Updating table of contents

[Amy]

Hi, I'm using Word 2003 to create a table of contents in a document. I have
customised how I want the TOC to appear(by changing settings in the TOC
dialogue box, not using direct formatting). However, whenever I update the
TOC by pressing F9, all my custom formatting disappears. If I start from the
beginning and insert a new TOC, everything goes back to the default settings
(in terms of how many outline levels are used, etc.). How can I get my custom
settings to stick if I update the TOC or insert a new one?

Thanks.

 

[Amy]

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for the reply. In the TOC dialogue box I click on 'options' to change
which heading styles I want to correspond to which TOC level, and click on
'modify' to change the formatting for each TOC level. The settings in the
'modify' box seem to stay how I want them, but the 'options' box reverts to
what Word thinks should be the correct TOC level for each heading style.

However, closing Word last night and re-opening my document this morning
seems to have fixed the main problem - I can now update my TOC by pressing
F9, without losing any of the formatting. When inserting a new TOC it still
goes back to the default settings as above, but this isn't so much of a
problem for me.

Amy

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The TOC dialog *always* starts from scratch, but you can duplicate a TOC
that's set up the way you prefer by copy/pasting the TOC field or saving it
as an AutoText entry. To understand how the TOC field works, you might want
to examine the field code (press Alt+F9 to view it), with reference to
Word's Help topic on the field or the article at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TOCSwitches.htm. You'll find more tips
for dealing with TOCs at http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/TOCTips.htm.

The formatting of the TOC styles is saved only in your document unless you
checked the box to save the changes to the template. As a shortcut to avoid
having to set levels in the TOC Options, you can change the outline level of
a given style; this does not, however, apply to Word's built-in Heading
styles, which have a hard-coded outline level.