update table of contents in word for mac

#Update table of contents in word for mac how to#
#Update table of contents in word for mac update#
#Update table of contents in word for mac free#

The built-in formatting for the Heading styles probably doesn’t match how you originally formatted your headings. So you do have flexibility in how many Heading levels to include in the TOC but if you’re in a hurry today and you simply want one or two headings, then just focus on getting those styled properly in your document. Note: this business plan example actually has Headings 3 and 4 applied but I chose not to include them in the TOC. If I had a third level, I would have styled them within the document as Heading 3. The rest of the headings are styled as Heading 2 (aka H2).

For example, in this screen shot of a business plan TOC, the “Executive Summary”, “Company Description” and “Product or Service” are styled as Heading 1 (aka H1). If you need subheadings included in the TOC, then you’ll need to apply Heading 2s and Heading 3s as necessary.

Apply Heading 1 styles to the headings within your document.

#Update table of contents in word for mac free#

If it’s taking you more than that, feel free to connect with me for help. For those of you with an existing document that you’ve worked countless hours on already, then it probably should take you about an hour or less to go back and apply the Heading styles to your document before generating your TOC. I would recommend you style the entire document rather than just the headings, but if you’re in a hurry and need the TOC generated, these three steps will do the trick. Keep in mind that this is the shortcut method. You can view the tutorials listed below to get more detailed instruction. I personally would be bald.īecause the TOC gets generated from the Heading styles in your document, I suspect that the reason it isn’t working is that the headings you want to pull into your TOC aren’t formatted using Word’s built-in Heading styles.

#Update table of contents in word for mac update#

It’s best to update everything, just to be sure.If it takes you more than a minute to generate a table of contents (TOC) for even the largest, most complex documents, then you have every right to be pulling out your hair by now. Then you can choose whether to update all information or just the page numbers. You can do this by right-clicking on the table of contents and selecting Update Field. If you continue working on your text after this, be sure to go back and update your table of contents at the end, as headings and page numbers might change. Now you have a table of contents based on your current headings and page numbers. Then place your cursor two lines below this and go to the References tab.Ĭlick on Table of Contents and select Custom Table of Contents… In the popup window, select how many levels of heading you wish to include (at least two) under Show levels, then click OK: First write the title “Contents” (in the style of a level 1 heading). Now you can generate your table of contents. Make sure all headings are in the appropriate style before proceeding.

Once you’ve done this you can update any other headings quickly using the heading styles.

Right-click the Heading 1 style and select Update Heading 1 to match selection.

Next, update the heading styles listed in the Home tab at the top: Applying heading stylesįirst, go through your text making sure that each level of heading is in keeping with APA Style rules. After that, you can generate the table of contents. To automatically generate a table of contents in Word, you’ll first have to apply heading styles throughout your text.

#Update table of contents in word for mac how to#

How to generate a table of contents in Word If you have a lot of headings in your text, you may not be able to include them all-your table of contents should not be more than two pages long in total. Including lower-level headings in the table of contents is optional. In the table of contents, you should include all level 1 and 2 headings, left-aligned and formatted as plain text. In APA Style, you can use up to five levels of heading, each with its own formatting style. At the top of the page, write Contents, centered and in bold. It should be written in the same font and size as the rest of your text (usually 12 pt Times New Roman). In a thesis or dissertation, the table of contents comes between your abstract and your introduction.

How to generate a table of contents in WordĪPA format guidelines for the table of contents.

APA format guidelines for the table of contents.