that includes custom stylesMS Word table of contents that includes custom stylesMS Word table of contents that includes custom styles

After adding custom styles to the TOC list, text formatted with those styles will appear in the table.

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.)

MS Word table of contents after editing document textMS Word table of contents after editing document textMS Word table of contents after editing document text

Update the table of contents with either of the Update Table buttons or by right-clicking on the table and selecting Update field. (Windows example shown here.)

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.)

Modify Styles dialog box in WordModify Styles dialog box in WordModify Styles dialog box in Word

Use the Style dialog box in Word to choose the heading levels you want to format.

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

Edit the Styles dialog box for changing heading appearanceEdit the Styles dialog box for changing heading appearanceEdit the Styles dialog box for changing heading appearance

Modify the style of a TOC item is the same as modifying the style of any other text in Word.
  • 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:

MS Word table of contents after applying new style formattingMS Word table of contents after applying new style formattingMS Word table of contents after applying new style formatting

After editing the table of contents styles and updating the table, you’ll see the new formatting.

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

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 ).

How to Create a Table of Contents in 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.

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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.
    Create Automatic Table of contents

    Then on your word screen will appear as shown below.

    Create Automatic Table of contents

    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.
    Create Automatic Table of contents
  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.
    Create Automatic Table of contents
  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.
    Create Automatic Table of contents

    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.Create Automatic Table of contents

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

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

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.
Creating Word Pages
  • 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.
    Creating Word Pages
  • 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 “.
    Creating Word Pages
  • 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.
    Creating Word Pages
  • Then click paper in the page setup section, to set the paper you are using.
    Creating Word Pages
  • 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.

Содержание

  • Шаг 1: Добавление элемента на страницу
  • Шаг 2: Создание структуры и ввод заголовков
  • Шаг 3: Настройка форматирования текста
  • Вопросы и ответы

как вручную сделать оглавление в ворде_logo

Внимание! Все действия будут выполняться на примере MS Word 2016, но описанные инструкции применимы и к другим версиям программы, за исключением 2003 года, так как там есть только функция создания автоматического оглавления.

Читайте также: Создание автоматического содержания в Word

Шаг 1: Добавление элемента на страницу

Первостепенно в документ нужно добавить элемент, чтобы в будущем его откорректировать. Делается это в специальном меню, находящемся на вкладке «Ссылки».

Обратите внимание! Ручное оглавление, в отличие от автоматического, можно добавлять на страницу без предварительного создания структуры текста. Поэтому допустимо изначально сделать именно его, а уже после начать печатать текст.

Чтобы добавить оглавление на страницу документа, необходимо сделать следующее:

  1. Перейдите во вкладку «Ссылки».
  2. Разверните меню «Оглавление», кликнув по нему левой кнопкой мыши.
  3. В выпадающем списке выберите пункт «Ручное оглавление».
  4. как вручную сделать оглавление в ворде_01

    Обратите внимание! Создать ручное оглавление через меню настроек, чтобы заранее определить форматирование и структуру, нельзя. Поэтому предварительно на страницу документа добавляется шаблон, а затем он редактируется.

Шаг 2: Создание структуры и ввод заголовков

После размещения содержания на странице необходимо откорректировать изначальный шаблон — вписать все заголовки и обозначить номера страниц. Делается это вручную.

Обратите внимание! По умолчанию создаются пункты первого уровня. Если они не нужны, их следует выделить и удалить посредством клавиши Backspace.

Создание структуры производится следующим образом:

  1. Выделите слово «Оглавление» и замените на любое другое, если это требуется. Также его можно удалить.
  2. Уберите лишние уровни из списка, а при необходимости добавьте новые. Выполняется это посредством простого копирования. Следует выделить строку и нажать по кнопке «Копировать», после чего установить курсор в нужное место и применить на вкладке «Главная» опцию «Вставить»«Сохранить исходное форматирование».
  3. как вручную сделать оглавление в ворде_02

  4. Кликните по первому заголовку нужного уровня и введите название соответствующей главы в тексте. Проделайте это же с другими пунктами.
  5. как вручную сделать оглавление в ворде_03

  6. Щелкните по номеру страницы, расположенному напротив заголовка, удалите его и введите соответствующий действительности. При необходимости цифры можно убрать.
  7. Если нужно удалить элемент между заголовком и номером страницы, выделите его и нажмите Del.
  8. как вручную сделать оглавление в ворде_04

    Lumpics.ru

    На этом этапе важно сформировать итоговую структуру, которая будет использована в дальнейшем тексте. При необходимости ее можно отредактировать в дальнейшем, но предпочтительней это делать до форматирования.

Шаг 3: Настройка форматирования текста

Завершающим этапом создания оглавления вручную является форматирование введенного текста. Строгих правил нет, все полностью зависит от собственных предпочтений или выдвигаемых требований. Доступны следующие операции:

  • выбор шрифта и типа написания;
  • выравнивание;
  • изменение интервалов и отступов;
  • табуляция;
  • заливка и изменение цвета.

Все необходимые для этого инструменты находятся на вкладке «Главная». В отдельной статье на нашем сайте о данной процедуре рассказано более детально и с сопутствующими примерами использования функций программы MS Word.

Подробнее: Форматирование текста в документе Microsoft Word

как вручную сделать оглавление в ворде_05

Важно! В отличие от автоматически созданного содержания, ручное можно впоследствии изменять, это никак не повлияет на отображение основного текста уже набранной статьи.

Еще статьи по данной теме:

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In this article, you’ll learn how to make a Table of Contents in Word, as well as how to update and manage it inside your document.

