Arrange your document by creating a customised table of contents in Microsoft Word for readers to refer to when they need specific information from different sections. Not only do table of contents inform readers what to expect in the documents, they also provide easy and fast navigation for relevant information searching. Here are 5 steps to perform when creating a customised Microsoft Word table of contents:
1. Creating customised TOC
To be able to create a customised table of contents, you will need to make use of the References section in Microsoft Word. Choose the references tab and select the table of contents option. You will then be able to choose custom table of contents and make your changes from the preview windows present for better visualisation. Make sure you know how to structure your table of contents- you can choose dash leaders for entry and page numbers to be used. You can also change the appearance of the table by going through the formats list. Once you have chosen, hit OK to apply the changes to your Word document.
2. Format Text
You will then be able to format your text according to your table of contents. Choose the references tab again and access the custom table of contents option. This time, choose the modify feature and change the formats to from template if your modify button is grey. Look for the Styles list and choose the levels you want changed. Click modify so that you can make all the formatting changes you need. Make sure to update your table of contents so that Microsoft Word can remember the customisations. You can do so by choosing references and then updating table.
3. Custom styles
You can consider adding descriptions under the heading entries of your table of contents for a more comprehensive search experience. To do so, you can choose to use custom styles. Choose the text section that you want and open up styles gallery. Choose the create a style option and open up the gallery for table of contents. You can then click on custom table of contents and hit options. This will enable you to see heading styles and choose map it to new level and choose Ok. This will allow your new style to be shown under your heading.
4. Field Code
Field code in Microsoft Word reacts much like formula in Excel. Users can switch between displaying the field codes and the results that occur in the document by using the ALT F9 buttons. You can make use of the field codes too to change heading levels as well as text formatting. Field codes may take a while to decipher and understand so this is generally not recommended unless the options you need require more tweaking.
5. Updating
Make sure that the information in your table of contents is fully kept up to date so that users can achieve the full experience. To update, you will need to access the references tab and choose the update table function. You can then choose further between updating certain page numbers or the entire table of contents.
