Word 2003: Table of Contents

Learning guide



Why create a table of contents?
When drafting a long document whose content is broken up into
several sections, a table of contents can help your reader make
effective use of your document by:
Providing a quick overview of the documents content.
Allowing your readers to quickly jump to the most relevant
sections of your document.

Although its a great deal of work to manually create a table of
contents and keep it updated while you revise your document,
Words reference tools can help you quickly create and manage
tables of contents for your documents.



Getting started
Before Word can create your table of contents, you must first mark
the beginning of each section within your document. The easiest
way to mark each section is to apply one of Words standard
header styles to each section header. In a single step, this will
allow you to mark the start of the section and format its title.

Applying a header style to a section header
Select the title of the section you wish to mark.
Confirm that the Task Pane is displayed at the right side of the
Word window.
If the task pane is not displayed:
o From the View menu, select Task Pane.

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Click on the down-facing arrow at the top right corner of the
Task Pane.
From the menu that appears, select Styles and Formatting.



In the box labeled Pick formatting to apply, select the name
of the style that you wish to apply.
Word will apply the formatting characteristics of the header
style you chose to the section header you selected.




Tip: For best results, apply one of Words built-in heading styles
to your section headers. Using these styles will make it easier for
you to create a table of contents that includes all of the sections in
your document.
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Creating a table of contents
Once you have formatted the title of each section, you are ready to
create your table of contents.
Click in the place in your document where you wish to insert
the table of contents.
From the Insert menu, select the Reference submenu.
From the Reference submenu, select Index and Tables.



The Index and Tables window will appear.



On the Index and Tables window, click on the tab labeled
Table of Contents.
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On the General area, click on the down-facing arrow next to
the box labeled Formats.
From the menu that appears, select the format that best suits the
layout of your document (for example, Modern).




Print Preview
Whenever you choose a table of contents style from the
Formats menu, you will see a thumbnail view of that style in
the Print Preview area.
Use this area to preview table styles that may be appropriate
for your document.




Hiding page numbers in your table of contents
Uncheck the box labeled Show page numbers located beneath
the Print Preview area.



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Choosing number levels in your table of contents
Once youve chosen a table format, use the box labeled Show
levels to choose the number of levels that will appear in your table
of contents.
Click on the up and down facing arrows next to the box labeled
Show Levels.
o The up-facing arrow increases the number of levels in
your table.
o The down-facing arrow to decreases the number of
levels in your table.



Click on the button labeled OK to insert the table of contents in
your document.

Tip: Choose the number of levels to display based on the way you
have created content sections and sub-sections within your
document. The table below provides some examples to help you
choose the right number of levels for your table of contents.

For a document with. Show levels...
3 major sections 1
2 major sections; and 3 subsections in each 2
3 major sections; 2 subsections in each; and
minor content areas within each subsection
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Using a table of contents
Once you have created a table of contents, readers of your
document can use it in two ways.
When reviewing a printed version of the document, readers can
use page numbers in the table of contents to flip to a specific
section within the document.
The section headers listed in the table of contents can serve as
links to content within your document.
o By holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on a
sections header, readers can navigate directly to that
section without having to scroll through the document.


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Revising a table of contents
Once youve created a table of contents, you can easily edit and
format its text. You can also quickly update the table by adding
the headers for new sections. If necessary, you can also delete the
table of contents.

Editing text within a table of contents
To revise text within your table of contents:
Click on the text in your table of contents that you wish to edit.
When the flashing insertion cursor appears, edit the text as you
would edit text anywhere else in your document.


Reformatting text in a table of contents
You can quickly change the font, size, and style of any block of
text in the table of contents. You can also make more extensive
changes by altering the formatting for all of the headers at one of
the levels in your table. To reformat a specific block of text in your
table:
Drag your cursor to select the text that you wish to reformat.
Reformat the text as you would reformat text anywhere else in
your document.


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Updating page numbers in your table of contents
Once youve created your table of contents, you can quickly
update page numbers in the table that are no longer correct because
of revisions that youve made. To update page numbers for each
header:
Click anywhere within the table to select the entire table of
contents.
Word will highlight the entire table by displaying a gray
background behind the tables text.
Right-click anywhere on the table.
From the menu that appears, select Update Field.


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The Update Table of Contents window will appear.
Click on the option button labeled Update page numbers
only.
Click on the button labeled OK to update the page number for
each header in your table.




Adding headers to your table
In some cases, you will want to add a new section to your
document. You can easily update your table of contents so that the
new section header and page number appear.
Click anywhere within the table of contents to select the entire
table.
Right-click on the table.
From the menu that appears, select Update Field.
The Update Table of Contents window will appear.
Click on the option button labeled Update entire table.
Click on the button labeled OK.




Deleting a table of contents
Drag your cursor to select the entire table of contents.
Type the delete key on your keyboard.
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