Table of Contents Feature in Word

[Tom Cornell]

Has anyone successfully cracked the secret of how to format information
that Word will sort out as a table of contents?

I've been able to use the Heading format and do this, but nothing else
works. The Help file alludes to the possibility, but it's explanation
is useless. Same for a number of books about Word and Office which I
scanned in a local bookstore.

Am trying to convert hidden text information which worked perfectly
under Word 5.1a. The format seems to have converted, but Word 2001 says
there are no records found.

BTW, the conversion of the name index in my document was absolutely
horrible. Many surnames and given names ended up underlined when they
were not in the original. Clearing those cause me hours of work!

Any help GREATLY appreciated. All I can do at this point is run random
experiments hoping I blunder into the right answer.

MacTom

 

[J.E. McGimpsey]

Has anyone successfully cracked the secret of how to format information
that Word will sort out as a table of contents?

I've been able to use the Heading format and do this, but nothing else
works. The Help file alludes to the possibility, but it's explanation
is useless. Same for a number of books about Word and Office which I
scanned in a local bookstore.

Am trying to convert hidden text information which worked perfectly
under Word 5.1a. The format seems to have converted, but Word 2001 says
there are no records found.

BTW, the conversion of the name index in my document was absolutely
horrible. Many surnames and given names ended up underlined when they
were not in the original. Clearing those cause me hours of work!

Any help GREATLY appreciated. All I can do at this point is run random
experiments hoping I blunder into the right answer.

Using headings or other styles is by far the easiest way to make
TOCs. If you 've applied a style to your hidden text, choose that
style in the TOC dialog instead of the Headings. If you want outline
levels associated with your TOC (e.g., main headings, subheadings),
be sure to assign an outline level to each style used.

The other way to make them is to insert TC fields:

At the point you want to reference, choose Insert/Field/Index and
Tables/TC field. In the dialog, enter the text you want to appear.
You can choose an outline level as well, e.g.:

{TC "Topic 1" \l1}
{TC "Subtopic a" \l2}

which can then be used to apply the TOC1 or TOC2 style in the table
of contents:

Topic 1 ...........................1
Subtopic a.....................2

The text within the TC fields is non-printing (hidden).

Note that you can include both headings/styles and TC fields in a
single Table of Contents.

You may also be interested in

How to create a table of contents in Microsoft Word
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/toc/CreateATOC.html

Customizing your table of contents with switches
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Formatting/TOCSwitches.htm

 

[Tom Cornell]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, nothing I've tried so far will read any
of the {TC} fields I've written. I have them formatted exactly as you
describe, but they are totally ignored. If I omit the {TC " "} formatting,
I have been able to compile several lines into one of the TOC styles. Yet,
the {XE " "} fields work consistently and result in a nice index. Any idea
why {XE} will work and {TC} will not? I noted that the {XE} fields are of
several styles, Normal and others, and that does not seem to matter. I've
tried various styles in the {TC} fields, and that does not matter. It's like
they are not there. Both are, by the way, in hidden text as I understand
they are supposed to be. Even changing a {TC} field into visible text did
not work. I've even copied an {XE} field and converted it to {TC} hoping
that I might have simply made a syntax error, but that did not succeed
either. The software simply ignores all {TC} fields regardless of the style
they are in.

My use is in writing a family history. The index is a name index. The TC
information is a data base for each family member (name, dates of birth and
death, father's and spouse's names). Under Word 5.1a, I was able to use its
table of contents feature (.c.info and quickly had a nice file I could
import into Excel. A few minutes later, Excel had it all nicely sorted for
me. This "new-improved" version seems incredibly complicated and simply
fails to work. Your format description looks exactly like what is shown in
the Word Help file, and I did exactly what it and you described. For some
reason this software completely ignores {TC} fields. Have you ever run into
this sort of problem?

My next problem will be maintaining the structure of the information in my
{TC} field if I can ever get it to be recognized. The items mentioned above
are tab-spaced, and they MUST remain that way in the table of contents. That
was no problem in Word 5.1a which only has one problem. It will not run
properly past Mac OS9.0.4. If it worked, I'd not even be writing this
letter. I'd like to use Mac OS 10.2 and a faster newer machine, but I can't
until I get this TOC problem resolved.

I will take a look at your links, but I think I did so last night.

MacTom

 

[Tom Cornell]

This evening, I purchased a copy of Office v.X which will run native under mac
OS X. Word behaves exactly like before. I get a consistent "Error" No table of
contents entries found."

