Table of Contents
A table of contents can be added to a Word document which will automatically add headings and page
numbers provided the document is set up using heading styles.
Using Styles
Word comes with a number of styles already set up. It is also possible to modify and create your own
styles. Each style comes with its own set of properties which can be changed as required. Styles are a
quick way of having consistent text within the document. It allows for easy updating of text from style
to another.
These can be found on the Home Tab
An alternative method of displaying these styles is to dock them to the side of the screen.
To do this click on the arrow to open the styles box
and then click and drag the styles box to a suitable
place
To apply a style first click on the text required and then click the desired style. If the style is to be
applied to a heading or a paragraph, just clicking on within the line or paragraph is all that is needed.
Hovering over the style will give a preview of the final result. Clicking on the style will apply it.
Activity
Apply the Heading 1 or Heading 2 style to each heading in your document.
Modifying Styles
Right click on the style name to be modified
Click on the Modify option to open the Modify
Styles properties dialogue.
Change any of the properties required.
The Format drop down arrow (at the
bottom) provides more options.
Click on OK
Activity
Change the Heading 1 style in your document so the colour is Black and text is in Bold (click on B for
Bold)
Repeat for Heading 2 – change colour to Black and text to Bold.
Creating New Styles
Click the ‘Create a Style’ option.
This opens a dialogue box to name the style.
Give the style a name and click OK.
To create the style itself, follow the Modify option as above.
Activity
Find this section in the document you are working on and click on the heading Activity above
Create a style named Activity and modify it so the heading is bold and underlined
Apply this style to all of the headings in your document
named Activity
Making Styles work for you
A possible use for styles is in longer documents
where there might be thoughts, draft comments and
follow up items. If a different style (particularly
colour) is used for each type of work then it is easy to
see if the final document is complete – there
shouldn’t be any other colours left is the text.
By right clicking and selecting the Select All Instances option, it is possible to find which text has still to
be changed over or deleted.
Creating a Table of Contents
Now that we have Heading Styles in use we can create a table of contents. It is possible to navigate
around the document using ctrl+click on the Table of Contents created.
Location: REFERENCES tab
Click under the heading Contents on the Contents Page of the document
Click on the Table of Contents drop down arrow and select Custom
Table of Contents
This opens the Table of Contents dialogue box.
From here it is possible to create/modify the table of contents to
meet your own needs.
If you have created your
own Heading Styles,
they may need to be
mapped. To do this
click on the Options
button and add the TOC
level next to your own
heading styles (may
need to scroll through
the list).
A built in table of
contents can also be
used by choosing the
appropriate option.
Activity
Add a table of contents in the correct place to your document
Some issues with the Table of Contents
It may not display everything as you wish it to be displayed – check the correct styles have been used
An image or chunk of paragraph text may appear within the table of contents – ctrl click on the link to
take you to the part involved and then change the style to another one (eg normal).
The table of contents (and table of figures) don’t normally appear in the table of contents itself.
Therefore, the headings for these have not had a heading style applied to them however they need to
have a similar structure as the heading 1 styles.
Activity
Create and apply a custom style for headings which are not to appear in the table of contents. The
properties should be the same as for the current Heading 1 style. Give the style a suitable name.
Apply to Contents Page and Table of Figures Headings on the Contents Page
Updating a Table of Contents
If changes are made to the document after the table of contents has been constructed, the headings
and/or the page numbers will change.
The table of contents can be updated by clicking on it and choosing the
Update Table option from the Table of Contents section of the REFERENCES
tab (or right clicking the table of contents and choosing the update table
option).
Select the best option
Update page numbers only – useful if only the page numbers have changed
but the headings themselves are unchanged (leaves formatting unchanged)
Update entire table – useful when headings have been added or changed
Activity
Apply Heading 2 style to the heading for this section in your
document
Update the entire table of contents to show this heading
