Outline-level formattingĪn outline-level format is formatting that you can use to assign a hierarchical level (Level 1 through Level 9) to paragraphs in your document. If you use one of Word's nine built-in heading styles to format the headings you want to include in your TOC, you can choose the TOC level for each of the heading styles in the Table of Contents Options dialog box to include them in your TOC. To see the style of your text, highlight some text in your document and then look at the Style box, located on the Formatting toolbar. Word has nine different built-in heading styles, Heading 1 through Heading 9. Built-in heading stylesĪ heading style is a combination of formatting options (like font type, size, andĬolour) applied to a heading in your document. Let's explore each of these options for marking text. You can use Word's built-in heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on), outline-level formatting, your own custom styles, TC fields, or a combination of these. There are several ways of marking text that you want to include in the TOC. It lists the marked text in order, determines the TOC level for the text, and determines the page number that each item is on.
When you insert or update a TOC, Word looks through the document for all the text you marked. Ways to mark text to include in a table of contents Second, you must actually insert or update the table of contents. This text is usually headings, titles, or subtitles that show the reader the order of the main points. Marking means designating the text you want to appear as an entry in the TOC. First, you need to mark the text in your document that you want to include in the table of contents. Table of contents using Distinctive formatĬreating a table of contents in Word requires two main steps. Table of contents using standard format from template Here are a few examples of these built-in formats. You can create your own style or use one of the built-in formats of TOC entry styles in Word. Each TOC entry is also assigned a TOC level (1-9) that indicates the TOC style used for that entry. On a Web page, hyperlinks replace the page numbers.Įach table of contents entry has a style (TOC 1 through TOC 9) that determines the formatting of that entry, such as the indentation and font. Or, a class may have a Web site for sharing information and tracking homework assignments, and they may want to add a TOC to the home page to make finding things easier.Ī TOC in a document is made up of a list of topics or headings, tab leader characters (solid, dotted, or dashed lines that fill the space used by the tab character), and page numbers. Students may need to include a TOC in a research paper. For example, a teacher might want to include a table of contents in a class syllabus or training documents so that students have an outline of the class and know where to find a particular topic. You choose where to put the TOC in your document or Web page, what the content and formatting of each entry will be, and whether to include page numbers. In Word, you have many different options for creating a TOC. You can use a TOC to give readers an overview of your topics or to help them find the starting page or section for your topics. Generally, it includes each topic's page number (in a document) or a link to the section that the topic is in (on the Web). Keyboard shortcuts for working with a table of contentsĪ table of contents, or TOC, is a list of topics in a document.Adding a table of contents to a Web page.Options for inserting a table of contents.Ways to mark text to include in a table of contents.To apply a heading style, select the text you want to format, then choose the desired heading in the Styles group on the Home tab.How-To: Explore tables of contents in Word In the table of contents above, each chapter uses a heading style, so there are four sections. When you insert the table of contents, it will create a section for each heading. If you apply a heading style, you're telling Word that you've started a new part of your document. Styles also serve another important purpose: adding a hidden layer of organization and structure to your document.
If you've already read our Applying and Modifying Styles lesson, you know they're an easy way to add professional text formatting to different parts of your document. However, with the right formatting, Word can create and update a table of contents automatically. And if you ever decide to rearrange your sections or add more information, you'll have to update everything all over again. You could create a table of contents manually-typing the section names and page numbers-but it would take a lot of work.