How To Insert Table Of Contents In Word Manually
Image: iStockphoto.com/HirurgAdding a table of contents (TOC) to a long Word document is easy, thanks to the user interface options in the Ribbon versions. But there's more to the feature than you might realize. The TOC is actually built from a field you can manually alter.
In fact, doing so is the only way to apply some of the feature's more advanced options. In this article, I'll show you two such features: We'll omit page numbers from individual levels and generate a partial TOC.I'm using Word 2013 with Windows 7 but you can easily apply these instructions to all of Word's ribbon versions. You can work with any simple document. PreparationThis article assumes that you're familiar with Word's TOC feature and fields. If you're not, you might want to read before you continue with this article—but doing so isn't strictly necessary to follow this article.There are no instructions for Word 2003 in this article. If you'd like to learn more about generating a TOC using Word 2003, please review the following articles at Microsoft.com. In a nutshell, fields are dynamic placeholders.
Add Manual Table Of Contents To Word
More specifically, a field is a set of instructions that perform an action automatically. You probably use them often without realizing it. For instance, when you insert a page number into a document's header, you're inserting a field. As Word evolves and offers more feature via the interface, fields are less visible, but you're still using them.Word's Ribbon-based interface does such a good job of walking users through the process of generating a TOC, most don't realize that the resulting TOC is actually a field. And more options are available if you know how to modify the underlying field. You may never need these features, but it's good to know they're available just in case.Before we continue with the actual TOC technique, let's examine a TOC field.
Figure A shows a typical TOC. On the surface; it appears to be ordinary text—but there's more than meets the eye. To expose the field that controls the TOC, click inside the TOC and press Alt+F9. Figure B shows the TOC's field and switches. Manually specify a level to disable page numbering for that level.After altering the field, press Alt+F9. Then, right-click and choose Update Field.
In the resulting dialog, choose Update Entire Table and click OK to generate the new TOC, shown in Figure E. Figure E Remove page numbers for a specific level. Add a partial TOCYou might want to include a partial TOC for specific sections. For this, you'll use the b switch and a bookmark. First, select the section in question.
In the example document, we'll select the entire Quick Themes section:. Quick Themes: Heading 1. Theme Gallery: Heading 2. Quick Styles: Heading 3To create the bookmark, do the following:. Select the entire section you want bookmarked. In this case, that's the three sections mentioned above.
How To Insert Table Of Contents In Word Manually Order
Click the Insert tab. Click Bookmark in the Links group. Enter a name, such as TOCsub1 ( Figure F). Click Add.Figure F. Enter a name for your bookmark.Now, generate the partial TOC as follows:. Position the cursor where you want to display the TOC. Press Ctrl+F9 and Word will insert a pair of code brackets.
Between the brackets type TOC b TOCsub1 o '1-3' ( Figure G). With the entire field code selected, press Alt+F9 to display the field code. If the TOC isn't visible, right-click the (seemingly blank) spot and choose Update Field to see the TOC shown in Figure H.Figure G Type this text inside the brackets. Figure H Generate a partial TOC. TOC codes add flexible solutionsOnce you're beyond basics, you can use field code switches to add more advanced TOC features. There's almost nothing you can't accomplish with the right switch and a bit of creative strategy.
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Don't send files unless requested; initial requests for help that arrive with attached files will be deleted unread. I'm not reimbursed by TechRepublic for my time or expertise when helping readers, nor do I ask for a fee from readers I help. You can contact me at susansalesharkins@gmail.com. Also read.Other TOC techniques?What customization tricks have you accomplished by tweaking Word's TOC field?
How about other fields? Share your tips with fellow TechRepublic members.