Word AutoCopy: How to Create Auto-Updating Content in Microsoft Word

Table of Contents is an indispensable navigation tool when working in Microsoft Word, especially if you have to work with a large amount of text. This feature is in all versions of Word without exception. However, many users do not know how to work with it and continue to “collect” the table of contents manually, spending time and effort on this. While the principle of affixing auto-heading in the Word is very simple and takes only a few seconds.

What is auto-heading?

Automatic table of contents is, by and large, a complex system of links, which is displayed in your chosen location and allows you to easily navigate between sections of the text. You can go to the desired chapter immediately from the table of contents; for this you need to hold down the “Ctrl” key and left-click on the desired item.

How to make auto-heading in Word

First you need to write the text (or at least create its frame by putting the names of the chapters into which the information will be added later).

Then you need to make the subtitles visible to the program. This is done through the Styles panel on the main tab. Only after that does it make sense to add autocapture to Word:

1. Go to the "Links" tab.
2. Click on the "Auto-assembled table of contents" button.
3. And select from the drop-down list any of the options (they differ only in the format of the links).

If desired, you can also select a custom table of contents and set all the parameters yourself.

This option is suitable for versions 2003, 2007, and 2010. In Word-2016, the auto-assembled table of contents is located in the "Insert" panel, in the "Link" section, where you need to select the "Table of Contents and Indexes" item from the list.

Before collecting the auto-heading in Word, make sure that the name of each chapter is highlighted in one of the design styles: “Heading 2”, “Heading 3”, and so on. The bold font, which is often used to highlight chapters, the program will ignore.

Is it possible to make a table of contents with several levels of subtitles

Auto-heading in the Word can be not only simple, but also tiered. The first option is needed, as a rule, to facilitate the work on the text. The second is used in the design of diploma and term papers, essays, etc.

In order to make the table of contents multilevel, it is necessary to distinguish chapters in different styles. For example, it is customary to mark the introduction, appendices, and references as “Subheading 1”: it will be located close to the left edge of the content window.

Independent chapters and section names are marked with the “Heading 2” style and placed in the table of contents indented from the left edge. “Heading 3” serves to mark individual small parts of the text in chapters. Simply put, these are subheadings of the “3.1.2.” Format or “Chapter 1, paragraph 4, subparagraph 2”.

To save time, all subheadings of the same level can be distinguished at the same time. To do this, press "Ctrl" and, without releasing it, select each of the subheadings one by one. Then click on the desired design style (for example, “Heading 2”). Please note that the Subheading style will not be displayed in the content.

Table of Contents Update

Despite the name, the autocategory in Word is not updated automatically. If you change something in the text (add or expand a chapter, move it to a new place, change the name of the subtitle), the content will show the old version until you update it.

It is very easy to do:

1. Left-click on any place in the table of contents (for example, the name of one of the chapters).
2. After clicking, the auto content window will become visible; in the upper left corner, select the "refresh table" function and once click on it with the left mouse button.
3. In the window that appears, select one of the proposed options: "Update only page numbers" (in the event that you did not add new chapters, but wrote in one of the existing ones). Or “Refresh Entirely” if you want the table of contents to show changes in the subheadings. This method should also be used in cases where you have changed only the names of the chapters, but not their number.
4. Click on the OK button.

For those users who have problems with the mouse (for example, it “freezes” regularly and moves the cursor to the wrong place), the second way to set the auto content is more convenient:

1. Click on the table of contents to activate it.
2. Press the F9 key on the keyboard.
3. Use the up and down arrows on your keyboard to select the appropriate update mode.
4. And press on "Enter".

How to remove automatic content

Often, a table of contents is needed solely to facilitate the work on the text, but in the final version of the document it is not required. In such cases, the question arises: "How to remove the auto-heading in the Word, and whether the marking of the subheadings is not violated at the same time? Good news: cutting out the automatic content does not affect the design of the text, even if this window took 2-3 pages The text simply moves to the first page, taking the place of the disappeared table of contents, that is, the sections beginning on pages "4" and "17" will now be on pages "1" and "14".

You can delete an automatic table of contents in two equally simple ways:

1. Click on the table of contents to activate it, click on the arrow next to the file icon in the upper left corner and select the "Delete Table of Contents" function from the drop-down list.
2. Select the table of contents with the mouse as a normal part of the text, and click on “Delete” or “Backspace”.

Often, after finishing work on the text, it becomes necessary to supplement, correct, or simply find the necessary information. In order not to search for the desired section manually, you can create automatic content, follow the link to the chapter of interest, and after finishing work, delete the table of contents again.