Table of Contents messes up when I update it

[Erol]

Help wanted!

I right click the table of contents I created and click "update field"...
suddenly the below paragraph changes happen:

* Alignment changes from Justified to Left
* Outline level changes from level 2 to body text
* Indentation Right changes from 0 to 36
* Indentation Special changes from none to hanging (By also becomes 36)
* Spacing before changes from 0 to 24

Who knows what else happens. Is there anyway I can avoid this? All I want
the header numbering to update.

MS Word Version 2000

Thanks in advance

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You're talking about the TOC itself? Why would it be justified? Why would
TOC styles have an outline level of 2? The other settings do seem reasonable
for a TOC, and if you make those changes to TOC entries, they should be
written back to the TOC styles unless you have cleared the check box for
"Update automatically" in those styles.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Erol]

Thanks for your reply Suzanne,

All the headings that I want to see in the table of content are styled as
"Heading 1" in my word document. I have done this manually. Then I go to the
location where I want to insert the Table of contents (TOC). I go Insert >
Index and Tables > TOC tab. I remove page numbers check box because I don't
want them. Formats dropdown box seems to be selected as "from template" and
show levels dropdown shows "1"... because this is only what I want to see.

I click on "OPTIONS": Styles check box seems to be selected, but not Table
entry fields. Non of the Available styles have any data in them; only
"Heading 1" seems to have the data 1.

I click on "MODIFY": In the Styles section I only see the options TOC 1, TOC
2, ... up until TOC 9. I am suspecting I am supposed to see "Heading 1"
here... maybe not. In the description section I see exactly "Normal + Indent:
Hanging 36 pt Right 36 pt, Space before 24 pt, Don't hyphenate, Tabs: 468 pt
right flush". I am suspecting this is the reason why updating my TOC
completely cahnges my format, but I am not sure.

From here I click on MODIFY again: I see TOC 1 is selected as Name. All
other stuff are Normal. Description is same. "Add to template" and
"Automatically update" checkboxes are not checked....... one moment...

I just went to Format > Paragrapgh from this window and changed 36 to 0 and
24 to 0 and kept clicking apply. Boy its fixed.

Thanks again Suzanne... your input helped me I was stuck

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay, I think there is some confusion between the headings and the TOC
styles. You modify Heading 1 in your document. The TOC does not reflect the
formatting of the heading itself. Instead, you must modify the TOC 1 style
as desired. If you make the changes directly in a TOC 1 entry, paragraph
formatting will update automatically. My experience is that font formatting
does not always update, so it may be necessary to make these changes
directly in the Modify Style dialog, or at least update the style to match
the selection after changing the font formatting in a given entry.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Erol]

Thank you, I will keep this in mind for next time