There are 3 types of Table of Contents you can create in Microsoft Word (all with a number of different options and features):

  1. Automatic Table (based on your saved formatting)
  2. Custom Table of Contents that is 100% customizable
  3. Manual Table that requires you to do all of the heavy lifting

Below are examples of 3 of the many styles of Table of Contents you can quickly create in Word.

There are three styles for your table of contents in Word: formal, distinctive, and fancy

The most important thing to know about creating an automatic Table of Contents in Word is that you first need to format your document using the Heading Styles.

That’s because it’s the Heading Styles formatting (as you can see pictured below) that feeds your Table of Contents. This step is explained in detail below.

Example showing how the heading styles in Word are reflected in your table of contents

If you don’t want to use the Heading Styles, you can use a Manual Table to create your Table of Contents, as discussed below.

Note: Throughout this article, the words Table of Contents and TOC are used interchangeably.
On the top, of all examples below were created using the Microsoft Office 365 subscription, which you can learn about on Microsoft’s website here.

How to create a table of contents in Word

The first critical step to creating an automatic updating TOC in Word is properly formatting the sections of your document using the:

  • Heading 1 style
  • Heading 2 style
  • Heading 3 style

If you have already formatted your document this way, you can skip to the next section.

Note: You are not limited to the default Heading Styles formatting. Below I’ll show you how you can not only change your Styles formatting, but also how you can create your own.

1. Applying Heading Style Formatting

To properly format your Word document using the Heading Styles, simply:

  1. Select the section Headings of your document
  2. Navigate to the Home tab
  3. Select the Heading 1Heading 2 or Heading 3 style, as appropriate

By default, only the Heading 1 through Heading 3 Styles will automatically populate into your Table of Contents.

You can still use the Heading 4 through Heading 9 styles in a Table of Contents, but you’ll have to do so with a Custom Table of Contents, as discussed below.

Note: Instead of using the Styles gallery to mark up your Word document, you can also use the Add Text drop down directly on the References tab, saving you a few clicks.

To mark up text using the Add Text drop down, simply:

  1. Select your section heading text
  2. Navigate to the References tab
  3. Open the Add Text dropdown menu
  4. Select your Heading style

This is the exact same thing as using the Heading Style 1Heading Style 2 and Heading Style 3 options in the Styles gallery on the Home tab.
The option that says Do Not Show in Table of Contents is the same as marking your text as Normal.

2. Heading Style Shortcuts

If you have a large Word document, you can speed up the formatting process by using Heading Style shortcuts.

Shortcuts like these are the fastest way to double your productivity.

The apply heading style shortcuts are alt plus shift plus one through nine

To set up a basic Table of Contents in Word, the 3 Heading Styles shortcuts you’ll need to remember are:

  • Heading Style 1 shortcut: Alt + Shift + 1
  • Heading Style 2 shortcut: Alt + Shift + 2
  • Heading Style 3 shortcut: Alt + Shift + 3

You can apply the Normal style to any text in your document that you don’t want to show in your TOC.

The apply normal style shortcut in Word is control plus shift plus n

Normal Style Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + N

When making an automatic Table of Contents in Word, only content that is properly formatted using these Heading Styles will appear in your TOC.

Furthermore, this formatting is critical if you later want to convert Word to PowerPoint.

3. Changing Your Heading Style Formatting

To change the formatting style of your table of contents in Word, click the design tab, click the downward facing arrow, and choose a style for your document

If you don’t like the way the default Heading Styles look, you can change them. To do that, simply:

  1. Navigate to the Design tab
  2. Choose a different Document Formatting

If you click the downward facing arrow, you will see more options, as pictured above.

Note: The Document Formatting styles change all of the formatting styles within your Word document. Therefore, you’ll want to review your entire Word document to make sure you are okay with whatever new Document Formatting you select.

4. Creating Your Own Heading Style Formatting

If you don’t like the Document Formatting options for your Heading Styles, you can create your own. To do that, simply:

  1. Format your Heading Style however you want it to look
  2. Navigate to the Home tab
  3. Right-Click the Heading Style you want to change
  4. Select Update Heading to Match Selection

Doing so will change the Heading Style to match the formatting you’d applied to that text. In addition, it will automatically update all the existing Headings of that level in your Word document.

How to Insert a Table of Contents

Once you’ve properly formatted your document using the different Heading Styles, creating your Table of Contents is pretty straightforward.

1. Insert a Table of Contents

To insert an automatic updating table of contents in Word, click the references tab, open the table of contents drop down and select one of the automatic tables

Once your Word document is properly formatted with the Heading Styles, to make your Table of Contents, simply:

  1. Click into your document where you want your TOC
  2. Navigate to the References tab
  3. Open the Table of Contents dropdown menu
  4. Choose Automatic Table 1 or Automatic Table 2

Choosing either option inserts a TOC based on your Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3 Styles.

Your table of contents in Word is dictated by the heading styles you apply within your document

Your TOC might look different than the one pictured above depending on whether you previously inserted and saved your TOC style.

Note: If you right-click the Table of Contents in the dropdown menu, you get options for where to place it in your document..

Some of these options require you to use the different page break options in Word to properly place within your document.

  • Insert at Current Document position
  • Insert at Beginning of Document
  • Insert at End of Document
  • Insert at Beginning of Section
  • Insert at End of Section

Setting up these different sections is the trick to getting more than one Table of Contents in your Word document.

That’s the difference between the Automatic Table 1 and Automatic Table 2 styles?

