How do you create a collapsable contents?

[Collapsable and expandable Contents]

I have a massive contents page that I would like to be able to collapse to 1
or 2 pages. I have been trying to find a way to "group" sections as you do
in Excel so that you see the main subject only and then you "drill down".
For example, I have a section called Wireless Communications, a major
category, and three subcategories, Americas, EMEA and AsiaPac, all of which
need to be shown. Under these categories are the countries involved and
there are 40 of them. This is repeated multiple times under different major
subcatories and again under the major catories with their subcategories. All
I want to see is...

Wireless Communcations
Americas
EMEA
AsiaPac

I would like to have it expandable to where it would show...

Wireless Communcations
Americas
US
Canada
Bolivia
Etc.

....and when you don't want to see it, it collapses to the Americas
subcategory.

Is there a way to do this?

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi

There is no built-in functionality in Word to create expanding/collapsing
text such as you describe.

Have you tried the Document Map (View > Document Map)? If you have used
built-in headings for your document, this will give you collapsing/expanding
links to the relevant headings.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word


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[macropod]

One way of doing this is to change the number of heading levels that your
TOC pulls in. This may not be as flexible as the grouping you can do in
Excel, but it does allow you to vary the number of heading levels you'll
see. For more information, check out the /o switch under Insert|Field|(Field
Name: TOC)|Options.

Cheers


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[Collapsable and expandable Contents]

Thanks Shauna...

I have actually tried the Document Map view; however, the problem I see is
that the recipient may not be comfortable using MS Word documents in this way
and may change the view. If I lock the document from change, does the view
also lock in place?

I really like the expandable/collapsable feature in Excel - it has really
helped to organize spreadsheets making it easier for recipients to complete
requests on large, unwieldy documents without getting confused. A feature
like this in Word, where I'll have several hundred pages or more of
"opportunities" to peruse, would be made easier with a similar function. I
hope to see this in future releases! I was hoping this function existed
since it exists in Help to assist in organizing the categories and
subcategpries for easier viewing!

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Lisa

 

[Collapsable and expandable Contents]

Hi macropod...

Thanks for responding! Unfortunately, I cannot change the number of heading
levels. The document is an "opportunities" document for different countries
and many different opportunities for our team members and our customers in
each country. To make the document easier to navigate, I need to make sure
that each country is bookmarked under the major and secondary subcategories
so that they don't have to search through 40 countries which could possibly
be 20 or more pages each to search through! Hence the desire for a
collapsable contents where a reader can expand a major category such as
products and services, expand a secondary category such as wireless
solutions, and then further expand to a region such as AsiaPac or the
Americas. Then they can choose the country that they would like to view (UK,
US, Japan, etc.) by pressing the hyperlink which will immediately bring them
to the desired choice.

Thanks again for your response!

Cheers,
Lisa

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Help is not a Word document. Not the same format at all. Word is not really
designed to distribute documents electronically. I think Acrobat would do
what you are looking for, though only with the use of its equivalent to the
doc map. Not sure if the cheaper pdf creator clones would.

In Word:
You can include directions for people to use the Doc Map or Outline View.
You can try including a macro in the document to force this, but most people
will disable macros in documents they didn't create.

This page tells you how to manually create what you want, if you feel it's
worth the trouble:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Toggle_Data_Display.htm