(Word Contents Page) : Users of Word 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019,2021 and Word for Microsoft 365 can benefit from this lesson on the contents page in Word.(Microsoft Office 2021)
Objective
Make a Word document’s Table of Contents and edit it to include new items.
Explained Table of Contents
Your viewers will find it simpler to explore and work with lengthy publications if you include a Table of Contents page. It makes papers appear and feel more professional, and it makes it simple and quick to navigate to a particular area.
Typically, a Table of Contents is included either immediately behind the cover page or at the start of the text. When new headers and paragraphs are added to the document, it may be simply changed with a single click and customized to reflect the general design of the content.
The key to success when developing a contents page is careful planning.
For a Table of Contents to function properly, the document must be structured with heading styles. Any text identified with a heading style is found by Word during a document scan, and it pushes that text through to the contents page. How many heading levels you choose to use is up to you.
I have navigated through three levels of heading in this screenshot.(Word Contents Page)
Method
I’ll demonstrate how to create, edit, and update a Table of Contents in Word for a document titled “The Solar System” in this example.
Get the Word document ready.
You must appropriately set up the document by using Word styles to indicate headers before you can create a Table of Contents page.
Turning to the draft view
When working with styles, you might find it simpler to examine your manuscript in draft mode since it makes it simple to see which headings you’ve applied to which components.
1.Toggle to the View tab.
2.Choose Draft
Each paragraph’s current style will be shown on the left side of the text. Normal signifies that no style has been used.
If you do not see the style pane on the left when you go to Draft view, you must enable it in Word Options.
1.Go to the File tab.
2.Choose Options
3.Toggle to the Advanced tab.
4.View the Display section further down.
It will say 0 inches if you can’t see the styles window. Select 1 to 2 inches, then hit OK.
Put headings in the document.
1.Pick the document’s primary heading that comes first.
2.On the Home tab, click
3.Click Heading 1 in the Styles group.
Apply a Heading 1 style to all top-level headings by navigating the document.
4.Choose your document’s second-level headers.
5.Click Heading 2 in the Styles category.
To all second-level headers in the document, add a Heading 2. Holding down the CTRL key allows you to pick numerous headers at once.(Word Contents Page)
For any additional headers in the document, repeat this procedure. In this illustration, my document has three layers of headings.
It is simple to incorporate a Table of Contents once the document is properly designed and set up.
Add a Contents Page.
Typically, a contents page is included at the start of the document.
1.Place the cursor before the first letter of the document’s first word by scrolling to the document’s top.
2.Page breaks can be added by using CTRL+Enter.
3.Toggle to the References tab.
4.To access the table of contents
Word has a limited number of built-in tables, making it easy to rapidly build a Table of Contents. I’ve chosen Automatic Table 1 in this instance.
To jump to a certain page, click it while holding down the CTRL key.
Change the Table of Contents
The Table of Contents is editable, and you may format it anyway you choose.
1.To choose it, click on the Table of Contents.
2.Toggle to the References tab.
3.To access the table of contents
4.Simply select Custom Table of Contents.
Leaders and levels tab
Tab managers
In the Table of Contents, the dots that appear between the header and the page number are called tab leaders. These can be changed to dashes or solid lines.
Display levels
The number of heading levels you wish to appear in the Table of Contents may also be specified. For instance, even if the document has four levels of headings, the Table of Contents should only display the top two levels.
5.Input OK.
Word will ask you if you want to replace the existing Table of Contents if you make changes to the Table of Contents.
6.Click OK to change.
A Table of Contents update
A document seldom remains unchanged permanently. Either near the conclusion of the document or elsewhere in it, new paragraphs may be inserted. The Table of Contents must be updated when fresh additions result in headers being moved to new pages.
Fortunately, Word makes updating a Table of Contents quite simple.
In this illustration, I’ve inserted a paragraph at the conclusion of the text for “Pluto.” It is structured in heading 2 fashion.
I must now change my Table of Contents to reflect the new header.
1.To choose it, click on the Table of Contents.
2.Select Update Table from the menu.
If you wish to edit the page numbers alone or the complete table, Word will ask you.
You might choose “Update page numbers only” if you have restructured your document, moved headings to various pages, but not added any new headings. Other than that, choose “Update full table.”
Individual Table of Contents
By changing the formatting, you may change the way your Table of Contents looks and feels. You may select, for instance, that all level 2 headlines should be shown in a bold, red font.
1.To choose it, click on the Table of Contents.
2.Toggle to the References tab.
3.To access the table of contents
4.Simply select Custom Table of Contents.
5.Select Modify.
All level 1 headings will be affected by changes to “TOC 1.” All level 2 headings will be impacted by changes to “TOC 2,” and so forth.
6.Choose TOC 1
7.Select Modify.
1.Change the formatting as you see fit.
2.Input OK.
