How can I PREVENT headings I don't want?

[peytontodd]

I'm typing a document with what I will probably turn into actual headings eventually, but for now, I'm just typing them in boldface without designating them as headings. Word concludes they are are headings anyway, so puts them into the Document Map. However, it's not always accurate in what it concludes is a heading. For example, it placed the first line after one of the headings into the Document Map even though nothing seems to distinguish that first line from the first lines after many other headings (e.g. presence or absence of a pilcrow).

Interestingly, when I un-bold one of the headings, it remains in the Document Map.

-> On this occasion, only one non-heading was promoted by Word in this way, but on other occasions Word's decisions in this regard, and their seemingly random nature, have been a lot worse.

[Charles Kenyon]

Turn off the AutoFormat As You Type Options.

Office Button > Word Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options (button)

AutoFormat As You Type (tab)

I would recommend unchecking at least all of the center group (Apply As You Type). These generally cause more problems than they help.

[peytontodd]

Thanks! That seems to work fine, since new things I type in bold on the left edge of the page no longer get turned into items in the document map. But is there a simple way I can remove those that got put into the the document map earlier, short of re-typing them all?

[Charles Kenyon]

Yes. What the AutoFormat As You Type option does is apply Heading Styles to your text. That is a paragraph style. You may want to create a paragraph style in your document that is based on your Normal style or Body Text Style and has bold formatting.

Then user Replace (Ctrl-H) to replace the heading style with your new style. If you have no paragraphs you want in the heading style, you can simply replace it using Replace All. Otherwise you'll want to step through them using Find Next.

To get to the Styles in the Replace dialog, you'll need to use the More button. Then Format and Styles. Note that your cursor has to be in the Find box when you put in the Heading style and in the Replace box when you put in your style.

Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word

The reason this happened is that the heading styles come with an outline level as part of the style. That is what is showing up in the Navigation Pane.

You may also want to look at some of the other reasons for using these styles.
Why use Microsoft Word’s built-in heading styles?