A table of contents is not only a mandatory requirement for official multi-page documents, but also a convenient way to display the internal structure of the text. Most often it is used in theses, term papers or electronic books. This article will tell you how to make content in Word any version in minutes.
Table of Contents
There are 2 types: automatic and manual. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages for the end user. For automatically generated content, they are:
- Advantages: speed of creation, neat appearance and automatic changes when editing text.
- Disadvantages: in some universities, when preparing student work, a table of contents created manually using tables is required.
The manual content has no advantages, only disadvantages:
- A lengthy creation process due to the need to copy headings, subheadings and numbering from the entire document.
- When making any changes, you need to check the numbering or title of the headings, and then put them in the table of contents.
How to make automatic content in Word 2003
This is done according to the following algorithm:
- Highlight the name of the section or subsection.
- Mark it in one of 2 ways. The first is to select one of the "Title" lines in the "Formatting" panel in the drop-down list. The number indicates the importance: 1– for chapter titles, 2 - for section titles, 3 - for subsections.
- Method No. 2: Call the "Paragraph" dialog box using the context menu or the "Format" => "Paragraph" commands. In the first tab in the "Level" drop-down list, select the value "Level 1", "Level 2" or "Level 3". Click OK.
- Repeat the previous step until all section names are marked.
- Position the cursor at the beginning of the first page and insert "Section Break" using the "Insert" and "Break" commands. This will make it easier in the future to remove page numbers from the first sheets.
- Expand the "Insert" menu and hover over the "Link" line in it.
- In the new list, select "Table of Contents and Indexes".
- In the new window, click "OK.
On this algorithm, how to make the "Word" the content of the pages in the document is completed.
Customizing content in Microsoft Word 2003
The standard settings for the appearance of the table of contents do not match the requirements of GOST for the execution of documents. To bring them in line with the standards, you need to call up the options dialog using the "Insert" menu and its subsections "Link" and "Table of Contents and Indices".
You can change the following parameters in it:
- Display page numbers where the section is located and control their position - immediately after the name or at the right edge of the sheet.
- The characters that fill the space between the title and page number are simple and underline the dotted line, dots, or nothing. This parameter is responsible for how to make points in the "Word" content.
In addition to these properties, you can change the styles that apply to different levels of headings in the content. Call the window for editing them using the "Change" button. In it you need to select one of the lines, and then click on "Change."
This button will open a window with style settings in which you can change the font type, size, color, style of drawing and other formatting options. After changing the settings, click "OK" and agree to insert a table of contents with the new parameters.
On this procedure, how to make the content in the "Word" the relevant requirements of GOST, can be considered complete.
Insert an automatic table of contents in Microsoft Word 2007, 2010
In this version of the editor, the content is inserted as follows:
- Select each heading in turn and mark it by selecting a level in the list called up by the "Add Text" button located in the "Links" tab, the "Table of Contents" block. Use the "Heading 1,2" or "Subheading" styles located in the "Styles" section of the "Home" tab.
- Place the cursor at the beginning of the first page. If the content should be located on a separate sheet, then insert "Page break" hotkey Ctrl + Enter. "Insert" => "Page break", "Page layout" => "Breaks" => "Page".
- Go to the "Links" section.
- In the "Table of Contents" block, click on the button with the same name.
- In the new list, select one of the first two items.
On this method, how to make content in the "Word 2007, 2010" completed.
Customizing content in Microsoft Word 2007, 2010
It is almost no different from the similar procedure in Microsoft Word 2003. The only difference is the way the window with the parameters is called. This is done according to the following algorithm:
- Go to the "Links" section of the toolbar.
- In the "Table of Contents" block, click on the button with the same name.
- In the list that appears, select the line that says "Table of Contents".
Customize Header Styles
When marking headings to compile a table of contents in any of the ways, standard styles are applied to them that do not meet the design requirements. To make them “normal,” you need to perform a reconfiguration. This is done as follows:
- Call the style control panel by clicking the small button in the corner of the block of the same name located in the "Home" tab. You can also use the hotkey: Ctrl + Shift + Alt + S.
- In the block that opens, move the cursor over one of the inscriptions: "Heading 1,2", "Subheading", "Heading for the table of contents", "Table of contents 1,2".
Note: The last 2 styles control the appearance of the content.
- Click on the inverted checkmark that appears and select "Change" in the menu that opens.
- In the new dialog box, edit the formatting options. To access all the settings, you need to click the "Format" button.
- Click OK.
Manual table of contents in Microsoft Word any version
The way to do content in Word with numbers, as in the automatic assembly of the table of contents, is impractical and time-consuming. But sometimes students are forced to use it because of ignorance of previous techniques or design requirements.
The algorithm for creating manual content is as follows:
- Insert a blank page before the main text.
- Add a table to it consisting of two columns and an arbitrary number of rows.
- Merge the cells in the first row, enter "Contents" in them and insert a line break with the Enter key.
- Move the cursor over the jumper between the columns and drag it to the right so that only the page numbers are in the second column.
- Fill the rows of the first column with section names, and the second with sheet numbers. Align them relative to the left and right edges of the cell, respectively.
- Select a table.
- In the "Formatting" panel (Microsoft Word 2003) or in the "Paragraph" block of the "Home" tab (Microsoft Word 2007–2016), find the "Borders" button and use it to turn off the visibility of table borders.
This completes the creation of a manual version of the table of contents in Microsoft Word.
Automatic table of contents is one of the many functions of a text editor from Microsoft, which greatly simplifies the design of multi-page documents.