Not much. The main difference is the title – table of contents vs. contents – which you can just click into and change. If you need more formatting options beyond the Automatic Table styles, you can create your own Custom Table of Contents.

Note: If you do not properly format your Word document using the Styles gallery, inserting a TOC will result in the following warning: No table of contents entries found

If this happens to you, simply work your way through your document and apply the proper Heading 1Heading 2 and Heading 3 styles.

If you want more than just 3 levels in your Table of Contents, you’ll need to insert a Custom Table.

2. Format Your Table of Contents

To format your Table of Contents in Word, simply:

  1. Hover your mouse to the left of your TOC (your arrow will look like a diagonal arrow)
  2. Select the Heading Style you want to change
  3. Format it however you wish

Sometimes this takes a few attempts to select your Heading Styles so they all properly update. If it doesn’t work the first time, just try it again.

Note: Formatting the Heading Styles of your TOC only affects the formatting styles inside your TOC. None of your document level formatting is affected.

To affect the formatting of the Headings in the rest of your document, you’ll need to update the Heading Styles in the Style area of the Home tab.

3. How to Save Your Table of Contents formatting

After formatting the different levels of your TOC, you are given the option to save that formatting when you exit out of Microsoft Word.

After editing the building blocks in Microsoft Word, a dialog box asks you if you want to save your changes

If you select Save, your manual formatting adjustments are saved to Word. That means that the next time you make a Table of Contents, all of your manual adjustments will show up by default.

Once you reformat the different elements of your new Table of Contents, you will be given the option to save them again when you exit Word.

4. Updating a Table of Contents

Table of Contents in Microsoft Word DO NOT automatically update themselves.

As you add and remove content to your document, you need to manually click the Update button to have your TOC update itself.

Your TOC is just a snapshot in time of when you either inserted it or last updated it. So, don’t forget to update it when you are done making changes to your document.

Click the reference tab in Word, select update and then choose what part of your table of contents you want to update

To update a Table of Contents in Word, simply:

  1. Navigate to the References tab
  2. Click Update Table
  3. Choose Update page numbers only or Update entire table
  4. Click OK

If you are using one of the Automatic Table layouts, can also select the Update Table button at the top of your table, as pictured below.

To update your table of contents in word, click the Update Table at the top of your TOC after selecting it

The two update options are:

  1. Page numbers only updates the page numbers of your TOC. It does not update the structure of your TOC based on any sections you’ve added or removed. It also does not update any of the text in your Headings, or the Heading Styles.
  2. Entire table updates everything in your TOC including page numbers, sections added and sections removed.

If you have made many changes to your Word document, or are unsure of what you’ve changed, I recommend updating the entire table. That ensures that everything within your document is accurately reflected in your TOC.

5. Table of Contents Navigational Shortcuts

The cool thing about making an automatic Table of Contents in Word, is that you can use it to quickly jump around your document.

That’s because each of the lines of your TOC is a hyperlink to that section within your document. All you need to do is hold down the Ctrl key and click the section of your TOC

To jump to a section of your word document from your table of contents, hold the control key and click the section in your TOC that you want to jump to

An alternative way you can quickly navigate the sections of your Table of Contents is with the Navigation Pane. In it, you can see all the different sections of your document.

To open the navigation pane to see the sections of your table of contents in word, click the view tab and put a check mark next to the navigation pane command

To open the Navigation Pane to see your Headings in Word, simply:

  1. Navigate to the View tab
  2. Click ​on Navigation Pane

Within the Navigation Pane, you can see, expand, collapse and navigate all the sections within your document.

This is another benefit of using the Heading Styles to properly format your Word document.

Removing a Table of Contents

An alternate way to remove a table of contents in Word is to click the references tab, open the table of contents command drop down and select remove table of contents

To remove a Table of Contents from a Word document, simply:

  1. Navigate to the References tab
  2. Open the Table of Contents dropown menu
  3. Select Remove Table of Contents

If you are using one of the Automatic Table styles, you can also use the dropdown menu at the top of your table, as pictured below.

To remove a table of contents in word, click the document icon at the top of your toc and select remove table of contents at the bottom of the menu

Note: If you are using one of the Automatic Table styles, sometimes the table will not fully remove itself. This is particularly true for TOCs inserted at the beginning or ends of sections.

If this happens to you, simply click the three dots in the upper left-hand corner to select your TOC.
With it selected, either hit Ctrl + X to cut the TOC out of your document, or keep hitting the Delete key (not the backspace key) until it is removed.
Sometimes it takes three or four times before the entire TOC container is fully removed.

Creating a Custom Table of Contents

If you need more formatting options than the automatic table styles provide, you can create your own Custom Table of Contents.

To create a custom table of contents in word, click the References tab, open the table of contents command, click custom table of contentes, make your formatting selections and click OK

To create a Custom Table of Contents in Word, simply:

  1. Navigate to the References tab
  2. Open the Table of Contents dropdown menu
  3. Choose Custom Table of Contents
  4. Customize the elements of your TOC (see details below)
  5. Click OK

Don’t worry about getting your custom TOC right the first time through. There are a lot of options to choose from and you can always go back and make different selections

Note: A Custom Table of Contents is still based on the Heading Styles you use to format your Word document. That means that if you do not properly format your document, your TOC will be blank.

On top of that, as you add and remove content to your document, you will need to use the Update Table command to update your custom TOC.

If you do not want an automatic updating TOC, insert a Manual Table.

1. Show Page Numbers Options

You can choose to choose your page numbers in your table of contents in Word, or unselect the page numbers option to remove them

Selecting or de-selecting the Show page numbers box adds or removes the page numbers from your TOC, as you can see in the picture above.

