I have manually made my Table of Contents and I am trying to get the page numbers to align on the right side. I have tried to use the margin ruler to do that and also the justify text option but this is not working. Is there a way I can fix this?

I just found out that there is an option to make table of contents using Word but I had already manually typed it out and I don't want to redo it if I can get the page numbers to align.

You don't need justified text for this - what you need is right-aligned tab-stops, preferably with your paragraph's right indent set to the left of your right-aligned tab-stop. That way, TOC entries that span more than one line won't intrude into the page-number space.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Another approach I've taken in the past to creating TOCs the manual way, is to insert a 2-3 column table.

The 1st column would be the heading of the section (e.g. Chapter 1).

If using 3 columns, the 2nd one would be a line of periods (e.g. ....................).

The 3rd would be the page number.

You can adjust the widths of the columns easily enough just by dragging the column borders left or right. Just choose not to show any gridlines on the table and when you print the doc, no one will be able to tell you used a table.

jjmclell

I indented everything to the right side and tried using the left tabs and right tabs but it didn't do anything.

This probably would not work for me since I have multiple levels of headings in the ToC.

The tab stops will allow you to move your page numbers over by pressing 'Tab'. They don't affect indents. If you want your page numbers aligned on the left, use left stops, on the right, use right stops...then tab them over.

jjmclell

I want the page numbers to be aligned on the right side and I am using the right stops (inverted L signs that I have place on the ruler part). When I move the right stops using the cursor, nothing happens to the text on the page and the page number do not become aligned.

In my ToC, I have 3 levels of headings so I using indents on those and I have typed in ........................ between the headings and the page numbers.

Can you attach a copy of your document to a post with the headings & TOC (delete anything sensitive)? You do this via the paperclip symbol on the 'Go Advanced' tab. I'll then be able to give more specific advice.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I've attached a picture that might help. I did up a simple TOC with 3 levels, using only tab stops (which I've circled in red).

2nd level items in the TOC are aligned to the first tab stop by pressing 'Tab' once; 3rd level items are aligned to the second tab stop by pressing 'Tab' twice. (these are left tab stops and are in the first red circle)

After you type the name of your section, type your page number and tab it over to the 3rd tab stop (a right tab stop). You can fill in the space in between with dots, although you may have trouble lining the dots up. I recommend turning off the auto-correct option that changes three dots to an ellipsis "..." b/c it seems to affect the spacing of the dots.

jjmclell

Attached Images

Picture1.jpg (23.2 KB, 17 views)

That's not the way to format a TOC. If the TOC text on a given line is long enough to wrap, your format will have the text intruding into the page # area. Neither should you be using tab-stops at the left, as wrapped entries will end up back at the left margin on the second line.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Fair enough...hadn't considered that. I wouldn't normally build TOCs manually...I'd just insert one. I was more just trying to demonstrate tab stops.