TOC for long outlines

[Mike E]

I have a 61 page outline that I am trying to make a table of contents for. I do /insert/index and tables/ , then check 'Show pave numbers' and 'Right align...', format 'From Template' and show levels = 3. When I hit OK, it assembles only about half of the table of contents. Can anyone help me figure out why?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Make sure that you have applied heading styles or outline levels to the
entire outline.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

I have a 61 page outline that I am trying to make a table of contents for.

I do /insert/index and tables/ , then check 'Show pave numbers' and 'Right
align...', format 'From Template' and show levels = 3. When I hit OK, it
assembles only about half of the table of contents. Can anyone help me
figure out why?

 

[Mike E]

Susan

Thanks for your reply. A question, though; if the entire document is in outline form using a customized outline numbering and spacing scheme, is the outline levels requirement satisfied

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Mike

Outline (multi-level) numbering and outline levels are two different beasts.
The outline level is set automatically for Heading styles and can't be
changed for those styles, but you can change it for any others. If you are
building a TOC using levels and not using the built-in heading styles, then
you will need to do this in the Paragraph dialog for the paragraphs or the
style.

Alternatively, you could build your TOC from your styles, by assigning your
custom styles directly to TOC levels in the Table of Contents Options
dialog.

Setting outline levels on custom styles can also be useful for working in
outline view (though you can't automatically promote and demote) and for
taming the document map (though it will bite back).

--
Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP
Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word

Susan,

Thanks for your reply. A question, though; if the entire document is in

outline form using a customized outline numbering and spacing scheme, is the
outline levels requirement satisfied?

 

[Mike E]

I'm getting closer, by my TOC isn't assembling correctly yet. When it assembles, it numbers each TOC entry according to level and position, ie. I I text for level I, and then proceeds to renumber my outline from the last TOC entry. I can't figure out how to prevent it from numbering my TOC entries and how to prevent it from continuing that numbering into the outline itself. Can you help?

Also, is there a good source of reading on TOC, TOA, and Index generation?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Word's Help under "Create a table of contents" and "Create an index" is
quite good. Also see:

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

How can I automatically generate an index in Word?
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/CreateIndex.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

I'm getting closer, by my TOC isn't assembling correctly yet. When it

assembles, it numbers each TOC entry according to level and position, ie. I
I text for level I, and then proceeds to renumber my outline from the last
TOC entry. I can't figure out how to prevent it from numbering my TOC
entries and how to prevent it from continuing that numbering into the
outline itself. Can you help?

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?TWlrZSBF?=,

I'm getting closer, by my TOC isn't assembling correctly yet. When it

assembles, it numbers each TOC entry according to level and position, ie. I
I text for level I, and then proceeds to renumber my outline from the last
TOC entry. I can't figure out how to prevent it from numbering my TOC
entries and how to prevent it from continuing that numbering into the
outline itself.Did you, by any chance, use the styles TOC1, TOC2, etc. to create your
Outline? What you describe sounds like that could be the case. You should
use styles such as Heading 1, Heading 2, etc. in the text. The TOC styles
Word uses when generating a TOC and shouldn't be applied to other text.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep 30 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Mike E]

Hi Cindy,

I did try the TOCx assignments; it seemed like a natural category to assign the levels when trying to assemble a table of contents. Also, those assignments got me closer to a useful table of contents than the heading assignments. With the heading assignments, Word reformatted my outline in font, level, spacing, and evidently in ways I still haven't figured out. I can't get my outline to act like an outline anymore. The autonumbering mostly doesn't anymore, and the promotion and demotion functions change the font, spacing, and sometimes the level of everything on the level I am changing to. In addition, when I use the heading assignments, I cannot get the toc generator to recognize the top level of my outline.

I have done about a dozen large outlines (20 to 60 pages in length) and this problem is pervasive and frustrating. In addition, my inability to use the reading materials to solve it is at least equally as frustrating. I must be fundamentally misusing Word, but I can't figure out how. Any chance you can help?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can format the built-in headings to look just like Normal or Body Text
(see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html), but you must
apply numbering following the rules in
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html. Also be
sure to read
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Hi Cindy,

I did try the TOCx assignments; it seemed like a natural category to

assign the levels when trying to assemble a table of contents. Also, those
assignments got me closer to a useful table of contents than the heading
assignments. With the heading assignments, Word reformatted my outline in
font, level, spacing, and evidently in ways I still haven't figured out. I
can't get my outline to act like an outline anymore. The autonumbering
mostly doesn't anymore, and the promotion and demotion functions change the
font, spacing, and sometimes the level of everything on the level I am
changing to. In addition, when I use the heading assignments, I cannot get
the toc generator to recognize the top level of my outline.

