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Word 2013 Tip: Organize Documents with a Table of Contents

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How to Create a Table of Contents in Microsoft Word

Long documents can be overwhelming for both the writer and the reader. This week, our Microassist Software Tips tutorial shows you how to create a table of contents for your long Word documents, helping both you and your readers navigate your work.

If you often work with long documents, don’t miss Split Window View: Work with Two Sections of the Same Word Document at Once.

Using Headings to Designate Sections of Your Document

Before you create a table of contents for your document, it’s important to separate your content into small, easily consumable sections. Each section should focus on one or two concepts. This will allow you to provide clear, focused, and concise explanations. Readers appreciate when they can identify when you’re moving to a new concept. Once you’ve identified your sections, you can create your table of contents. An automatically generated table will show the page number where each section begins.

Screen grab of a Table of Contents page. "Table of Contents" is the heading. The content lists Chapters 1-4 on the left, each on a separate line. Each Chapter has a dotted line leading to the page number where that chapter starts.

Word 2013 builds your table of contents based on the headings you identify with heading styles. A style is a predefined combination of font attributes, including color and size, that can be applied to any text in your document. To apply a heading style, highlight the text you want to be your heading. Then choose the desired heading option in the Styles group on the Home tab. Heading 1 is usually for your main title, and Heading 2 and Heading 3 are for your subheadings.

Screen grab of the Microsoft Word 2013 Styles section within the ribbon. The default style selected is "Normal." The Heading 1 selection, which is bigger and bolder in this illustration, has a square border placed around it to indicate the the need to select it if wanting top level headings to appear in the Table of Contents.

After applying headings throughout your document, you are ready to create your table of contents in Microsoft Word.

Inserting a Table of Contents Based on Headings

To insert a table of contents:

  1. Insert a blank page at the top of your document. To do this, place your cursor at the beginning of your text and select Ctrl + Enter.
  2. Select the References tab on the ribbon.
  3. In the Table of Contents group, click the Table of Contents button:
    The Table of Contents button is at the top left and selected, showing two built-in options. The first, Automatic Table 1, if formatted slightly differently than Automatic Table 2. Other options, including "More Tables of Contents from Office.com, Custom Table of Contents..., and Remove Table of Contents are shown below the Built In table choices.
  4. The first two Automatic Table options will use your headings to create the table of contents. The Manual Table allows you to manually identify each section regardless of the heading content. Choose the option that works best for your document.

Your table of contents will appear on the blank page you added to the beginning of your document. Now both you and your readers can quickly determine which page to navigate to from your table of contents.

NOTE: Be sure to update your table of contents anytime you make changes to your headings. Doing so is quite simple: Right-click anywhere in the table and select Update Field from the menu. You can choose to update only the page numbers (for instance, if you added content to a section) or you can update the entire table. You’ll need to do the latter if you’ve changed heading names or added new headings.

Additional Productivity Resources

  • To learn about upcoming classes on Word, please visit our Course Schedule page.
  • To schedule a custom class for any Microsoft application on your organization’s campus, please contact our Training Team.
  • Finally, be sure to look through our other Software Tips for more on Microsoft Office!

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