Have you ever suffered serious frustration and wasted much time adding a table of contents to your Word document? Well help is at hand. Follow the steps in this short guide and from now on you will find adding a Table of Contents to be a piece of cake.
(Please note that this guide uses Word version 2007 – for Word 2003 see the bottom of each step).
Step 1 Use the Styles provided
This is where most people run into trouble. If you are adding a header do not manually bold, add numbers, change font size etc. Instead select from one of the existing styles provided by Word. These styles will be automatically picked up by Word to create your table of contents. You will find the styles under the Home tab(see screenshot below).
(In Word 2003 Styles are found under “Format” menu and then “Styles and Formatting”.)
Styles and Formatting selection in Word 2007
Step 2 Add Numbering to Your Sections
This step is optional however I think most people prefer to have their sections numbered. Select your entire document(Ctrl A) then under the Home tab select the icon shown in the image below.
From the menu provided select the type of numbering you wish to add to your document. Word will apply this numbering based on the styles you used in step one.
(In Word 2003 numbering is found under “Format” menu and then “Bullets and Numbering”.)
Numbering your document sections in Word 2007
Step 3 Add the Table of Contents
First select the place in the document where you wish to insert your table of contents. Under the ‘References’ tab select the ‘Table of Contents’ icon as shown in the screenshot below.
From the list provided select the type of table you wish to use – more choices are available under ‘Insert Table of Contents’ from the bottom of the list. When you have made your selection a new Table of contents will be created.
(In Word 2003 Table of Contents is found under “Insert” menu and then “References” and “Index and Tables”.)
Add Your Table of Contents
Step 4 Update Your Table of Contents
You can easily update your Table of Contents when your document changes. Just right click on the table of contents and select “Update Field”, then ‘Update Entire Field’ and click Ok. Your ‘Table of Contents’ will have been updated to reflect the changes.
(This step is the same in Word 2003.)
Summary
Yes it really is that simple! A Table of Contents can be created in seconds providing you use the styles provided by Word. Once you do this Microsoft Word will do the rest.
