I'm trying to put together a table of contents for a project that I have to send in, and I thought it would be cool if I could somehow get the table of content page numbers and titles to link to the appropriate page, but I don't know how to do it in MS Word. Is there anyone who can give me specific step-by-step directions? I hate having to use the stupid help option and then sort through a whole bunch of stuff that ends up not being helpful.
Insert>Hyperlink Then click on the "Place in This Document" button and it should be pretty self-explanatory from there.
I would love to say that it's self-explanatory from there, MRD, but in this particular area of Word usage, I'm a total dummy. I don't really get what they mean by naming things or how I can specify what page I want to jump to when the link is clicked on. I'll try the help option and see if it makes more sense to me.
You mean you didn't already use Help? ... why not? Anyway, it's pretty easy. Go to the top of each page that you want to be able to jump to. Click where you want the contents page to jump you to (that can even be multiple places on the same page). Insert > Bookmark Name the bookmark. Repeat until you've done all the bookmarks. Next, follow on to Insert > Hyperlink, place in the document option, and use the bookmarks.
Actually, that isn't the way of choice. The tutorials will show you how to do it so the header styles you select will automatically become part of the TOC. Using bookmarks requires manually marking every TOC entry individually.
Figured it out. First had to create bookmarks, then I could hyperlink to them. A little annoying though because I wanted to hyperlink each page number on the table of contents but bookmarks only allowed one word, and each one had to be distinct. I tried doing the TOC thing, but my inept self was trying to expand the style I chose, and it was just getting messy and annoying... Maybe I'll play w/it some other day. I have to turn in this puppy tomorrow.
It's been ages since I needed a ToC, but I think you first need to format the headlines with a certain style (doesn't matter which one), then the sub-headlines and so on. Then you just insert a ToC and tell it what order the styles should be, as in which one is the main chapter, which one is a sub-chapter, which one is a sub-sub-chapter and so on. That way the page numbers will be included, complete with link to the chapters. It's really not that complicated once you know how. It's a bit difficult to explain, though. Especially as I don't use Word, and even when I did I didn't use ToC's much.
I personally loathe header styles. I find them tacky and annoying. Maybe they got better in Office 2007, but I use 2003 still as a preference.
If you are talking about the appearance of the header styles, make a new template document and define/redefine styles more to your liking. But the mechanism of styles is very powerful. I have multiple document templates, including ones for short story and novel manuscripts. I rarely use the default template. Take the time to learn about document templates and styles. You won't regret it!
I used it, but when I selected a style that allowed me to type in my junk manually, It didn't automatically format itself when I wanted to add Headers and Chapters to the template. It ended up having weird spacing when I tried to figure it out manually, and so I got too frustrated. I agree that the bookmark solution wasn't the neatest option, but it did the job. I didn't use Help because I end up having to sift through these long lists, and then I choose some that seem like they might be the right ones, and then I read it only to find out it's the wrong thing that I need. So I end up trying again, and the same thing happens. Finally, when I actually bring up the "Help" option I need, I'm reading it and it uses terminology that makes me throw my hands up and scream "I need MS Word for Dummies that has lots of little pictures, diagrams and words that aren't much bigger than two syllables in order to figure this out!!" My ideal way to learn is to have someone sit down next to me and show me what to click. I do it once, and I've got it.
That's why I suggested searching among the Microsoft tutorials. They walk you through the process in a much more natural way than by trying to learn from the Help topics.
I have to support Cogito's method of Table of Contents. It is so easy to set up and once it is set up the whole process is automatic
Gosh, I wish I were fully computer literate! I learn something new all the time, and I'm not afraid to try new things. However, I'm just getting old at the age of 31. When I need to know something, I end up asking my students. They just live and breathe this stuff. It's a different world out there.
It's been a while since I created a table of contents in Word, but IIRC, you don't have to mark anything to create one as long as you've properly used the styles. If you use the Heading styles, Word uses these points to generate a table of contents. If each chapter title uses, say, the Header 1 style and any subheader uses the Header 2 style, and so on, you're good to go. I admit I never use the table of contents since I rely on the document map, so I never create a TOC. Unless the user is presenting the manuscript to someone (as the OP is) and the user doesn't mind losing a little real estate on the left side of your screen, stick with the document map. You don't have to jump to the top of your document to access it. But learn how to create a TOC for the time when you need it. Once you've mastered the styles, the TOC takes another five seconds to master. You can modify the Header styles to look however you want them to. If you want them centered, Word does that. If you want them boldfaced, it does that, too. If you want them to use stikethrough with 80-point text in Wingdings, it does that, too. You can make your text look as pretty or ugly as you want so that your eyes are comfortable when you write and edit. When the time comes to submit it to an agent, you can reformat your manuscript as needed in seconds. If you don't properly use styles, you have to reformat every paragraph or section individually, which can be tedious. You can even have all your italicized text become underlined with two or three clicks. I know a search and replace can reformat text, too (for instance, search for all italicized text and underline it instead), but your document is more robust when it's based on styles simply because Word knows what to do with styles. It won't guess what text represents a chapter title or header. First, base all your styles off Normal. Don't use Normal for your body text. That's what Body Text is for. Format Body Text for double-spaced, left-justified, Times New Roman or Courier New, however you want. Your chapter titles should be formatted with Heading 1, and any subchapters in your work should be Heading 2. Any sub-subchapters should be Heading 3 and so on. Format these with bold, centered text or whatever look you want to give them. You can reformat everything using styles just as you would reformat any individual paragraph or portion of text. If you've got the Styles control box open, just right-click on a style and choose Modify if you don't like the look of a style. All the properties will show up in a dialog box so you can modify them as you like. I think every writer who uses Word should take a few minutes to learn how to use the styles, especially Normal, Body Text, Title, and the Heading styles. It pays off.
I was 32 when I got my first tablet and digital pen to try and make a web-comic, and I'm still learning to play the guitar and make computer games. You are never too old to learn. Anyway, I did a quick search how to make a table of contest in ms word in Google and got tons of hits.