My recommendation is to always select Show page numbers, as that makes it easier to understand and navigate your document. That’s usually the point of creating a TOC in the first place

2. Right Align Page Numbers Options

You can choose to choose your page numbers in your table of contents in Word, or unselect the page numbers option to remove them

Right align page numbers determines whether your page numbers are aligned on the right side of your document, or if they are just stacked up after your section Headings.

My recommendation is to always use the Right align option. This not only makes your TOC easier to read, it also also opens up all of the Tab leader options (discussed next).

3. Tab Leader Options

There are four styles of leader options for your table of contents in word to choose from

There are four different Tab leader options you can use to format your TOC, as pictured above.

The Tab leader dropdown menu is only available when you are using the Right align page numbers option. If you don’t like these styles of Tab leaders, you can use a Manual Table and create your own.

My recommendation is to always use a Tab leader as it makes it easier to find the section page numbers within your Word document.

4. Format Template Options

Examples of the six styles of table of contents in Microsoft Word

There are a variety of different Format templates you can use to change the look and feel of your TOC. For each one, you can make a number of adjustments and customizations. Here are the default formatting options for each one, as pictured above:

  1. Classic
  2. Distinctive
  3. Fancy
  4. Modern
  5. Formal
  6. Simple

You also have the From Template option which opens up the more manual formatting options for you if you know what you are doing (see the Options and Modify commands below).

All of these formats can be tweaked using the other formatting options in the Custom TOC dialog box. So feel free to try different combinations to find the custom TOC formatting that works best for you.

5. Show Levels Options

The Show levels setting determines how many of the Heading Style levels are included in your Table of Contents.

Select how many levels of header styles you want to display in your table of contents in word. the more levels you show the longer your table of contents will be

Just remember that to feed more content into your TOC, you first need to use the Heading Styles formatting throughout your document.

This is another example of when properly formatting your Word document can be a real lifesaver.

6. Options & Modify

If you use the From Template option to format your TOC, you can apply advanced formatting using the Options and Modify commands.

You can apply advanced formatting options to your custom table of contents in Word options and modify dialog boxes

These are for advanced users and go above and beyond the scope of this tutorial (and what you’ll probably need to do). So, I’m not going into detail about these options here. But feel free to explore them if you need additional formatting options for your Table of Contents.

Creating a Manual Table of Contents

If you don’t want to use the Automatic TOC styles, you can instead use the Manual Table option.

Warning: Just so we are crystal clear before you go this route. Inserting a Manual Table means that you will be responsible for manually updating anything and everything within the table.

A Manual Table will not track or update itself based on any content you add or remove to your Word document. Therefore, if you make a lot of changes in your document, updating your TOC could take you a long time.

If you ever get tired of updating a table like this, you can insert an Automatic Updating TOC.

To insert a manual table of contents in word, click the references tab, open the table of contents dropdown and select the manual table

To insert a Manual Table for your TOC in Word, simply:

  1. Click into your document where you want your TOC
  2. Navigate to the References tab
  3. Open the Table of Contents dropdown menu
  4. Select Manual Table

Selecting Manual Table, you get a default Table of Contents that in no way reflects the content of your document.

Whether you have 1 page or 100 pages in your document, the Manual Table will come pre-loaded with two level 1, level 2 and level 3 placeholders

A default manual table always starts with three levels of preloaded content in Word

That means that anything you want done to your TOC, you’ll need to do yourself. There is no way to automatically update a Manual Table.

Below you’ll find some formatting tips for how to best update and edit your Manual Table.

Alternative: Another way to create your own manual TOC is to insert a two column table and use the left column as your section Headings, and the right column as your page numbers.

To insert a table in Word to use as your own custom TOC, simply:

  1. Navigate to the Insert tab
  2. Open the Table dropdown menu
  3. Select how many Rows and Columns you want in your table

You can then manually add section Headings to your table and remove the outline border if you like. In the below picture, I’ve left the table border in so you can see that it’s a table.

To create a tab space within a table cell as shown in the picture above, simply hit Ctrl + Tab.

1. Add a New Section Row

To add a new section to a Manual table, first add a new blank row. The fastest way to do that is to put your cursor at the end of your page number and hit Enter.

To add a new row to a manually created table of content in Word, hit Enter to create a new blank row, then copy and paste an existing row into the blank row so you can edit it

To add a new row of formatting to your Manual Table, simply:

  1. Select a section row that you want to copy
  2. Hit Ctrl + C to copy the row
  3. Click into your blank row
  4. Hit Ctrl + V to paste your row

Once you’ve pasted in your new row, you can then type in whatever text you want for it.

Example of the dashed lines in a table of contents in word

Thankfully, the Tab leader dots automatically adjust as you type in your section Headings. You don’t have to add them in yourself.

2. Edit Your Page Numbers

To edit the page numbers of a manually created table of contents in Word, you first need to click your page number

To edit the page numbers of your Manual Table, you’ll need to:

  1. Click and drag to select the page number
  2. Type and/or format your page number

Remember: When you use a Manual Table, you are responsible for manually adding and formatting everything within it (which can be really annoying).

The table will not automatically update in any way, based on the content you add or remove in your Word document.

Conclusion

So that’s how to make a Table of Contents in Word, along with all the formatting, navigation and updating options.

The most important thing to remember about your TOC is to use the Heading Styles when formatting your Word document. Doing so will make inserting and editing a TOC super easy and stress-free.

If you enjoyed this tutorial and want to learn more about our training courses and other resources, visit us here.

