A table of contents is a list of your document’s headings that allows readers to see an outline of your content. There are two ways to create a table of contents: manually and by inserting an automated table.

Manually creating a table of contents will allow for more customization, but it won’t automatically update when you make changes to your content. The automated table of contents is more limited in its customization, but it will automatically remain up-to-date as you make changes to your document.

 

By adding an automated table of contents, your table will automatically update when changes are made and will be kept up to date. 

Your table will be built with headings that you select and can be customized through the style guide.

 

Insert an automated table of contents

To insert an automated table of contents in your document:

1. Place your cursor in the area where you want to insert.
2. In the toolbar, select the Edit tab and click More.
3. Click Table of Contents.
4. In the Table of Contents Properties panel, select the heading types that you want to use to build the table. By default, the first heading that appears in the style guide is already selected.

Once you’ve selected the type of headings you want to build the table of contents, then you’ll see them populate the table of contents along with the page number of where the heading is located in the document.

You can also only use headings from specific sections.

To include headings from sections:

1. In the Table of Contents Properties, click on the Sections to include drop down.
2. Select which sections that you want to include headings from.

Your table of contents will automatically update based on your selection.

Note: You can insert an automated table of contents with multiple columns. To learn more about multiple columns, view Create multiple columns. 

 

Customize table of contents heading styles

You can customize specific headings such as indenting them for better readability. We have set up three table of contents styles for you. 

 

The styles, Contents 1, 2, and 3 are connected to the style guide and can be modified. By default, Contents 1 will not indent the heading, Contents 2 will indent the heading once, and the Contents 3 will indent the heading twice.

 

You can modify the existing heading styles or create new ones in the style guide. The style of the table of contents in your document automatically updates as you update the style guide. You can learn more about the style guide in Use style guides.

 

To customize heading styles:

1. From the Edit toolbar, open the Styles menu and click Edit style guide.
2. Go to the Table of Contents Styles section.
3. In Style Guide Outline, click on one of the styles to edit.
4. In the Style Editor, you can change the formatting of the text, adjust indentation, spacing, and padding.
   
   
   

   Note: The Spacing option adds spacing within text. Padding adjusts the spacing within the rows of the table of contents. 

Adjust table options

You can add options to your table of contents if needed. You can add a title, adjust the page column width, add leader dots, and alternate row fill.

To add options:

1. Click your table of contents. This will open the Table of Contents Properties panel.
2. Under Table Options, choose which options you want to add.

Types of table options:

• Table Title - This adds a title to both of the columns in the table of contents. You can also select the column title style and select whether you want to add the table titles on subsequent pages.
• Page Column Width - This adjusts the width of the page column.
• Leader Dots - This gives you several options of dot styles for you to choose from. A line of dots will be placed between the heading and the page number.
• Alternate Row Fill - This alternates between each row with a filled color. You can choose between a preset option or customize the color fill.

 

Troubleshooting

You may encounter these common issues when you’re creating a table of contents with heading styles.

Issue	Resolution
Nothing appears in the table of contents	You probably have one of these three issues: The headings in your document haven’t been applied with any heading styles.  The headings may have been assigned with a paragraph style type instead of a heading style type. Make sure that the style guide has your headings in the heading style type category. There are no headings in the style guide. Check your style guide and add them in.
Some headings aren’t showing up in the table	The wrong heading style was applied to the document heading. Check which style your heading has and make sure that the correct heading style is being added into the table.  Check to make sure all of the styles that you want to appear in the table of contents are set to Heading. If you want to switch from paragraph to heading or heading to paragraph, click on the style you want to change and go to the Style Type on the Style Editor panel. In the dropdown, you can switch between paragraph and heading.
Can’t change the look of heading entries	All formatting options are controlled in the style guide. You can’t use the toolbar for formatting. View the Table Styles section in the Table of Content Properties panel and make sure they’re assigned to the correct heading style.
Can’t click in the rows on the table of contents	All formatting is done in the style guide and all table options are in the Table of Contents Properties panel. You can’t click each row in order to apply individual changes to each row.
Can’t use any of the toolbar formatting or ruler bar	All formatting is controlled in the style guide. This allows us to keep the table automatically updated.
Can’t change the size of the table manually	You can control the column width through the Table of Contents Properties panel. You can also control row height for each heading in the style guide.

 

Creating a manual table of contents

To manually create a table of contents, create sections in your document. Then, add hyperlinks and embedded tables.

Set up a table of contents

To keep your sections organized, you can create a specific section for your table of contents. To create a new section:

1. From the Document Outline panel, select the first section in your document.
2. Click the Add Section Before icon to add a new section. You can click and drag the section to change its place in the outline.
   
3. Double-click the section title and enter "Table of Contents."

Next, insert a table:

1. From the Edit toolbar, click Insert and select Table from the menu. This inserts a 5 x 10 table.
2. Delete columns C:E by selecting the columns, right-clicking the column headers, and selecting Delete.

From here, you can add the names of each section in Column A.

Add section hyperlinks

Once you have inserted a table, you can add section hyperlinks. This allows you to navigate directly to your sections via section titles. To add a section hyperlink:

1. Double-click the cell to edit its content.
2. Highlight a section title and right-click.
3. Select Insert Hyperlink from the menu.
4. Click the radio button next to Section in this document. Select your section by clicking the arrow.
   
5. Click Create to add your hyperlink.

Add section page numbers

After adding your section titles in Column A, you can now add corresponding page numbers in Column B.

To insert page numbers:

1. Double-click a cell in Column B to edit its contents.
2. From the Edit toolbar, click Insert .
3. Select Auto Text and choose Section Page Number.
4. Select the section title from the list and click Insert. This automatically adds a hyperlinked page number to the cell. If this section moves to a different page, this number updates automatically.

Add leader dots

Once you add section titles and page numbers, you can customize your table's formatting. Leader dots are commonly used in the first column of a table of contents.

To add leader dots:

1. Right-click the Column A header to select the entire column and click Cell Properties in the menu.
2. From the Advanced Options section, open the Leader menu.
3. Select the spacing for your leader dots.

Note: A manual table of contents does not update automatically with changes to the document outline. If you change the order of your sections, you'll need to manually update their order in the table.