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How To Insert Your

This document provides a comprehensive guide on how to insert, update, customize, and remove a table of contents (TOC) in Microsoft Word. It includes step-by-step instructions for using heading styles, updating entries, and changing tab leaders, along with tips for further customization. Additionally, it highlights the use of the 'Tell me' search box for quick access to commands and help within Word.

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Ok Google
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10 views7 pages

How To Insert Your

This document provides a comprehensive guide on how to insert, update, customize, and remove a table of contents (TOC) in Microsoft Word. It includes step-by-step instructions for using heading styles, updating entries, and changing tab leaders, along with tips for further customization. Additionally, it highlights the use of the 'Tell me' search box for quick access to commands and help within Word.

Uploaded by

Ok Google
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to Insert your

first table of contents in


Microsoft Office
Create, update, and customize a table of
contents
You don’t need to wait until your pages are finalized; inserting a table of contents
can be an early step in creating your document. As the pages of your document
develop, Word helps you keep the table of contents up to date.
This doc isn’t just for reading, it’s for trying too. Watch for the Try it
text in red throughout this document so you can learn by doing.

Insert a table of contents


To add a TOC (short for table of contents), just decide where you want it. Word will
do the heavy lifting.
Try It: Hit Enter after the first paragraph in this doc to get a new line. Then, go to
the References tab, select Table of Contents, and choose a TOC from the
gallery.

Page | 1
Voila! Word found all the headings in this document and added a TOC.

Update when things change


The heavy lifting doesn’t stop with creating a TOC. Word is smart enough to keep
track of where things are, so you don’t have to. When things change, just update
the TOC.
Try It: Update your TOC.

1. Place your cursor after the paragraph that ends with, “When things change,
just update the TOC” (above), and then hit Ctrl+Enter to push this section
onto page 3.

2. Go to your TOC and click anywhere in it. Then click Update Table, and click
OK (Update page numbers only is selected by default).

Page | 2
Word updated the entry for Update when things change from page 2 to page 3.

Use styles for headings


The TOC magic is in the styles that are used to format headings. The heading for
this section, Use styles for headings, might look like a heading, but it doesn’t act
like one. It’s formatted in pieces (font size, underline) instead of being formatted
with a style. See how it’s not in the TOC you added? To add a heading to a TOC, it
needs to be formatted with the Heading 1 style.
Try It: Update the style, and then update the TOC.

1. Click in the heading above (Use styles for headings)—be sure to just click,
don’t select anything.

2. On the Home tab, find Styles, and click Heading 1 (keyboard shortcut:
Alt+Ctrl+1).

3. Update your TOC like you did before, but this time, select Update entire
table (instead of Update page numbers only) since more than the page
numbers changed.
Now Word knows that paragraph is a heading, and includes it in the TOC.

Dive deeper than Heading 1


Want more levels in your TOC? That’s where the rest of the Heading styles come in.
Mark subheadings in your document with Heading 2, lower-level headings with
Heading 3, and so on.
Try It: Apply Heading 2 to the paragraph below (Add a Level 2 TOC entry), and
then update your TOC like you did before. Remember to update the entire table!
Add a Level 2 TOC entry
Under the hood: Heading styles hold formatting, font, size, color, and more. They
also hold a paragraph format known as an outline level, which is picked up by the
TOC.

Customize your TOC


The space between an entry and its page number in a TOC is known as a tab leader.
By default, Word makes the tab leader a row of dots (dot leader), but you can easily
switch to something else, like an underline. You don’t need to start over—you don’t

Page | 3
even need to select the TOC. Word knows where it is. Just use the Custom TOC
option to make this type of change, and Word will do its thing.
Try It: Change the dot leader to an underline.

1. On the References tab, click Table of Contents, and then near the
bottom, click Custom Table of Contents.

2. From the list of Tab Leader options, select Line (last choice in the list), and
click OK.

3. When you’re prompted to replace the TOC, click Yes.

And just like that, Word found your TOC and changed the tab leader from dots to an
underline.

Remove a TOC
You can’t delete a TOC like you can a picture or other things in a doc. Well, you can,
but if you do it too many times, your TOC can get out of whack. Remember the

Page | 4
heavy lifting Word does for you? All the scaffolding needs to be removed too. Tell
Word to remove the TOC, and Word will clean up after itself.
Try It: On the References tab, click Table of Contents, and then near the
bottom, click Remove Table of Contents.
Poof! The TOC, and the stuff to make it work, are gone from the document. But you
can add your TOC back any time, in any location. Word will remember everything
you did—even your change to the tab leader.
Under the hood: The stuff Word removes is a collection of hidden bookmarks that
keep track of the heading text and page number shown in the TOC.

Explore more
If you want to customize your TOC even more, give these a try. (If you didn’t add
your TOC back, do that now. You can add it above this section if you’d like. Or, if
removing it is the last thing you did, press Ctrl+Z to undo.)

Change text formatting of the TOC entries


Try it: In your TOC, select an entire Level 1 entry and make a formatting change.
For example, change the font color to blue. (Make sure you select only one TOC
entry, including the tab leader and page number. Notice that even though the whole
TOC may look like it’s selected, the one entry you select will have darker
highlighting.)

Like the rest of the TOC magic, all the TOC Level 1 entries changed too.
Under the hood: Okay, it’s not really magic. The TOC entries are assigned to a
style (TOC 1, TOC 2, and so on), and those styles are set to update automatically
whenever you make a formatting change.

Change the number of TOC levels


Try it: Include only Heading 1 headings in your TOC, no subheadings.

1. On the References tab, click Table of Contents, and then near the
bottom, click Custom Table of Contents.

Page | 5
2. Change Show levels to 1 and click OK.

3. When you’re prompted to replace the TOC, click Yes.


4. Verify your TOC no longer includes subheadings, such as Add a Level 2 TOC
entry.

Get help in Word


The Tell me search box takes you straight to commands and Help in Word.

Page | 6
Try it: Go to Tell me what you want to do near the top of the window, and then
type what you want to do.
For example, type:
 table of contents to quickly get to the Table of Contents options and other TOC
help topics
 styles if you want to know more about using styles in Word
 help to go to Word help
 training to see the list of Word training courses

Page | 7

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