I'm creating a Word template for my company, and am wondering if there is any way to change the formatting of the leaders in the TOC so that they're a different font/size than the TOC text.

For example, I want the Section Title listed in the TOC to be Times 16pt, then the dotted leader to be Arial 12pt, then the page number to be Times 16pt.



I know how to manually change this, however, because this is a template for others in my office, they will need to update the entire TOC which wipes any local formatting (and gives me the giant Times 16pt leader dots). Is there a way to build this type of formatting into an actual style that won't get wiped when updating the TOC?

There is no way to do this. You could change it to a line or dash leader in the TOC styles.

To add to what Charles has said, a TOC entry should have the same formatting through-out. This is determined by the settings of the TOC styles (TOC 1 for level 1 entries, TOC 2 for level 2 entries, etc.)

Note that if there is formatting inconsistencies in your TOC, that is a sign that there is direct formatting present in the headings in the body of the document. Select headings and press Ctrl+SpaceBar to clear direct font formatting and reformat the heading styles to suit the needs of your document. Then update the TOC again.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional