How to create a custom table of contents in Word

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Howto
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How to create a custom table of contents in Word

Format or customize a table of contents

After you have created a table of contents in Word, you can customize the way it appears. For example, you can change the layout, change the text formatting, select how many heading levels to show, and choose whether to show dotted lines between the entries and the page numbers.For basic instructions on customizing a table of contents, see change the layout of your table of content.

Change the layout of your table of contents

  1. On the References tab of the Ribbon click Table of Contents > Custom Table of Contents.Custom Table of Contents
  2. Make your changes in the Table of Contents dialog box. You’ll see what they look like in the Print Preview and Web Preview areas.
    • To add a dot leader, or dotted line, between each entry and its page number, click the Tab leader list and then click the dotted line. You can also choose a dash leader or remove the leader entirely and just have a blank space.Change the tab leader in your table of contents to dashes or dots.
    • To change the overall appearance of your table of contents, click the Formats list, and then click the format that you want.
    • To change the number of levels displayed in your table of contents, click Show levels, and then click the number of levels you want.

    Table of Contents dialog box

  3. Click OK.

Format the text in your table of contents

To change how the text in your table of contents looks, change the style for each level in the table of contents.

  1. On the References tab of the Ribbon click Table of Contents > Custom Table of Contents.
  2. In the Table of Contents dialog box, click Modify. If the Modify button is grayed out, change Formats From template.Use the Table of Contents dialog box to customize the appearance of your table of contents.
  3. In the Styles list, click the level that you want to change and then click Modify.The Modify Style dialog lets you update how the text in your table of contents will look.
  4. In the Modify Style dialog box, make the formatting changes that you want, and then click OK.

  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all the levels that you want to display in your table of contents.

 

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