I have done about a dozen large outlines (20 to 60 pages in length) and

this problem is pervasive and frustrating. In addition, my inability to use
the reading materials to solve it is at least equally as frustrating. I
must be fundamentally misusing Word, but I can't figure out how. Any chance
you can help?

 

[Bruce Brown]

Hi gang

Margaret, you said, "If you are building a TOC using [outline] levels
and not using the built-in heading styles, then you will need to do
this [assign the outline level] in the Paragraph dialog for the
paragraphs or the style."

I discovered by accident that the t\ switch eliminates the need for
assigning *any* outline level. Let's say you're using three
unnumbered styles, for example, that you want to be captured in the
TOC. When you specify:

{ TOC \t "Message Header,1,Plain Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3" }

the TOC picks up only those three styles and assigns them to the TOC
level you specify, regardless of whether or not they have any outline
level other than "Body Text." If you were then to add the Heading 1
style at level 4 . . .

{ TOC \t "Message Header,1,Plain Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3,Heading
1,4" }

.. . . the t\ switch overrides Heading 1's default level 1 assignment
and bumps it up to level 4, exactly as you request.

I did not fully understand Mike's problem, but would suggest that he
try the t\ switch as shown above, taking care that there should be no
spaces except when they occur within the style itself.

If he is in Word 2000 or up and wants to build hyperlinks, then it
would be:

{ TOC \h \t "Message Header,1,Plain Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3,Heading
1,4" }

And if he wants to add any TC fields he may have created, then it
would be:

{ TOC \h \f \t "Message Header,1,Plain
Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3,Heading 1,4" }

No absolute guarantees it'll work, but I'm finding more and more that
the t\ switch has real magic over TOCs.

- Bruce

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The \t switch accomplishes the same thing you can do through the UI by
typing a number next to a given style.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Hi gang

Margaret, you said, "If you are building a TOC using [outline] levels
and not using the built-in heading styles, then you will need to do
this [assign the outline level] in the Paragraph dialog for the
paragraphs or the style."

I discovered by accident that the t\ switch eliminates the need for
assigning *any* outline level. Let's say you're using three
unnumbered styles, for example, that you want to be captured in the
TOC. When you specify:

{ TOC \t "Message Header,1,Plain Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3" }

the TOC picks up only those three styles and assigns them to the TOC
level you specify, regardless of whether or not they have any outline
level other than "Body Text." If you were then to add the Heading 1
style at level 4 . . .

{ TOC \t "Message Header,1,Plain Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3,Heading
1,4" }

. . . the t\ switch overrides Heading 1's default level 1 assignment
and bumps it up to level 4, exactly as you request.

I did not fully understand Mike's problem, but would suggest that he
try the t\ switch as shown above, taking care that there should be no
spaces except when they occur within the style itself.

If he is in Word 2000 or up and wants to build hyperlinks, then it
would be:

{ TOC \h \t "Message Header,1,Plain Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3,Heading
1,4" }

And if he wants to add any TC fields he may have created, then it
would be:

{ TOC \h \f \t "Message Header,1,Plain
Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3,Heading 1,4" }

No absolute guarantees it'll work, but I'm finding more and more that
the t\ switch has real magic over TOCs.

- Bruce


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <[email protected]> wrote in message

You can format the built-in headings to look just like Normal or Body Text
(see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html), but you must
apply numbering following the rules in
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html. Also be
sure to read
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.


assign the levels when trying to assemble a table of contents. Also, those
assignments got me closer to a useful table of contents than the heading
assignments. With the heading assignments, Word reformatted my outline in
font, level, spacing, and evidently in ways I still haven't figured out. I
can't get my outline to act like an outline anymore. The autonumbering
mostly doesn't anymore, and the promotion and demotion functions change the
font, spacing, and sometimes the level of everything on the level I am
changing to. In addition, when I use the heading assignments, I cannot get
the toc generator to recognize the top level of my outline. and
this problem is pervasive and frustrating. In addition, my inability to use
the reading materials to solve it is at least equally as frustrating. I
must be fundamentally misusing Word, but I can't figure out how. Any chance
you can help?

 

[Bruce Brown]

Hi again

Having re-read this thread more carefully, it appears as if Mike's
problem is not with the TOC but rather with the outline numbering.

Mike, the bad news is what Cindy suggests, that you're probably better
off replacing your present outline-numbered styles with the built-in
Heading styles.

The good news is that you may be able to do so with a Find/Replace on
your present styles, replacing them with the built-in Heading styles.

But first, before finding/replacing, it would probably be best to make
sure the Heading styles are set up and linked to a list template
according to Shauna Kelly's very clear instructions.

