How to insert and update a table of contents in Word

Applies to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2021 and 2024, and Word for Mac. Word for the web can insert and update a table of contents too, though with fewer formatting choices. The whole feature depends on heading styles: if your headings are just bold, larger text, Word can't see them.

Insert an automatic table of contents

Step 1: mark your headings

1. Click in a chapter or section title.
2. On the Home tab, in the Styles gallery, click Heading 1.
3. Use Heading 2 for sub-sections and Heading 3 below that.
4. Open View > Navigation Pane - every heading you styled appears there. If a heading is missing from the pane, it will be missing from the contents too.

Step 2: insert the table

1. Click where you want the contents, usually a blank page after the title page. Insert a page break with Ctrl+Enter if needed.
2. Go to References > Table of Contents.
3. Choose Automatic Table 1 or Automatic Table 2 (they differ only in the title text).

Step 3: update it after changes

1. Click anywhere in the table of contents.
2. Click Update Table at the top of it (or press F9).
3. Choose Update entire table if you've added or renamed headings, or Update page numbers only if only the pages moved.

Our take: fix the headings, not the table

Almost every table of contents problem we're asked about is really a styles problem. People retype or delete lines in the contents to make it look right - and the next update undoes their work. The table is generated output; edit the headings and styles it reads from, then update.

Two habits make long documents painless: style headings as you write instead of at the end, and keep the Navigation Pane open. It doubles as a live preview of your table of contents and lets you drag whole sections to reorder them.

Troubleshooting: symptom, cause, fix

Change how the table of contents looks

Choose References > Table of Contents > Custom Table of Contents to:

• Show levels: 2 for a short report, 3 for a thesis. Going deeper usually makes the contents harder to scan.
• Tab leader: dots, dashes, a line or none between the heading and page number.
• Formats: Classic, Formal, Simple and others restyle the whole table at once.
• Modify: change the TOC 1, TOC 2 and TOC 3 styles to set fonts and indents. Changing those styles, rather than formatting the text directly, means your formatting survives updates.

To include a heading that uses your own custom style, open Options in the same dialog and give that style a TOC level number.

Manual vs automatic table

Word also offers a Manual Table. It's a placeholder you type over: no links, no automatic page numbers, and it never updates. Use it only for short documents where headings won't move, or for a contents list that must differ from the actual heading text. For anything you'll edit again, the automatic version saves time every revision.

Tables of figures, separate chapters and other lists

The same idea - styled text in, generated list out - powers several related features on the References tab:

• Table of Figures: add captions with References > Insert Caption (Figure 1, Table 1 and so on), then Insert Table of Figures where you want the list. Choose the caption label (Figure, Table, Equation) in the dialog. Update it the same way as the contents.
• A contents list for one chapter only: select the chapter, add a bookmark (Insert > Bookmark), then insert a custom TOC field that uses the bookmark switch, for example TOC \b ChapterThree \o "1-3" inside field braces. Press Alt+F9 to toggle field codes on and off while editing.
• Leave a heading out of the table: give it a style that isn't linked to a TOC level - for example a copy of Heading 2 named *Heading 2 No TOC* with Outline level: Body Text. It looks identical in the text but won't appear in the contents.
• Appendices numbered separately: use a different heading style for appendix titles and map it to TOC level 1 in Options, so appendices appear after the chapters without renumbering them.

Long reports with several of these lists benefit from Ctrl+A then F9, which updates every field in the document at once. Word may ask about each table; choose Update entire table for each.

Before you share or print

• Update one last time right before saving as PDF or printing. In File > Options > Display, ticking Update fields before printing does this automatically.
• Saving as PDF: in File > Save As > PDF > Options, tick Create bookmarks using: Headings so the PDF gets a clickable outline too.
• Links: in Word, Ctrl+click an entry to jump to that heading. The links survive in the PDF if you save as PDF rather than printing to PDF.