Table of Contents Swallows Section Break

[Guest]

Here's my template/document setup:
Cover page
<section break, odd page>
Table of Contents (it is a long document and the TOC covers several
pages)
<section break, odd page>
First body page, starting with Heading1. Heading1 includes "page break
before"

This works fine until I replace the TOC (Insert/Reference/Index and
Tables/Table of Contents) to reflect revisions. The replacement removes the
following section break and any other breaks on that page. Workarounds I have
tried:
1.) Manually insert several paragraph breaks between TOC and section
break before performing replacement. But all of these lines are removed. Same
if adding extra non-paragraph line breaks, column breaks, etc.
2.) Manually define TOC, being careful not to define extra paragraph
breaks or section break. On manual delete, all of these lines are removed.
3.) Also, after replacement, sometimes the “page break before†setting
for Heading1 is ignored and Heading1 appears immediately following the TOC on
the same page.

Manually adding the page break after each replacement causes repagination,
so then the page numbers in the TOC are wrong.

Environment: Windows XP Pro w/ SP2, Office/Word 2003 w/ SP1

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi TechWriterJim

Do Alt-F9 so you can see the field codes rather than the field results. And,
click the ¶ button on the toolbar so you can see empty paragraphs and the
section breaks.

Now, make sure your document looks something like this:

{ TOC whatever switches here }¶
¶
¶=====Section break here=====
1. Chapter 1 heading ¶

Note that if the end of your TOC just fits on a page, that empty paragraph
mark might turn up on a page of its own. To reduce the possibility of that,
format it as 1pt like this:

{ TOC whatever switches here }¶
¶**format this paragraph mark as 1pt**
¶=====Section break here=====
1. Chapter 1 heading ¶


Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[Guest]

I've got the same problem with almost identical format.

I've tried multiple paragraph marks, various break types, etc., but whenever
I update the TOC, the break is swallowed up.

What is funny is that if I use Alt-F9 in Normal View, the TOC code takes on
the Header 1 format of the following line but without the number and the
paragraph marks and section break disappear!

The other headers on that page have the proper numbers (2 ...) but my
Introduction just has the {TOC \h\l\o \* MERGEFORMAT } tag in front of it,
all in 18 Tahoma (as the other Heading 1 text).

Surely many others have this same problem? My document is nothing special
and this has been happening with others here.

Why is this and what can I do about this?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Well, after a bit more fiddling and realizing that Alt-F9 allows me to put
the breaks where they should be I think I have it fixed. I think there is a
bug in the section insertion when in Print View that puts it in the wrong
place even though it looks correct at first. The TOC and following Heading 1
text are displayed together when the TOC is refreshed.

Anyway, use View Normal and Alt-F9. Move the {TOC...} junk up a bit using
extra paragraph marks to separate it from the following Heading 1 text. I
had to select the {TOC} tag and Remove Formatting and do this for some of the
paragraph marks too.

Then I had to reapply the formatting to what should have been Heading 1 text
and add back the page break. Maybe that should have been a section break;
I'll try that now.

Thanks to Shauna for the clue of using Alt-F9. I really do think there is
a bug in either the placement of the section/page break and/or in the TOC
update code that swallows the paragraph marks and breaks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

And if all you need is a page break, don't use a manual page break
(Ctrl+Enter); instead, format the heading itself as "Page break before"
(Format | Paragraph | Line and Page Breaks).

--
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.

 

[Guest]

It seems to me that the original question was never answered. I too am
experiencing the original problem - updating the TOC causes the section break
at the end of the table of contents to be deleted. Actually, ANYTHING added
to the last page of the table of contents is deleted when the TOC is updated
(I use Ctrl+A then F9 to go ahead and update all crossreferences in the
document at the same time). I am using XP with Office 2003.

At a previous job I used Windows XP and Office 2003 and did not have this
problem. I use Heading 1 to begin the page after the TOC and that style is
set to have a page break before, however, I also need a section break so that
I can page number the TOC with Roman numerals and restart page numbering
(1,2,3...) in section 2 which is the first chapter of the manual.

I would guess this is a bug, maybe related to a setting in Options, but I
sure can't figure it out. I've been doing this for 2 years with XP and Office
2003, written probably 20+ different operator's manuals and have not had this
problem until the new installation on a new computer.

And if all you need is a page break, don't use a manual page break
(Ctrl+Enter); instead, format the heading itself as "Page break before"
(Format | Paragraph | Line and Page Breaks).

--
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.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I believe the question *was* answered. You *must* have a paragraph break
after the TOC before any page or section break to keep it from being
absorbed into the TOC field. This is easier to see if you view field codes.

--
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.

It seems to me that the original question was never answered. I too am
experiencing the original problem - updating the TOC causes the section break
at the end of the table of contents to be deleted. Actually, ANYTHING added
to the last page of the table of contents is deleted when the TOC is updated
(I use Ctrl+A then F9 to go ahead and update all crossreferences in the
document at the same time). I am using XP with Office 2003.

At a previous job I used Windows XP and Office 2003 and did not have this
problem. I use Heading 1 to begin the page after the TOC and that style is
set to have a page break before, however, I also need a section break so that
I can page number the TOC with Roman numerals and restart page numbering
(1,2,3...) in section 2 which is the first chapter of the manual.

I would guess this is a bug, maybe related to a setting in Options, but I
sure can't figure it out. I've been doing this for 2 years with XP and Office
2003, written probably 20+ different operator's manuals and have not had this
problem until the new installation on a new computer.

 

[Guest]

Actually, I had tried Shauna's suggestion; tried 1, 2, 3, 15, etc. paragraph
breaks followed by a section break. It doesn't matter whether it's 1 or more
returns, whether there is text typed in some lines, etc. Everything that
exists on the last page of the TOC that is not part of the automatic TOC is
deleted during an update. It's too bad there not a selection for 'section
break before' in the paragraph settings because that does seem to work. I
have been experimenting and the only thing that seemed to hold was multiple
section breaks, so now, in order to have a section break after my TOC, I have
to have 2 blank pages (front and back) between the TOC and the first chapter.
Again, I have not had a problem with this aspect of formatting before - it
would be interesting to find out what is causing it to be a problem.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I have *never* encountered this type of problem unless the paragraphs were
inside the TOC field.

--
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.

 

[Guest]

Bless you! That solved the problem.

I see now that when the TOC is inserted immediately before a Heading 1 (or
any style that has the "page break before" selected) the only way to do any
formatting out of the TOC field is to have the typing cursor immediately in
front of the Heading 1 text (in this case). I was inserting the section break
at the end of the TOC (after creating paragraph breaks that were just
extending the TOC field, not getting outside of it) instead of at the
beginning of the next section.

Thanks so much!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Yes, I'm sorry if I was not totally clear on this; it is much easier to see
if you Alt+F9 to toggle the TOC field; then you can see that all your
paragraph marks are inside the field.

--
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.