When you work with a long Word document that includes headings, you may want or need to meet the requirements for creating a Table of Contents or several Tables of Contents. The Table of Contents lists the headings in a document, along with the numbers of the pages where the headings appear.

By default, adding a Table of Contents can make it easy for the reader to locate document content quickly. The Table of Contents allows jumping from one location to another.

Word offers several ways to create a Table of Contents. Some of the common ways:

   1.   Create a pre-defined Table of Contents (simplest way).

By default, Word creates a Table of Contents from the text formatted with sequential heading styles: Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3:

Pre-defined Table of Contents in Word 365

   2.   Create a custom Table of Contents.

You can include or exclude in a Table of Contents any of the used styles such as custom styles:

Custom Table of Contents in Word 365

   3.   Create a Table of Content from parts of texts:

Custom Table of Contents in Word 365

A Table of Contents created by the appropriate functionality has hyperlinks to navigate the document quickly. To use a hyperlink, hover the mouse over the appropriate entry in the table and Ctrl+Click to follow the link (see how open hyperlinks without holding Ctrl).

Notes:

  1. Some requirements recommend creating a Table of Contents if the document has more than 10 pages.
  2. You can also download templates and use them to fulfill the requirements.

Preparing a document for creating a Table of Contents

Before creating a Table of Contents in Word, ensure that all needed headings are formatted with Word’s heading styles. These allow Word to recognize and include them in the appropriate list.

You can create a Table of Contents, then apply a heading style to some paragraphs and update created Table of Contents to fulfill it.

Don’t forget to update headings and any related items in the document!

Create a Table of Contents – simplest way

To create a Table of Contents in a Word document, do the following:

   1.   Position the cursor in the document where you want to insert the Table of Contents.

   2.   On the Reference tab, in the Table of Contents group, click the Table of Contents button:

Table of Contents button in Word 365

   3.   From the Table of Contents dropdown list, select one of the built-in Tables:

Insert Table of Contents in Word 365

  • Automatic Table 1 inserts a Table of Contents with the title Contents and includes all text styled as Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3.
  • Automatic Table 2 inserts a Table of Contents with the title Table of Contents and includes all text styled as Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3.
  • Manual Table inserts a Table of Contents with the title Table of Contents and includes placeholders that are not linked to the document content (see an example):

Manual Table of Contents in Word 365

Note: See how to modify a style of Table of Contents.

After selecting any of the built-in tables, Word creates a Table of Contents using the selected template. E.g.:

Example Table of Contents in Word 365

Create a custom Table of Contents

To create a Table of Contents that contains not only Heading 1Heading 3 styles, do the following:

   1.   Position the cursor in the document where you want to insert the Table of Contents.

Note: The custom Table of Contents does not automatically create a title (e.g., Table of Contents or Contents).

   2.   On the Reference tab, in the Table of Contents group, click the Table of Contents button:

Table of Contents button in Word 365

   3.   From the Table of Contents dropdown list, select Custom Table of Contents…:

Custom Table of Contents in Word 365

In the Table of Contents dialog box, on the Table of Contents tab (is displayed by default, all other tabs are grayed):

Table of Contents dialog box in Word 365

  • In the General section (we recommend starting from this section because its options can change the selected parameters in other sections):
    • From the Format dropdown list, select a visual format:

      Formats in Table of Contents dialog box Word 365

      • From template is based on the styles established in the current template
      • Classic
      • Distinctive
      • Centered
      • Formal
      • Simple

      Note: Choose any proposed formats and see how the new list will look in the Print Preview section. E.g., the Formal format:

      Formal format for Table of Contents Word 365

    • In the Show levels field, type or select the number of levels you want to include in the Table of Contents. Word will display headings starting from Heading 1 to the selected level (see how to customize which heading or styles should be displayed). E.g., 5 levels:

      Show levels in Table of Contents dialog box Word 365

See all the changes and choices in the Print Preview and Web Preview sections:

  • In the Print Preview section (the selected Format in the General section can change all options in that section):
    • Clear the Show page numbers check box if you prefer to hide page numbers (see how to hide page numbers for some headings):

      Show page numbers in Table of Contents dialog box Word 365

      If you deselect this option, all other options in the Print Preview section will disappear.

    • Clear the Right align page numbers check box to display page numbers right after items text:

      Right align page numbers in Table of Contents dialog box Word 365

      If you deselect this option, you can’t choose the tab leader for page numbers.

    • From the Tab leader dropdown list, select the tab leader you need. You can select dots, dashes, or lines that appear before the page numbers (see how to customize tab leaders for different headings):

      Tab leader in Table of Contents Word 365

  • In the Web Preview section of the Table of Contents dialog box (shows how your Table of Contents will look if you convert your Word file to a web page):
    • Clear the Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers check box if you prefer to see the same view as in Print Preview:

      Web Preview in Table of Contents Word 365

  • Click the Options… button to customize which styles and in which order should be included in the Table of Contents. See Create a Table of Contents of non-predefined styles and Table entry fields for more details.

Customize a Table of Contents styles

  • Click the Modify… button to modify pre-defined styles for a Table for Contents.

    In the Style dialog box, select the style you want to modify:

    Style dialog box in Word 365

    • In the Preview field, see how the selected style looks,
    • Under the Preview field, see the main options of the selected style,
    • If you need to change the selected style, click the Modify… button.

    In the Modify Style dialog box, make changes you need, then click the OK button:

    Modify Style dialog box in Word 365

See how to customize Table of Contents styles for more details.

