Hello,

I am formatting my thesis in APA 7 - this is a standard used for psychology. I am currently going spare as I have taken the sections of the thesis and added them into once doc and now need to make a TOC.

Row heights are all set at double space for APA. I have three headings levels (1,2,3) and whenever I apply one it adjusts the row space before it. I had thought it was because I was using hard returns and therefore adjusted them to soft returns. This fixes the formatting of the rows, but the TOC does not pick up the headings.

It only happens with level 2 and not all level 2 - so it's no doubt something dumb that I have done. Is there a way to brute force those rows?

I have attached examples of where it isnt working (image one) and where it is (image 2). All help gratefully appreciated.


Bad Spacing - Image 1

Consider attaching a document rather than a screenshot. It need not be the entire document, just enough to demonstrate the problem.


Paragraph formatting - try modifying the problem style.
Note space before as well as space after settings as well as the double-space setting.

References:

• Basic Concepts of Microsoft Word - from Shauna Kelly
• Basic Formatting in Microsoft Word
• Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word
• Why Use Word's Built-In Heading Styles? by Shauna Kelly

I would bet that each Heading Style has some amount of Spacing Before.
Right Click each style, Modify and drill down through Formatting to PAragraph and find the Spacing settings.

Did you start by using the APA Template available on-line?

Thank you, I will have a look at the setting for the heading - I have already fiddled with this, but if I can drill down further to adjust the before spacing then this will help.

Thank you, I have tried the APA template before, but it has some irritating quirks. I have not had any issues before with the APA as I haven't had to include a TOC. Thank you for the suggestion.

For a TOC, look into the TOC styles.
TOC Tips and Tricks by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP