Hi - apologies if this is a duplicate thread. My searches for "index color" didn't turn up anything of interest. I have a document with an index and TOC. I want to color code the TOC OR index entries to indicate audience for the entry. I've tried using customer styles for the TOC with no luck (changes color of heading in body of document but not in TOC) and can find nothing guiding me on if/how I can change the color of index entries.

Any suggestions or pointers to a source on how to do this?

Thank you

To change the colour of an entry in the Table of Contents, you'd change the relevant TOC Style. For what you're describing, that would also necessitate using different Heading Styles for each intended audience.

For Index entries, you'd colour the individual XE fields' codes, then refresh the Index.

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

Macropod - thanks for the reply.
For the TOC - I did create new heading styles for each audience (there are only 3). They were based on Heading 1 with a different color font. The font change worked in the body of the document but was not reflect in the TOC (I did remember to update the entire table).
For index - I'm not sure what "colour the individual XE fields' codes" means. I did change the font color of the XE entry in the body of the document with no luck but suspect that isn't what you mean.
Thanks again for the reply
Bennie

You do NOT base your TOC styles on Heading 1. This is going to make a mess and might even crash Word. If you mean your heading styles, it is OK. However, what Paul was talking about was the TOC styles.


Changing the formatting of your heading styles will not change the TOC (except for numbering).

See this article for directions on setting up custom TOCs.
TOC Tips and Tricks

For basics of how TOCs work:

• How to create a table of contents in Microsoft Word by Shauna Kelly
• Generating a Table of Contents - Complex Documents

As Charles pointed out, I advised to modify the TOC Styles, not the Heading Styles.

As for the Index, the entries are managed via XE fields, which look something like:
{XE "Entry Name"}
Simply colouring the "Entry Name" font, then refreshing the Index is all you need do.

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

Thanks for the reply.... sorry for the delay in replying. I think I wasn't clear on what I'm doing. First - I am creating a NEW style, not modifying existing styles. I get your input on breaking word. Second - I was creating a style based on Heading 1 rather than the TOC styles.



Today, I created a TOC style (TOC 1 Green) in with font color green. My challenge is getting that style incorporated into the TOC. When I look at the options for a custom TOC, I don't see the new style to incorporate into the TOC. However, I DID finally get the entry name color to show up in the index. I'll keep plugging at the TOC but the index change is a great step forward.
THANK YOU

You cannot create a TOC style. There are nine built in and you must modify them. Word will not use any others unless you manually apply them each time you update your TOC.

See TOC and Direct Formatting
Note that color applied to the source headings as part of the paragraph style will NOT be reflected in a TOC. It must be direct formatting.
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/TOCTi...rectFormatting

If you are only having three levels in your TOC, assign three of the TOC styles to each target group. You can modify their appearance so that TOC 4 and TOC 7 look the same as TOC 1 except for the color, etc. Then rather than going for heading levels, use the styles. I.e., Heading 1 --> TOC 1, Heading 1 Green --> TOC 4, Heading 1 Red --> TOC 7.


This is limited to three groups of three but would be a workaround. If you have more than three and only wanted the top level in your TOC with the color, also with three levels, you could have seven groups.

Another possibility would be to have separate tables of contents for your groups (and skip the color coding). You do this with bookmarks and the bookmark switch. See TOC Tips and Tricks by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP

Charles - great idea on a TOC for each group. This is a song book and I'm color coding for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced - that would work very well. Will give that approach a shot. THANKS