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Once you've checked your headings to make sure they're clear and concise and that you've assigned a heading style Word will recognize, you can generate the table of contents. Here are the steps:
Figure 26-1. You generate a table of contents in the Index And Tables dialog box.
Tip - Take a look at your TOC
You can view the table of contents you create in two different ways: When you change to Print Layout view, you see the TOC complete with page numbers and leaders. If you display the TOC in Web Layout view, you'll see hyperlinks in the document.
Figure 26-2. The table of contents Word generates by default right-aligns page numbers and includes dot leaders.
You aren't limited to using headings alone in your table of contents. You can select any word or phrase in your document for inclusion in the TOC by following these steps:
Figure 26-3. Enter TOC entries manually in the Mark Table Of Contents Entry dialog box.
Next, to generate the table of contents to include the manual TOC entries, follow these steps:
Tip - Display the entries you want
If you want your table of contents to include only the entries you've added manually, clear the Styles and Outline Levels check boxes. If you want all the elements included, leave those items selected and select the Table Entry Fields check box as well.
The simple table of contents format gives you a standard TOC with right-aligned page numbers, dot leaders, and left-aligned headings. You can choose from a number of specially designed TOC formats so that your table of contents fits the style of your publication.
You can choose a format for your table of contents when you first generate it. When you choose Insert, Reference, Index And Tables and the Index And Table dialog box appears, click the Formats down arrow on the Table Of Contents tab. The formats shown there—From Template, Classic, Distinctive, Fancy, Modern, Formal, and Simple—offer different combinations of text styles used for your TOC. Click the one you want; the style is shown in the Print Preview window. When you find the one you want, click OK. The table of contents is created and formats are assigned as you selected.
Tip - Update the TOC format after the fact
If you want to change the format for a table of contents you've already created, select the table, and then choose Insert, Reference, Index And Tables. Click the Table Of Contents tab, select the Formats down arrow, and choose the style you want. Finally, click OK. Word displays a message box asking whether you want to replace the selected TOC. Click OK to replace the selected TOC, and Word updates the TOC with the new format.
Headings Are Missing in My TOC
After you generate a table of contents for your Word document, review the document and check your headings carefully. If any headings are missing in the TOC, determine whether you've added text boxes or callouts in the drawing layer.
Word creates your table of contents by gathering all the headings and table of contents entry fields; if you've added text to the drawing layer, the entries won't be found automatically. To add these items to the TOC, just select the items, copy them, and paste them on the text layer. Finally, press F9 to update the TOC.
As you continue to work with your document, you might move sections around and add and edit headings and text. That means as soon as you make a heading change, your TOC is out of date because it won't reflect your most recent changes. You can update the table of contents in two different ways:
Word searches the document and updates the TOC to reflect any changes you've made to headings.
You can also move to the table of contents in case you want to do additional formatting or editing there. Just click the Go To TOC button on the Outlining toolbar. The display moves to the TOC so that you can make your changes.