Table of Contents forced into a frame

[Joe C.]

Hello,
I'm using Word 2003 and experiencing behavior from the system that I don't
want.

I have inserted a Table of Contents that gets created automatically from the
Heading styles I've used for formatting.
The problem is, when I click "Update Field" on the Table of Contents and
select "Update Entire Table", it updates the Table of Contents but places it
inside a frame*.

This wasn't too big a problem until my TOC got long enough that it spans two
pages. When it gets placed inside a frame, it just runs off the page rather
than wrapping to the next.
It's not a huge issue, because I can right-click the frame and select
"Format Frame" -> "Remove Frame" and the TOC stays formatted correctly.
(If I "Remove Frame" but then "Update" the TOC, then Word puts it back
inside a frame and I have to "Remove Frame" again).

But I'd like to know how to fix this so the "Update" of the TOC doesn't
place the TOC inside a frame.

(*When I say "frame", I'm referring to the kind of frame you'd get if you
added a Text Box to your document, and then selected "Format Text Box" ->
"Text Box" -> "Convert to Frame")


Thanks!
Joe C.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It sounds as if perhaps one of more of the TOC styles includes frame
formatting, which you'll need to remove. Removing it manually should work if
the TOC styles are still set to update automatically, but perhaps they are
not. You'll need to get access to the TOC styles themselves to modify them,
and this can be very difficult in Word 2003. See the portion of
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html that explains going
through Custom to access a list of all styles. Select TOC 1, for a start,
click Modify, then Format, then Frame, and choose None. Click OK, OK, Close
to return to the document. Repeat as needed for TOC 2, TOC 3, etc.

 

[Joe C.]

Great! Thanks for your help. Just one slight modification to the solution - I
got this to fix my problem by going through each TOC style, and going to
Format -> Frame -> and then hitting the "Remove Frame" button (rather than
choosing the "None" wrapping style).

Thanks again!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Right--my mistake-- I was thinking of None in the Borders dialog.