Add a title to the custom Table of Contents

After inserting a new Table of Contents, manually type a title above the list. E.g.:

Title for Table of Contents in Word 365

To see the proposed field and have all the features of the standard Table of Contents, do the following:

   1.   Add the pre-defined Table of Contents in the simplest way (see above).

   2.   Edit the Table of Contents to apply any customization you need.

Attention! We highly recommend checking the formatting requirements, accepted by your college, university, company, or established on the project, etc.

Notes: See also how to customize a Table of Contents for more details.

Empty the Table of Contents

After creating a Table of Contents, it can be created with the message “No table of contents entries found”:

Error of Table of Contents in Word 365

The main cause for this message is that Word could not find the text with style Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3 in the document (by default, a Table of Contents contains only these three styles, see how to customize it to choose styles you need).

To solve that problem, for each heading that you want to be displayed in the Table of Contents, select the heading text (paragraph or block of text). Then do one of the following:

  • On the Home tab, in the Styles group, choose any of the Headings:

    Headings in Word 365

  • Right-click on the selection, click the Styles button in the Mini toolbar, then select a Heading style you want:

    Headings in popup menu Word 365

  • Position the cursor in a paragraph with the text you want to change to the Heading. Then on the Reference tab, in the Table of Contents group, click the Add Text button, then choose the level you need:

    Add Text - Headings in Word 365

  • Use the shortcuts for Headings:
    • Alt+Ctrl+1 to apply Heading 1,
    • Alt+Ctrl+2 to apply Heading 2,
    • Alt+Ctrl+3 to apply Heading 3.

Don’t forget to update headings and any related items in a document!

Update a Table of Contents

Word will not automatically update any Table of Contents after adding, deleting, or modifying included headings and pages. You need manually update them, follow the next steps:

   1.   Click on the Table of Contents and do one of the following:

  • On the References tab, in the Table of Contents group, click the Update Table button:

    Update Table button in Word 365

    Note: If Word doesn’t recognize any Table or List in the document as a Table of Content, it shows the appropriate message (to solve that, fix or recreate a Table of Contents):

    Microsoft Word message in Word 365

  • Right-click the list and select Update Field from the shortcut menu:

    Update Field in popup menu Word 365

  • Click anywhere in the Table of Contents to show the field options. At the top of the field borders, click the Update Table… button:

Update Table button in field Word 365

See also how to lock and unlock updating for fields.

   2.   In the Update Table of Contents dialog box, select what you need to update:

Update Table of Contents in Word 365

We recommend selecting the Update entire table option always.

   3.   Click the OK button to start updating.

Select a Table of Contents

To make any changes, such as modifying the Table of Contents, you need to select the total Table of Contents lines, including the last, empty line right after the Table of Contents entries:

Selected Table of Contents in field Word 365

To select all the Table of Contents, you can also click the Field button:

Field button in TOC Word 365

Edit an existing Table of Contents

If you need to modify an existing Table of Contents, you can:

  • Delete existing Table of Contents and create a new one,
  • Edit an existing field.

To edit the existing Table of Contents, follow the next steps:

   1.   Do one of the following:

  • Click anywhere on the Table of Contents, then on the References tab, in the Table of Contents group, click the Table of Contents button, then select Custom Table of Contents… from the dropdown list.
  • Select all the lines of the Table of Contents (see how to select it above), then right-click on the selection and choose Edit Field… in the popup menu:

    Edit Field in popup menu Word 365

In the Field dialog box, click the Table of Contents… button:

Field dialog box in Word 365

Note: You can see that button only if you have selected all the existing Table of Contents lines.

   2.   In the Table of Contents dialog box, on the Table of Contents tab, select the options you need.

Be careful! Some options selected for the existing Table of Contents can be lost.

Delete a Table of Contents

To delete a Table of Contents, do one of the following:

  • On the References tab, in the Table of Contents group, click the Table of Contents button, then choose Remove Table of Contents from the dropdown list:

    Remove Table of Contents in Word 365

  • Click inside the Table of Contents to show the field options. At the top of the field borders, click the Table of Contents button, then choose Remove Table of Contents:

    Remove Table of Contents in field Word 365

Let’s assume you are working on a really long document that is dozen or even a hundred pages long like software documentation, project reports, contracts, or even your personal journal. And navigating through that document to edit or read can be extremely difficult.

So creating a table of contents in your document can make it easier for you to navigate and organize your document as well as get an overview of the document’s content. It is similar to the list of chapters at the beginning of a book.

A table of content is usually created at the head of the document that includes headings and subheadings in the document along with the page numbers of where they are located. In Microsoft Word, the table of content is a list of hyperlinks to section titles which allows you to go directly to a specific section of the document without having to scroll through the endless pages.

Let us learn how to insert a table of contents section in Microsoft Word as well as how to update and customize it.

Format Your Document for Table of Content

Before you insert a table of content (TOC) into your document, first, you need to prepare the document so that Word can recognize the section tiles and automatically generate the TOC and keep it updated after making changes to the document.

To be able to insert a table of contents, first, you need to format your headings and subheading with sequential heading styles, such as Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and so on. Navigate to each page of your document and apply heading levels that give context to your content.

For instance, the main headings in the document should be formatted with the Heading 1 (H1) style, the subheading under the main heading should be formatted with the Heading 2 (H2) style, and so on.

To apply a heading level to a heading or a title, place your cursor on the text of your headings. Then, go to the ‘Home’ tab and select the heading style you want to use from the box in the Styles section. Here, we are selecting the ‘Heading 1’ style for Chapter titles because they are the main section titles.

