Word 2007: Create an automatic Table of Contents

It’s very easy to set up an automatic Table of Contents (TOC) in Word 2007 — the only ‘rule’ is that you must use styles for your headings. (Word 2003 instructions)

You can either use Word’s built-in Heading styles or create your own. To get a hierarchical TOC, make sure you also use hierarchical heading styles for each topic’s main heading, subheading, and sub-subheadings (e.g. Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3).

Step 1: Set up your document

You need to use hierarchical heading styles for your headings and subheadings.

1. Start a new document.
2. Press Enter a few times to create some space for the TOC.
3. Add some headings and some text.
4. Apply Word’s default Heading 1, 2, and 3 styles to the headings.

Step 2: Insert a default Table of Contents

1. Click in the empty space you created at the beginning of the document.
2. Go to the References tab > Table of Contents group.
3. Click the Table of Contents button.
   
4. Select one of Word’s built-in TOCs from the list.
   
5. Your Table of Contents is inserted.

Step 3: Update the TOC

After you add more content to the document or shift content around, you’ll need to update the TOC to reflect the revised page numbering and the new or deleted headings. There are several methods you can use to update the TOC — choose the one that best suits the way you work:

• Click anywhere in the TOC, then press F9.
• Go to the References tab > Table of Contents group, then click Update Table.
• Click in the built-in TOC, then click Update Table (this only works for built-in TOCs, not a TOC you create yourself).

No matter which method you use, you’ll be asked if you want to update just the page numbers only or the entire table. The safest option is Entire Table — this updates both the page numbers AND adds or removes headings to reflect the current headings used.

Extras

Insert your own TOC

You might not like the default TOCs that Word provides, in which case you can create your own using various settings. For example, you might want to show one, two or four heading levels, instead of the default three; you might not want dots for the tab leader; you might not want the page numbers over on the right, etc. To take advantage of these settings, you’ll need to insert your own TOC.

1. Click in the empty space you created at the beginning of the document.
2. Go to the References tab > Table of Contents group.
3. Click the Table of Contents button.
4. Click Insert Table of Contents.
   
5. Change the settings on the Table of Contents window to suit your style, then click OK.

Modify the TOC styles

If you don’t like the fonts used in the TOC, or how the heading levels are indented,  you’ll need to modify the styles. You can either do this through the Styles pane or from the Table of Contents settings (as I describe below).

1. Click anywhere in the TOC, then go to the References tab > Table of Contents group again.
2. Click the Table of Contents button, then click Insert Table of Contents again.
3. Click the Modify button to change the ‘look and feel’ of the TOC.
   
4. Select the TOC style (e.g. TOC 1, TOC 2 etc.), then click Modify to change that style’s font, tab indentation, etc.
   
5. Make the changes to the style, then click OK.
   
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for each of the other TOC levels you want to change.
7. When you have finished changing the appearance of each TOC level, click OK.
8. You will be asked if you want to replace the existing TOC — click OK to do so.

Add or remove a level from the TOC

You might have appendices or other elements in your document that you want to include in the TOC, but they use their own heading styles, not the standard ones. These steps show you how to add or remove a style from the default list of styles used for the automatic TOC.

1. Click anywhere in the TOC, then go to the References tab > Table of Contents group again.
2. Click the Table of Contents button, then click Insert Table of Contents again.
3. Click the Options button to specify other styles to use to create the auto TOC and the hierarchical level appearance they will take, or to remove styles from the TOC.
   
4. You’ll notice that Headings 1, 2, and 3 already have 1, 2, and 3 next to them if you’ve kept the default setting of three levels.
   
   • To add another style to the TOC, find the style in the list, then type 1, 2, or 3 in its TOC Level text box (use 1 for a TOC 1 listing, 2 for a TOC 2 listing, 3 for a TOC 3 listing).
   • To remove a style from the TOC, find the style in the list, then delete the number from its TOC Level text box. Don’t press the spacebar — just delete the number.
5. Click OK.
6. You will be asked if you want to replace the existing TOC — click OK to do so.

See also:

• Word 2003: Create an automatic Table of Contents: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/word-2003-create-an-automatic-table-of-contents/
• Modify TOC styles: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/word-2003-modify-toc-styles/
• Modify TOC tab settings: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/word-modify-table-of-contents-tab-settings/
• Getting rid of odd styles in an auto TOC: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/word-getting-rid-of-odd-styles-in-an-auto-toc/
• All posts on this blog tagged with ‘TOC’: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/tag/toc/
• Problems with TOC styles: http://wordribbon.tips.net/T011108_Problems_with_TOC_Styles.html

[Links last checked July 2010]

Has this tip helped you? Saved you time? Saved your skin? You can thank me by clicking the PayPal button (or this link) to buy me a coffee or to make a small contribution to this blog’s maintenance.