Suzanne gave you three great resources, including her own TOC article.

Maybe you can troubleshoot your own outline-numbered styles and then
make them work with the TOC. But if all else fails, a Find/Replace
will not -- provided that you scrupulously follow Shauna's directions.
- Bruce

 

[Margaret Aldis]

Hi Bruce

In the paragraph you quote, I was trying to cover the base of creating a TOC
from outline levels, because I thought that using levels and not styles
might lie at the heart of the OT's problem. All things being equal, I prefer
the concept of using styles, and as Suzanne says it's easy to pick the ones
you want from the dialog, but what I was trying to point out is that if you
'didn't start from there' and were driving the TOC on outline levels (\o
switch, in the field code) then you would also need to set the levels in any
custom styles or unstyled paragraphs for inclusion.

FWIW, I do usually set the outline level for any custom styles I create (so
they show up correctly in outline view, and as an aide memoire to the
document structure I'm aiming at), and that does usually mean there's little
work left to do on selecting styles for the TOC.

Using ad-hoc outline levels on paragraphs regardless of style can be a
useful alternative to TC fields if you come to creating a TOC late in the
day on an 'illogically' styled document, too

--
Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP
Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word

Hi gang

Margaret, you said, "If you are building a TOC using [outline] levels
and not using the built-in heading styles, then you will need to do
this [assign the outline level] in the Paragraph dialog for the
paragraphs or the style."

I discovered by accident that the t\ switch eliminates the need for
assigning *any* outline level. Let's say you're using three
unnumbered styles, for example, that you want to be captured in the
TOC. When you specify:

{ TOC \t "Message Header,1,Plain Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3" }

the TOC picks up only those three styles and assigns them to the TOC
level you specify, regardless of whether or not they have any outline
level other than "Body Text." If you were then to add the Heading 1
style at level 4 . . .

{ TOC \t "Message Header,1,Plain Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3,Heading
1,4" }

. . . the t\ switch overrides Heading 1's default level 1 assignment
and bumps it up to level 4, exactly as you request.

I did not fully understand Mike's problem, but would suggest that he
try the t\ switch as shown above, taking care that there should be no
spaces except when they occur within the style itself.

If he is in Word 2000 or up and wants to build hyperlinks, then it
would be:

{ TOC \h \t "Message Header,1,Plain Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3,Heading
1,4" }

And if he wants to add any TC fields he may have created, then it
would be:

{ TOC \h \f \t "Message Header,1,Plain
Text,2,MyHomeMadeStyle,3,Heading 1,4" }

No absolute guarantees it'll work, but I'm finding more and more that
the t\ switch has real magic over TOCs.

- Bruce


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <[email protected]> wrote in message

You can format the built-in headings to look just like Normal or Body Text
(see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html), but you must
apply numbering following the rules in
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/OutlineNumbering.html. Also be
sure to read
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numbering/UseBuiltInHeadingStyles.html

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.


assign the levels when trying to assemble a table of contents. Also, those
assignments got me closer to a useful table of contents than the heading
assignments. With the heading assignments, Word reformatted my outline in
font, level, spacing, and evidently in ways I still haven't figured out. I
can't get my outline to act like an outline anymore. The autonumbering
mostly doesn't anymore, and the promotion and demotion functions change the
font, spacing, and sometimes the level of everything on the level I am
changing to. In addition, when I use the heading assignments, I cannot get
the toc generator to recognize the top level of my outline. and
this problem is pervasive and frustrating. In addition, my inability to use
the reading materials to solve it is at least equally as frustrating. I
must be fundamentally misusing Word, but I can't figure out how. Any chance
you can help?

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Bruce,

I do wish we knew which version of Word we're dealing with
Personally, I like the Word 2002/2003 Styles and Formatting taskpane for
this, where I can just have Word select all text with a particular
formatting, then apply the style I want to use as a replacement. For me,
it's a bit faster than Find/Replace, and I can get a better overview of
what's going to be changed.

Mike, the bad news is what Cindy suggests, that you're probably better
off replacing your present outline-numbered styles with the built-in
Heading styles.

The good news is that you may be able to do so with a Find/Replace on
your present styles, replacing them with the built-in Heading styles.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Sep 30 2003)
http://www.mvps.org/word

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question
or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Klaus Linke]

Hi Cindy,

I do wish we knew which version of Word we're dealing with
Personally, I like the Word 2002/2003 Styles and Formatting
taskpane for this, where I can just have Word select all text with
a particular formatting, then apply the style I want to use as a
replacement. For me, it's a bit faster than Find/Replace, and I
can get a better overview of what's going to be changed.