Then, apply the ‘Heading 2’ for secondary heading or titles. Here we are applying ‘Heading 2’ (H2) for the Introduction section below chapter 1. Keep applying heading styles in a similar fashion to all the headings you want to include in the contents.

You can also use the below shortcuts to apply the heading styles:

  • Heading Style 1: Alt+Shift+1
  • Heading Style 2: Alt+Shift+2
  • Heading Style 3: Alt+Shift+3 and so on.

If you don’t like any of the built-in heading styles, you can create your own custom style. To create a new style for the heading, go to the ‘Home’ tab, and click the ‘More’ button on the bottom right corner of the box that contains styles options.

At the bottom of the Styles box, select the ‘Create a Style’ option.

Give a name to the new style and click ‘Modify’ to change its formatting.

From the ‘Style based on’ drop-down menu, choose the heading level (e.g. Heading 1).

Then, you can change a few formatting options (font, font color, size, etc) to modify the text appearance. If you wish to add additional formatting to the style, click the ‘Format’ button.

From the Format menu, you can change the format of the font, paragraph, tabs, borders, etc. After applying the formatting, click ‘OK’.

Then, click ‘OK’ in the Create New Style from Formatting dialog window to save the style.

After saving the style, select the heading and choose your custom style from the ‘Styles’ options.

Creating the Table of Contents in Word

After formatting your document, now, it’s time to create the table of content. There are three ways you create a table of content:

  • Automatic Table of Contents – Create it automatically using preset styles.
  • Manual Table of Contents – Create it manually by typing the heading in the template of lists.
  • Custom Table of Contents – Customize your own table of content by editing fonts, colors, structure, and level of headings.

A table of contents is usually created on a separate page at the beginning of the document. If page 1 of your document already has content, position the cursor in the first position of the document and press Ctr+Enter or Command+Enter (page break) to allocate an entire page of TOC.

To create a table of content, place your cursor where you want the table of contents to appear. Then, go to the ‘Reference’ tab, click the ‘Table of Contents’ button in the Table of Contents group. From the ‘Table of Contents’ menu, select one of the available built-in styles to insert TOC using that style.

Insert Automatic Table of Contents

From the Table of Contents drop-down menu, select either of the ‘Automatic Table 1’ or ‘Automatic Table 2’ built-in styles. Both Tables of Contents styles are nearly the same with all text formatted as Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3. The only real difference between both of them is the title of the list (Contents or Table of Contents).

If you select the Automatic table option, Word will automatically recognize the section headings (that you formatted as Heading 1, 2, and 3) and add them to the appropriate list as shown below.

After creating the table of content, you can still format the list by selecting the contents and using the Formatting options in the ‘Home’ tab.

Sometimes, you would the below error message after selecting the Automatic table option – “No table of contents entries found”. It means the Word couldn’t find any text with the style Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3 in the document.

If you see this message, then delete the error message or press Undo (Ctrl+Z) and format the headings and subheadings with proper Heading Styles. Then, try inserting the table of contents again.

Create a Manual Table of Contents

Automatic Table 1 or 2 will automatically generate the table of contents based on the names of the titles. However, sometimes, Word can do a bad job of recognizing and listing the names of headings in the table. With the Manual table option, you have to manually make all the necessary changes such as typing the list of titles and adding page numbers.

If you want to insert a manual table of contents, you can use the ‘Manual Table’ option from the Table of Contents menu.

This option gives you a template for a table of contents where you can manually type your topics and subtopics that you want to appear in the list.

Create a Custom Table of Contents

If you don’t like the built-in styles for the table of contents, you can customize the various elements of the TOC such as text format, alignments, page numbers, number levels to show, etc. By default automatic table only shows three levels of headings, but if you want to go deeper than the top three heading styles, you have to customize the table of contents.

You can either customize the existing TOC created by built-in styles or create a new customized table of contents.

To create a custom table of contents, go to the ‘References’ tab and select the ‘Table of Contents’ drop-down menu from the Ribbon. From the drop-down menu, click the ‘Custom Table of Contents…’ option.

This will open up the Table of Contents dialog box where you have various options for customizing your table.

Change Format for the Table of Contents

You can change the way the entire table looks (the font, font size, alignment, etc.) by choosing a different format. Under the General section, click the ‘Formats:’ drop-down menu and choose one of the 6 templates or styles. If you select a different format, you can see how the new style will look in the ‘Print Preview’ and ‘Web Preview’ boxes.

And if you don’t like any of the six formats, you can apply advanced formatting (the font, font size, color, etc.) to the current template. To do that, select ‘From template’ (default style) in the Format drop-down and click the ‘Modify’ button.

The Modify option will only be available if your select the ‘From template’ option from the Formats.

In the Styles dialog window, select the level that you want to format or change and then click ‘Modify’ again.

This will open Modify Style window where you can change the font, font size, choose the text color, add indents, and make a variety of other edits. As you format the TOC, you will see the preview of the changes you made in the box below.

As you can see below, here we are changing the font to ‘Elephant’, font size to ’14’, and text color to ‘Orange’. After making all the changes, click ‘OK’ to save the formatting.

You can also choose whether this custom style applies to the current document or to all future documents. If you want to use this heading style in future documents, check the ‘Add to the Styles gallery’ option.

Back in the Style dialog, you can see the preview of the format in the Preview box.

Now, repeat the process for other TOC styles (TOC 1, TOC 2, etc). Here, we are setting ‘Elephant’ for font, ’12’ for size, and ‘Blue’ for color.