This is spite of multiple entries like the following:

{ TC "John_6A_1760_1827_John (Sr.)_5_May Jones_"\l 9}

The quoted info is name, ID code, dates of birth and death, father's name, his
ID, spouse's name. The underscores each define a tab mark (an arrow with Show
Page turned on). After the second quote, that is a lower-case L and the number
9 with the object of using style TOC 9. There are, in fact, multiples lines
like the above, one following the other and one line for each family member.
There is one space preceding TC and two following it. This is formatted exactly
like the {XE} entries, all of which work fine. In fact, I copied one of those
{XE} lines and converted it to TC with the same result. Both {XE} and {TC}
lines are in hidden text. Indexing works fine.

To attempt to compile a table of contents, I am using Insert Menu > Index and
Tables > Table of Contents Tab. From there, I am selecting Options and defining
"Database" as the input style. That is the style used for all the lines like
the sample above.

Essentially, I am getting nowhere. Am I doing something obviously wrong? I
have consulted Word Help to no avail and also bought a book about Office X.
I've followed the instructions in your web page, the Help file and this book,
and the result is a consistent Nothing!

Just once today while experimenting, I was able to read one line like the
above. I was doing nothing really different and have been unable to repeat that
abberation. I am getting desperate!

MacTom

 

[J.E. McGimpsey]

This evening, I purchased a copy of Office v.X which will run native under
mac
OS X. Word behaves exactly like before. I get a consistent "Error" No table
of
contents entries found."

This is spite of multiple entries like the following:

{ TC "John_6A_1760_1827_John (Sr.)_5_May Jones_"\l 9}

Are you entering these as text or as fields (Insert/Field,
Category:Index and Tables, Field Name: TC) ?? If you're entering
them as text, you've found your problem - Word won't recognize them
as fields to be included.

Check the {}s - field brackets will have dotted rectangles around
them and will not be individually editable.

The quoted info is name, ID code, dates of birth and death, father's name,
his
ID, spouse's name. The underscores each define a tab mark (an arrow with
Show
Page turned on). After the second quote, that is a lower-case L and the
number
9 with the object of using style TOC 9. There are, in fact, multiples lines
like the above, one following the other and one line for each family member.
There is one space preceding TC and two following it. This is formatted
exactly
like the {XE} entries, all of which work fine. In fact, I copied one of
those
{XE} lines and converted it to TC with the same result. Both {XE} and {TC}
lines are in hidden text. Indexing works fine.

To attempt to compile a table of contents, I am using Insert Menu > Index and
Tables > Table of Contents Tab. From there, I am selecting Options and
defining
"Database" as the input style. That is the style used for all the lines like
the sample above.

Assuming that you have TC fields, try choosing Insert/Index and
Tables/Table of Contents. Click Options and check the Table entry
fields checkbox, as well as any styles you want to include.

If you're using the Database style, only text that is not hidden
will be included in the TOC. Text within a TC field is automatically
hidden, but will be included in the TOC if the Table entry fields
checkbox is checked.

Make sure also that you've entered a TOC level for the Database style

 

[Tom Cornell]

The problem seems to be any editting I do of those {TC} fields, specifically
changing the style. I have both a Database and DataBase style in the orginal Word
5 version and tried to get rid of one of them. When I do that, Word X no longer
recognizes those I've changed as valid. If I leave them alone, they are
recognized.

Am still having problems with the styles. The DataBase style which is the one
that converts and works has tab stops. None of the TOC styles seems to accept
them. If after compiling the TOC, I change the TOC style I used (TOC 9) to add
suitable tab stops, they do not work. I have not yet tried modifying the style
before I compile the TOC. That's my next experiment. Am, however, having trouble
editting a style and having it stay that way. TOC9 seems a good candidate to
modify since I am very unlikley to want a 9-level TOC.

Sure do appreciate your help!

MacTom

 

[Tom Cornell]

My experiment at setting the style before I compiled a TOC was a failure. The TOC
styles seem unable to handle more than one tab mark. So, I'm having to use my
work-around method. I will keep the file in Excel and hope I can synchronize it with
what I leave in Word (the personal ID codes) as a key.

Bottom line: The new version of Word is less capable than Word 5.1a, or I simply
cannot find any information that allows me to get the new one to do my bidding.

The net result is many, many hours of work to modify my file to delete information
Word v.X cannot handle properly. This same problem was also evident in Word 2001.