After a bit of editing, selecting all text with a certain formatting from
the Styles and Formatting taskpane often takes several minutes for me.
Word2002 showed something like "Your document is being analyzed" in the
status bar, Word2003 shows just the hourglass.

Since it's hard to predict when that will happen, and because you can't stop
the process with the Escape key, I stopped using it after waiting up to 5
minutes again and again.
It may be something that's only noticeable when you work with long documents
(say 100+ pages), and have done a lot of "Find/Replace".

"Find" (highlighting all occurrences) takes only a few seconds on just the
same document, and if I save, close, and re-open the document (which takes
only a few seconds, too), the selection from the task pane is nearly
instantaneous again, too.

Regards,
Klaus

 

[Mike E]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for the suggestions, and Thanks to Suzanne, Margaret, and Cindy for their suggestions and articles. I was able to make the table of contents finally. One question lingers, though; the outling no longer autonumbers now that I have set all the levels to a heading style. Any ideas on what I did to make the autonumbering cease?

 

[Bruce Brown]

Mike

When you say "now that I have set all the levels to a heading style,"
does that mean you're trying to do *all* your levels with *one*
heading style?

That ain't gonna work. You need a *different* style for each level!

And each different style you use must be linked to the *same list
template*!

Example:

I. Vehicles <---Heading 1
1.1 Trucks <---Heading 2
1.2 Motorcycles
(a) Always wear a helmet. <---Heading 3

The secrets are all contained in Shauna's OutlineNumbering article.
Would suggest that you go back and read that again, then follow her
instructions to the nth degree. You need not sacrifice automatic
numbering to do a Table of Contents! - Bruce

 

[Mike E]

Bruce,

Sorry for the unclear communication. I have nine heading styles, each at a different outline level, font, and numbering scheme so that I can produce a nine level outline, every level has one defined set of characteristics, and the table of contents assemble without any of the problems I had before. I am currently working on a Win2K platform running Word 2002, because, as described by Cindy, it handles these issues more easily than the Word 2000 application I was using.

The only problem I've uncovered with using heading styles for generating an outline is with autonumbering. If I have an existing outline, say five levels, and I make a change on one of the heading 3 entries and hit enter, instead of dropping down a line and starting a new heading 3 entry, Word drops down to a blank line, no style. I have to tell Word to outline number the line and then tell it what level to use. Before changing to heading styles, Word just dropped down a line, created the same level and incremented the number (or letter).

I must have turned off the autonumber function somehow when I changed to heading styles, and I don't know how to turn it back on. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[Bruce Brown]

Mike,

I stole this from Suzanne Barnhill on the numbering thread, who's the
expert on using tabs to promote/demote outlines:

"Everyone who has asked that question has received the same answer. It
helps
if you provide the Word version you're using, but here's the answer:

"1. Word 2000 and earlier: On the Edit tab of Tools | Options, check
the box
for "Tabs and backspace set left indent."

"2. Word 2002: On the AutoFormat As You Type tab of Tools |
AutoCorrect
Options, check the box for "Set left- and first-indent with tabs and
backspaces."

By the way, did you ever answer Cindy's question about which version
of Word you're using? It'd be helpful on future posts.

- Bruce

Bruce,

Sorry for the unclear communication. I have nine heading styles,

each at a different outline level, font, and numbering scheme so that
I can produce a nine level outline, every level has one defined set of
characteristics, and the table of contents assemble without any of the
problems I had before. I am currently working on a Win2K platform
running Word 2002, because, as described by Cindy, it handles these
issues more easily than the Word 2000 application I was using.

The only problem I've uncovered with using heading styles for

generating an outline is with autonumbering. If I have an existing
outline, say five levels, and I make a change on one of the heading 3
entries and hit enter, instead of dropping down a line and starting a
new heading 3 entry, Word drops down to a blank line, no style. I
have to tell Word to outline number the line and then tell it what
level to use. Before changing to heading styles, Word just dropped
down a line, created the same level and incremented the number (or
letter).

 

[Mike E]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for your suggestions, I investigated the AutoFormat As You Type tab of Tools/AutoCorrect
Options, and the box for "Set left- and first-indent with tabs andbackspaces" was already checked. Two boxes that were not checked were "Built in Heading styles" and "Define styles based on your formatting". Do these settings make a difference?

To answer your first question, Cindy's criticism on the lack of pertinent information was well taken, and I responded several times with my operating system and Word version. The first time the server tossed my posting even though it promised me it would post it in five minutes, and the most recent time was the posting you just replied to.

I am currently working on a Win2K platform running Word 2002, because, as described by Cindy, it handles these issues more easily than the Word 2000 application I was using.

Thanks for your help with this, I am now producing tables of contents, and just need to iron out a few wrinkles using this system of styles.