Creating a Table of Contents in Word 2007

Word 2007 assembles a table of contents (TOC) for you by listing the headings (each with the page number) you designate throughout your document beforehand. Word takes care of counting pages, and even adjusts the TOC for you if the document’s page numbers change. When you create a TOC, Word searches your document for heading paragraphs to include in the table, recognizing them by the styles you assign to them.

1

Apply heading styles to your chosen headings.

To apply a heading style, put the cursor in the chosen paragraph and then press Ctrl+Alt+1 (for Heading 1) or Ctrl+Alt+2 (for Heading 2), and so on.

2

Move the insertion point to the place where you want the Table of Contents to appear.

The TOC generally appears on its own page near the beginning of a document. Press Ctrl+Enter to create a new page if necessary and then click to position the insertion point on the empty page.

3

Click the References tab on the Ribbon and then click the Table of Contents button found in the Table of Contents group.

A menu that lists several Table of Contents styles is displayed.

4

Click the Table of Contents style you want to use.

The TOC appears in the document. Note that the shaded frame that’s drawn around the Table of Contents is visible only when you hover the cursor over the table. (This frame doesn’t appear when you print the document.) You’re done!

5

To customize your TOC, click the Table of Contents button and select Insert Table of Contents Field.

This action summons the Table of contents dialog box, where you can choose options for your table:

  • Show Page Numbers: Deselect this check box if you want the TOC to show the document’s outline but not page numbers.

  • Right-Align Page Numbers: Deselect this check box if you want the page numbers placed right next to the corresponding text rather than at the right margin.

  • Tab Leader: Use this drop-down list to change or remove the dotted line that connects each TOC entry to its page number.

  • Formats: Use this drop-down list to select one of several predefined formats for the Table of Contents.

  • Show Levels: Use this control to specify which heading levels to include in the table.

After you create the TOC, it does not reflect later changes you make to the document unless you update (rebuild) it by following these next two steps:

6

Click the Update Table button in the Table of Contents group of the References tab.

The Update Table of Contents dialog box appears. Here you can choose whether to rebuild the entire table or just update the page numbers.

7

Click OK to update the table.

You can also update a Table of Contents by selecting the table and pressing F9. Or, you can right-click the table and choose Update Field from the shortcut menu.

Another option is to press Ctrl+A (to select the entire document) and then press F9 (to update all TOCs in the document).

8

Save your file after you update the tables.

If you want to update the TOC again, repeat these steps.

9

To delete a TOC, select the entire table and press Delete.

Alternatively, you can click the Table of Contents button on the References tab on the Ribbon. From the menu that appears, choose Remove Table of Contents.

Comments (5)

  1. Posted by Tim
    Yeah, this is all very simple, but why does Word place paragraphs in the TOC? This is very frustrating, because I need them removed. How do you create a simple Contents page with only the heading and various levels showing?
  2. Posted by Raza
    I want to delete a TOC that I had made earlier and redo a TOC from scratch but it wont let me do that! Everytime I delete a TOC and try to make a new one. It brings back the previous TOC again. Therefore, I made a TOC manually and now everytime I make a change in the document I have to manually adjust the TOC too! Is there a way to transform a 'Manual' TOC into an 'Automatic' one?
  3. Posted by 4ndyman
    @Tim: Most often, this problem occurs because the paragraphs have a heading style applied to them. You can see all the styles if you're in Draft view. (If you don't see them, got to Word Options-->Advanced and, in the Display section, put a 1 in the Style area pane width box.) If a paragraph is styled as a heading, it'll appear in the TOC. If you like the formatting, you might have to build a new style based on Normal.

    Also make sure that you don't have soft returns at the end of lines. Click the pilcrow (the little backward P in the Paragraph group of the Home tab) to see the non-printing characters. If a line ends with a pilcrow, that's a hard return -- which is what you want. If a line ends with an angled arrow, that's a soft return. Select it and press Enter to create a hard return.
  4. Posted by David
    I built a TOC the usual way. For no apparent reason, Word now displays only the TOC commands { TOC\o etc } and does not create the Table of Contents. Any thoughts?
  5. Posted by Elijah
    For some reason my TOC is always oriented right to left although I'm righting an English with English headings. My word is also Hebrew enabled.

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