Change the Number of levels Shown

In the Table of Contents window, you can also change the number of heading levels you want to include in the table of contents. By default, the TOC only shows 3 levels of headings.

To show more levels or fewer levels, increase or decrease the number in the ‘Show levels’ box accordingly. Here, we want to show ‘4’ levels of headings starting from Heading 1 to Heading 4.

Change Tab Leader

Tab Leader is the line or dots that connect the name of the heading and page number in the contents. You can use the ‘Tab leader’ dropdown menu to choose the type of tab leader you want to appear between the index entry and page number. There are four options, dots (…), small dash, long dash, and none. If you don’t want to see any leader between the list and page number, select the ‘(none)’ option from the drop-down.

Display or Hide Page Numbers

If you don’t want to see the page number next to the items in the contents, uncheck the ‘Show page numbers’ checkbox.

To keeps the pages numbers aligned to the right side of the table of contents, make sure that the ‘Right align page numbers’ option is checked.

If this option is unchecked, the page numbers will appear right next to the list of items in the table of contents.

Change Table of Contents Options

To further customize the layout and outline levels of the table of contents, click the ‘Options’ button in the dialog window.

This window gives control over the items or styles that can be included in the TOC. It maps the styles that are in use in the table and their TOC levels. Here, you can set which style match each TOC level.

Scroll down the list of Styles until you see Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. As you can see above, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and Heading 4 are already set as levels 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. Since we have set the number of levels to 4, only four entries are mapped.

Suppose you want to add the main title of the document to be listed in the table of contents (at the top of the content) rather than the Heading 1 title.

To do this, delete the TOC level number 1 from Heading 1 and scroll down to the Title style and specify ‘1’ in the corresponding box. Then, enter ‘2’ for Heading 1, ‘3’ for Heading 2, and so on. After making the changes, click ‘OK’ to save.

If you don’t like the changes, click the ‘Reset’ button to reset all the TOC level changes.

In case you are using Table of Contents field codes in your document along with or instead of header styles, you will need to check the box next to ‘Table entry fields’ at the lower right corner of Table of Contents Options.

Create a Clickable Table of Contents

In the Web Preview box of the Table of Contents dialog box, you can see what your TOC will look like if you were to convert your document to a web page. By default, TOC creates a list of headings in your document and if you want to go to a specific title, you have to manually navigate to the page number or press Ctrl and click the heading to jump to that topic.

However, you can also use hyperlinks for the table of contents for navigating the document.

To create a clickable TOC, first, uncheck the ‘Show page numbers’ option, and then check the ‘Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers’ box.

And if you want to see the same view as in ‘Print Preview’, uncheck the ‘Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers’ check box.

After making all the formatting changes, click ‘OK’ in the Table of Contents box to apply the customizations.

When you do, Word will ask you if you want to replace the current table with the customized table, choose ‘Yes’. 

Now, we got a custom table of contents based on the formatting we applied.

For easy navigation of both headings and pages, you can enable the navigation panel from the ribbon. To do that, go to the ‘View’ tab on the ribbon and select the checkbox next to the ‘Navigation Pane’ option in the Show group.

Change Table of Contents Appearance

You can also change the table of contents appearance from the Design tab in the ribbon.

To change TOC formatting, select the table of content, then go to the ‘Design’ tab and select one of the options from the Document Formatting section.

Edit/Customize the Table of Contents

If you wish to make changes (changing level, formatting styles, changing the format, changing tab leader, hide or show page numbers, etc.) to the table of contents after creating the TOC, follow these steps:

Right-click anywhere in the Table of Content and select ‘Edit Field’ from the context menu.

It will open the Field dialog box. In the ‘Field names’ box, locate ‘TOC’ and select it. Then, click the ‘Table of Contents’ button under the Field Properties section to open the Table of Contents dialog.

Then, use the Table of Contents window to customize your TOC however you like.

Update the Table of Contents in Word

The Table of Contents in Word does not automatically update itself after adding or deleting contents, changing heading styles, rearranging text, or changing headings and pages. Once you make any changes to your document, you need to manually click the Update Table button to reflect those changes in the table of contents. To update your table of contents, do the following:

First, click on the table of contents and go to the ‘References’ tab, click the ‘Update Table’ button in the Table of Contents group.

Alternatively, you can select the TOC, and click the ‘Update Table’ button.

Either way, it will show you the below prompt box with two options:

  • Update page numbers only – Choose this option, if you want to update the page number only. If you added or removed content under already existing heading sections, then this option would be enough.
  • Update entire table – This will update the entire table including page numbers, headings added, removed, and modified.

Select either of the options and click ‘OK’.

As soon as you do this, the table of contents will be updated to reflect the changes you made.

You can only update the table of contents that has been automatically inserted using the built-in automatic table format. However, if you inserted the table of content manually, you have to click inside the table and make any edits yourself.

Use Table of Contents to Navigate the Document

Each entry in the table of content has a link built into it that lets you go directly to the corresponding section in the document. When you hover the mouse over an index in the table, you will see how to use it – ‘Ctrl+Click to follow’.

To jump to a specific section in the document, just hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click on the appropriate entry in the table.

Remove a Table of Contents

If you no longer require the table of contents, you can easily delete it any time with two steps.

First, select the table of contents by clicking on it. Switch to the ‘References’ tab in the Ribbon and click ‘Table of Contents’ in the Table of Contents group. Then, click the ‘Remove Table of Contents’ option from the drop-down.

Alternatively, open the Table of Contents drop-down menu at the top of the table, and select ‘Remove Table of Contents’.

The table of contents will be removed from the document.

That’s it.

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