Simple Table of Contents - how to?

[confuseduser]

Hello,



I have just written a technical report and this is really the first time I have put MS Word to any serious test. Apart from a few minor niggles switching between the Mac and Windows (not questioning that here) I seems like a great success.

However, my last task was to create a contents index. I set this as the last thing to do once all else was completed. I have, thus far, manually written the table which I admit is tedious and probably unnecessary but I could find no way of getting Word to do this for me, even after hours of Internet searching.

Basically, all I need is for my content listing to link to the appropriate point in the document as I would with a hyperlink. I tried the automatic feature in Word but it missed out subheadings and subparts (it is a complex report with lots of them).

The question is this, is there a way of keeping the manually typed table of contents as it is and then just make each item clickable so it hyperlinks the the correct point?

All other methods seem based on heading styles but I have no idea what this actually means.

Thanks.

[gmayor]

Word is a style based application, though many users strive to avoid using the styles, favouring manual formatting and get themselves into all kinds of avoidable trouible as a consequence. Each paragraph should have a style applied to it that defines the format of that paragraph.

The table of contents function, by default uses the names of the built-in heading styles which are uised to format your headings and sub headings (suitably re-configured to provide the appearance you require).

However you can also link other styles to the table of contents, or individually mark items to be included.

See http://www.gmayor.com/table_of_contents_addin.html for more information and a function to make life easier for those working with TOCs.

[Charles Kenyon]

First, an automatic table of contents is far better than manual one. This requires that you use styles consistently for your headings that you want in the TOC.
How to create a table of contents in Microsoft Word by Shauna Kelly
As Graham pointed out, you can have the TOC point to styles other than heading styles. This automatically has hyperlinks.

Second, yes, you can hyperlink to any place you want in a document. You set a bookmark where you want the hyperlink. Assume you want something in your TOC that is in body text so you can't be looking for the style. Select what you want to appear in the TOC and bookmark that, assigning a name. Then, in your manual TOC you use a Ref field to both reproduce what you had bookmarked and have it be a hyperlink.

IMO, you would be better off going back through your document and consistently using heading styles and then using the built-in TOC feature. In the long run, it will save you time and hair-pulling. You do not need to use the formatting that comes with the built-in heading styles. You can modify the style to look however you want.

Generating a Table of Contents - Complex Documents
Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word
Basic Concepts of Microsoft Word - from Shauna Kelly