Formatting Theses & Dissertations using Word 2010: Automatic Table of Contents and Lists

Learn how to:

• Create an Automatic Table of Contents
• Create Automatic Lists of Figures, Tables and Equations
• Create dot leader lines....................(<= these things)

You cannot generate any automatic tables without first using styles effectively throughout your document.  Microsoft Word can scan your document and find everything in the Heading 1 style and put that on the first level of your table of contents, put any Heading 2’s on the second level of your table of contents, and so on.

If you want an automatic table of contents you need to label all of your chapter titles and front matter headings (e.g. “Dedication” and “Acknowledgements”) in the style Heading 1.  All major headings within your chapters should be labeled Heading 2.  All subheadings should be labeled Heading 3, and so on.

If you have used Heading styles in your document, creating an automatic table of contents is easy.

1. Place your cursor where you want your table of contents to be.
2. On the References Ribbon, in the Table of Contents Group, click on the arrow next to the Table of Contents icon, and select Insert Table of Contents….
3. If you want to change the style of your table of contents (e.g. you want more space between the items on level 1 and level 2 of your table of contents, or you want all your level 1 items to be bold), click on the Modify button, select the TOC level you want to change, then click the Modify button to do so.
4. If you want to change which headings appear in your table of contents, you can do so by changing the number in the Show levels: pulldown.
5. Click OK to insert your table of contents.

The table of contents is a snapshot of the headings and page numbers in your document. At any time, you can update it by right-clicking on it and selecting Update field.  Notice that once the table of contents is in your document, it will turn gray if you click on it. This indicates that it is getting information from somewhere else.

If you have captioned your figures, table and equations using Microsoft Word’s captioning feature (see Inserting Captions on page 4 for details), you can have Word generate your lists for you automatically.

1. Place your cursor where you want your list to be.
2. On the References Ribbon, in the Captions Group, click the Insert Table of Figures icon () (even for lists of tables and equations).
3. In the Table of Figures dialog box, select the label for which you want to make a list from the Caption Label pulldown.
4. If you want to change the style of your table of contents (e.g. you want more space between each item in the list), click on the Modify button, select the Table of Figures style, then click the Modify button to do so. Click OK when you are done.
5. Click OK to insert your table of contents.

Repeat these steps to insert other lists into your document. Some general guidelines require separate lists for tables, equations, figures, and any other label you’ve used.

An important thing to remember when dealing with appendices is the fact that the start of the Appendices must be included in the Table on Contents while each individual appendix cannot be included. Therefore we can create a new style for the general label of Appendices.

1. Go to Format --> Style
2. Select New
3. Create a style entitled Appendix Heading
4. It should be based on Normal - modify the font, size, spacing, etc as you desire (it should look just like all the heading 1's).

In order to ensure this heading is included within your generated table of contents you need to make sure you give this style proper priority.

1. Insert --> Index and Tables
2. Under the Table of Contents tab select Options
3. Ensure the style is included in the table of contents by giving Appendix Heading a priority of 1 (see below). This will make sure the Appendix Heading will appear in the same style as Heading 1 in the table of contents.

That solves our issue with the general label of Appendices appearing the table of contents, but now we need to create a style so that we are able to generate a list of the individual appendices. 

1. Follow the above steps to create a new style, but this time, give it a title of Appendix Subheadings. Again adjust the font, size, spacing, etc. accordingly. 
2. Make sure this new style is based on Normal
3. Apply this style to each of your individual Appendix Names. 

 Now we just need to generate a list based on this style. 

1. Put your cursor where you want the list of Appendices to appear
2. Go to Insert --> Index and Tables
3. Under the Table of Contents tab select Options
4. Delete all other priorities leaving only Appendix Subheadings with a priority of 1. 

5)    Click Ok and when Word asks “would you like to replace the selected table of contents” select No. This way, you have your main table of contents, and now a second table that just has the appendices listed in them.