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A table of contents is incredibly useful, especially in long documents, as it eliminates the need to scroll through numerous pages to find the information you need. Thankfully, Microsoft Word makes inserting a table of contents into your document easy.
How to Create a Table of Contents Automatically in Word
Microsoft Word can automatically create a table of contents (TOC) based on the headings in your document. To use this feature, you first need to apply Word’s built-in heading styles to the headings and subheadings in your document.
To create headings, select the text, go to theHometab, and choose the appropriate heading style from theStylesgroup. For example, useHeading 1for main headings,Heading 2for subheadings, and so on.
Once you’ve finished creating headings, follow these steps to insert a table of contents into your Word document.
Word will create and insert the table of contents at the specified location. You can then navigate to a heading quickly by holding theCTRLkey and clicking on the entry you want to jump to.
If you want to remove the table of contents from your document, simply go toReferences > Table of Contentsand selectRemove Table of Contents.
How to Update the Table of Contents in Word
While Word makes it easy to create TOCs, it doesn’t automatically update them when you edit headings ormove them to different pages. Fortunately, updating the table of contents manually is straightforward. Here’s how to do it:
Your table of contents will now be updated to reflect the latestchanges in your Word document.
How to Customize the Style and Appearance of Your Table of Contents
If Word’s default table of contents feels too plain, don’t worry. Word offers several customization options to help you tailor it to matchyour document’s design. Here’s how you can make your table of contents more visually appealing:
You can be as creative as you like while modifying the table of contents. If you need inspiration, check out thesetable of contents template examples for Microsoft Word. If customizing the table of contents manually seems like a lot of work, you can also download free, ready-made templates from the web.
Whether you choose to create a table of contents manually or use a template, it shouldn’t take much time once you become familiar with the process.
