How to Create Table of Contents

We bring to you a short tutorial video on how to create Table of Contents. Enjoy! :)

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(CONT...) Use a Custom Style to Annotate a Word TOC

Add More

With the style in place, mapped and modified, you can add as many annotations to the TOC as you need. Simply select the statement in the text, apply the TOC Summary style, and then update the TOC. For example :

1. Select the first sentence in the Quick Themes section and then click TOC Summary in the Quick Styles Gallery to apply the style shown as Figure 10.

Figure 10

2. Select TOC.

3. Right-click and choose Update Field.

4. Choose Update Entire Table in the resulting dialog shown as Figure 11.

Figure 11

5. Click OK and Word adds the new summary statement to the TOC, Figure 12.

Figure 12

(CONT...) Use a Custom Style to Annotate a Word TOC

Change the Format

Earlier, when we created the new style, we did not change the format. However, you can modify the summary statement’s format at the TOC level. This next step might seem a bit confusing. But remember, we are modifying the TOC’s fourth-level style, not the Normal styled text within the body of the document.

To modify the format for the style mapped to the TOC’s fourth level (TOC Summary), do the following :

1. Select the TOC and open the Styles pane (click the More button on the gallery).

2. Select TOC 4 (the TOC’s fourth level) and choose Modify from the drop down list in Figure 7.

Figure 7

 3. Use the Modify Style dialog to make the changes you want. Example show on Figure 8.

Figure 8

4. Click OK. Figure 9 shows the updated TOC.

Figure 9

(CONT...) Use A Custom Style To Annotate A Word TOC

Map the new style

With the new style in place, you are ready to map that style to the TOC. Doing so is simple, but the process might be unfamiliar to you.

1. Click the References tab and choose Custom Table of Contents.

2. In the resulting dialog, click Options. Currently, three styles are mapped to the TOC (figure 4). Heading 1 is the first level , Heading 2 is the second level, and Heading 3 is the third level.

Figure 4

3. To add a fourth level, scroll down until you expose the TOC Summary style and enter the value 4 (figure 5).

Figure 5

4. Click OK twice and then click Yes to confirm the TOC update. Figure 6 shows the new TOC with the summary statement.

Figure 6

At this point, you could apply the TOC Summary style to more text, but you do not have to. Once the two above steps are completed, you can add and remove annotated text at any time.

Use A Custom Style To Annotate A Word TOC

You can enhance a table of contents by generating summary information for specific sections. Adding a simple table of contents (TOC) to word is easy, but the basic list pf sections and page numbers would not always be adequate. For instance, you might want to add a short summary statement to a few section in the TOC.

I will show how to define and then apply a custom style that can map to our TOC for this purpose.

Adding an annotation to the TOC is a three step process :

1. Create a custom style for the summarizing text and apply the style appropriately.

2. Map the custom style to the TOC.

3. Generate the TOC.

After mapping the custom style to a specific TOC level, Word copies that styled content into the TOC at the specified level (that will make more sense) when you generate or update the TOC. You can modify the formatting of the summarizing text at the TOC level without changing its formatting within the body of the document.

 Generate the TOC

To get started, we need to generate a simple TOC similar to the one shown in Figure 1. Word creates a TOC using styled text (using one of the built in heading styles). You can update the TOC by changing a style or modifying a style’s attributed.  

Figure 1

The example document uses three heading styles : Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3. To generate the TOC, position the cursor, click the References tab , click Table of Contents in the Table of Contents group , and choose an option form the resulting gallery.

Create the style

You will need a custom style for the summarizing statement. To create this style, highlight one instance of the text you want to include in the TOC and do the following :

1. Open the Styles gallery and choose Create A Style (Figure 2). Word will highlight the style of the selected text in the Styles pane.

Figure 2

2. In the resulting dialog, give the style a name, such as TOC Summary (Figure 3). We do not want to modify the original attributed so do not click Modify. We are creating a duplicate style named TOC Summary.

Figure 3

3. Click OK.

The selected text does not look any different. We do not want it to. However, it now has two styles ;Normal and TOC Summary.

You can create the custom style without selecting any text, but the above route combines two tasks, so it is more efficient. We now have a custom style and some styled text using the new style.

Troubleshooting the Table of Contents

The table of contents updates automatically as you work on the document. Occasionally, your table of contents may misbehave. Here are a couple of fixes for TOC updating problems:

1. If you find that the fields aren’t updated when you view your document, try using the F9 key to update the document fields.

2. If the fields don't update when you print the document, check your print options. Click Tools and select Options. Open the Print tab and then select Update fields in the Print Options section. Click OK.

Appendices in Table of Contents (Part 2)

To make sure it appears in the Table of Contents, it needs to be given the proper priority. If you’ve based your style on Heading 1, it should already show up in the table of contents when you refresh it. If it doesn’t, follow these instructions.

1. In the References ribbon, choose Table of Contents, then choose Custom Table of Contents (or Insert Table of Contents in Word 2010).

2. Click on the Options button.

3. Your Appendix Heading style should show up in the Available Styles list. Assign it to TOC level 1. As soon as you put the number in, a checkmark should appear next to the style.

That solves our issue with the general label of Appendices appearing the table of contents, but now we need to create a style so that we are able to generate a list of the individual appendices.

1. Follow the above steps to create a new style, but this time, give it a title of Appendix Subheadings. Again adjust the font, size, spacing, etc. accordingly.

2. Make sure this new style is based on Normal.

3. Apply this style to each of your individual Appendix Names. 

 Now we just need to generate a list based on this style.

1. Put your cursor where you want the list of Appendices to appear

2. Go to the References Ribbon, click to expand the Table of Contents menu, and select Insert Table of Contents.

3. Under the Table of Contents tab select Options.

4. Delete all other priorities leaving only Appendix Subheadings with a priority of 1.

Click Ok and when Word asks “would you like to replace the selected table of contents” select No. This way, you have your main table of contents, and now a second table that just has the appendices listed in them.