Table of content is one of the good MS Word features that help you create a page with all your headings and page numbers.
The key to creating an automatic Table of content is Heading styles. You need to know how to use these Styles, and MS Word will do everything for you.
Fast Access:
- How to create headings in Word?
- Add Table of Content in Word
- How to Update TOC in Word
- How to customize the Table of Content
- How to change the indent of TOC in Word
- How to Copy Table of Content from PDF to Word?
- How to link Table of contents in Word
Microsoft Word table of contents
How to create headings in Word?
Path: select the text you want to turn it to Heading > Home Tab > Styles group > choose the level from Headings
Notice: if you want an indent in your Table of contents, you should level the headings. Look at the picture below; it shows you How Headings Work.
Notice: in the Styles Group, you can see 2 Heading, but when you create a Heading 2, the Heading 3 will appear, and it’s the same for other Headings.
Add Table of Content in Word
Path: (After you create your headings) > go to References Tab > click on Table of Contents in the “Table of Contents” group
In this part, you can choose automatic or manual TOC (Table Of Content). The difference is the automatic TOC scans the document and creates a TOC with Headings, but in the Manual TOC, you should set your tabs manually.
When you choose automatic TOC, it links the Tabs to Headings too. But in manual, it doesn’t; you should do it manually too. You must use Hyperlinks with Bookmarks or Headings to create internal links in Word.
We have a great article about Hyperlinks in MS Word.
How to Update TOC in Word
Path: References Tab > Table of Contents group > Update Table
Path: click on the TOC > click on Update Table
Notice: the Table of content wouldn’t update automatically when you change your document, and you should update it with “Update Table” in References Tab > Table of Contents group. Or you can click on the Table of content and click on Update Table.
How to customize the Table of Content
This setting lets you customize the Style of Headings, Formats, active or deactivate page numbers, modify the Style of Each Heading, etc.
Path: References Tab > Table of Contents > Custom Table of Content
At the first, you have two options that let you activate, deactivate, and the position of page numbers.
Tab Leader
The Tab Leader field lets you choose the Style of the Leader. If you don’t want it, set it to none.
Format
This option changes the Style of the TOC. You can choose in what style the Headings are placed together
Show levels
Notice: the default setting of TOC just shows three levels of Headings, and if you want to show more, you should set it from Customize Dialog > show levels
Options button
In this dialog, you can change the level of the headings. And also shows you which Heading appears in your Table of Content. (pay attention to the check mark beside the Headings)
Modify
In this dialog, you can change the style, font, font size, etc of your TOC
How to change the indent of TOC in Word
There is two way to change the indents. You can change the level like in the picture above. But it’s not the easiest way.
Path: Click on any title in the same level and then click on the increase or decrease indent on the Home tab > Paragraph group.
FAQ about TOC
How to Copy Table of Content from PDF to Word?
If it doesn’t let you copy and paste it, I think converting your PDF to Word is the best solution. It is easy to open PDF with MS Word. If it doesn’t work, take a picture from TOC and convert it to Word. use this article for converting images to Word
How to link Table of contents in Word
If you select the automatic TOC, MS Word will create this link automatically. To use it, press CTRL + click on the Heading.
If you want to create internal links manually, you must use Hyperlinks.
This link will help you: How to create internal links in Word