More TOC questions!

[C Tate]

How can I get the leader dots in my TOC to stop about .5 inch short of the
page number?

Some of the headings which are pulled into my TOC are quite long. This has
resulted in the text actually going beyond the page number and this looks
awful.

I fiddled and fiddled with this. I set a left aligned tab with leader dots
and then a right aligned tab without leader dots but this just seemed to
succeed in pulling the page number left (away from the right margin).

I am actually constructing my toc from RD fields though I don't suppose this
has a bearing on this question!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Start by giving your TOC styles a right indent--probably at least an inch,
but enough for them to clear the page numbers and wrap attractively. You
will leave the right tab at the right margin. This alone may suffice, and
anything beyond this is much more involved. If you still want the leader
dots to stop short of the numbers (which does create a more attractive
appearance), then here's what you have to do:

1. Add an extra tab stop (with dot leader) to each TOC style. It should be
wherever you want the leader to stop.

2. Remove the leader from the page number tab stop.

3. In order to make this work, you'll need to add an extra tab character at
the end of each TOC entry. There is no really good way to do this, I'm
afraid, but here are some options:

a. When editing is complete, unlink the TOC and add the tab character to
each entry. There's no point doing this before editing is complete, because
every time you update the TOC, the extra tab will be removed.

b. Add a tab character at the end of each heading. This will be
interpreted as a space in the TOC entry unless you add the \w switch to the
TOC field. As long as all your headings are left-aligned, adding a tab will
not cause any problems in the text; if they're centered, this method won't
work satisfactorily.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[C Tate]

Can't believe I didn't try the right indent thingy to move the text away
from the page numbers.

I guess I won't be trying to get my leaders to stop short of the page
numbers then! From what you say it sounds a headache.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It is rather a headache, and I generally do it only for published books. The
right indent is far from intuitive, and I probably wouldn't have thought of
it myself if I weren't already in the habit of using it in other
applications, such as itemized invoices where line items often run over to
the next line. Also, it would not be at all obvious to a migrant from
WordPerfect, which IIRC does not permit tab stops beyond the right margin
(tabs wrap to the next line).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Bob S]

Start by giving your TOC styles a right indent--probably at least an inch,
but enough for them to clear the page numbers and wrap attractively. You
will leave the right tab at the right margin. This alone may suffice, and
anything beyond this is much more involved. If you still want the leader
dots to stop short of the numbers (which does create a more attractive
appearance), then here's what you have to do:

1. Add an extra tab stop (with dot leader) to each TOC style. It should be
wherever you want the leader to stop.

2. Remove the leader from the page number tab stop.

3. In order to make this work, you'll need to add an extra tab character at
the end of each TOC entry. There is no really good way to do this, I'm
afraid, but here are some options:

a. When editing is complete, unlink the TOC and add the tab character to
each entry. There's no point doing this before editing is complete, because
every time you update the TOC, the extra tab will be removed.

b. Add a tab character at the end of each heading. This will be
interpreted as a space in the TOC entry unless you add the \w switch to the
TOC field. As long as all your headings are left-aligned, adding a tab will
not cause any problems in the text; if they're centered, this method won't
work satisfactorily.

This would go a lot more smoothly if Microsoft added one more type of
tab stop. Call it a "leader-only tab" or a "non-stop tab stop".

The function would be that it could have a leader attached, but tab
characters would not align to it. They already have the "non-stop"
function in the bar tab stop, and they already have leaders, so it
shouldn't present insurmountable problems.

Bob S

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

An interesting suggestion. Have you submitted it to (e-mail address removed)?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Bob S]

An interesting suggestion. Have you submitted it to (e-mail address removed)?

No, I already get enough spam...

Bob S

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You will get the grand total of one and only one response (acknowledgement)
to a message sent to that address.

--
Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.

Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Bob S]

You will get the grand total of one and only one response (acknowledgement)
to a message sent to that address.

OK, I sent it. I also mentioned the other way to fix it: a TOC switch
telling it to generate two tab characters instead of one.

Bob S