What I’m reading: The Woman of Andros by Thornton Wilder
What’s on the iPod: Numb by The Airborne Toxic Event
So last week we took a look at how to create Styles in Word. This week, we’re going to do something with them. If you think you’ll have a need to create a table of contents (TOC) in your document, start with creating styles for that document. You may want to get in the habit of using styles in everything so you don’t get 300 pages in and suddenly remember you need them. You’ll find a style refresher here.
You have your styles. Now let’s build a TOC.
Step one:
Between the cover page (and maybe dedication page, if there is one) and the introductory page, insert a new page. This is where the TOC will go.
If you’ve set up your styles already, you should be able to simply apply the TOC. Here’s an example of a document that has styles applied:
For the sake of example, I put a solid line in between these sections to indicate a page break. You’re looking at what would be two different pages.
From the blank page where your TOC is going, click on the References tab in Word. Over on the far left, you’ll see Table of Contents.
From here, the easiest way to insert a TOC is by choosing one of the preformatted styles. Let’s choose the first one.
Here’s the result:
Easy, right?
Ah, but suppose you have some errant styles that show up. What do you do then? Here’s what happened when I first created this TOC:
It happens. Styles get applied accidentally (you hit Return without thinking and it applies going forward, etc.). You could just manually remove it from the TOC, but with each update, you’ll have to do it. Better to get rid of the problem altogether. Here’s how to find/fix them.
Click on the term you want to lose from the TOC. That should highlight the style it’s defaulting to. If it’s a style you’re using for other things, simply assign it a lower-level style, or create a new one. If it’s a different style, right click to modify:
Right there under the preview of your wording, you’ll see values that are assigned. Here, this one is showing a Level 1 assignment. To change that, click on Format, then choose Paragraph:
From this window, you can see easily the level that’s been assigned. Where it says “Outline level”, make sure the window reads something other than the levels you have assigned to your TOC. This example shows the subtitle having been given the Level 1 assignment. I simply chose another level (I think level 9) since I knew I wouldn’t be using that one.
Click Okay.
Repeat this for all the errant copy you want to remove.
Now go back to the References tab and click Update Table. Choose Update Entire Table:
Here’s your updated table:
You can create your own customized TOC, if you like.
Writers, have you worked with a TOC?
What are some of your best tips for writers trying to build a TOC?
Related
Ah, I can relate to getting pages into the document and suddenly remembering I forgot to include the TOC. 😉 I don't do that anymore. LOL.
Depending on my document, I sometimes have fewer levels than other. For example, maybe I want just all Heading 1s and not 2s & 3s. You can choose the number of levels when you go to the Table of Contents dialog box and click up or down on Show levels (under General) to add or reduce how many levels you have.
Hard to describe without a visual. 😉
I think you just described it quite well, Cathy. 🙂
I love that you can create your own TOC. Sometimes the templates offered just don't quite cut it.
I often use a single level toc… and you know, you can bang (highlight) the whole thing and change font, size etc.