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Word - Table of Content - Double Digit Header - Formatting Bug

Anonymous
2023-08-14T09:35:25+00:00

Dear Support Team,

In Word, my table of content is formatted correctly until I get to the first numbered header with two digits, whereby a dotted line similar to that separating the header title and page number appears BEFORE the header. See below for example.

Table of Contents

  1. Title 1......................................................................page number
  2. Title 2......................................................................page number
  3. Title 3......................................................................page number

[...]

  1. Title 9......................................................................page number
  2. .............................................................................................Title 10
    .......................................................................................page number
  3. .............................................................................................Title 11
    .......................................................................................page number

These additional dotted lines can be deleted manually but everytime someone updates the full table (not just page number) they re-appear.
Please can you advise on how to get rid of them once and for all?

Many thanks,

Josephine

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Android

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  1. Stefan Blom 341.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-08-14T19:33:05+00:00

    Is this Word for Windows? The version and operating system are important info, because Word is different on different platforms.

    If you do have Word for Windows, you should be aware that TOC entries add the text from each heading but it also adds the tab stop that follows the paragraph number. Therefore, you can adjust the tab stop positions to accommodate wider numbers (more digits). In many cases, clicking in an affected TOC level and dragging the tab stop fixes the issue, because the TOC styles (TOC 1, TOC 2, etc.) are set to update automatically. As an alternative, you can explicitly modify each style through the Modify Styles dialog box.

    Image

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-08-14T13:42:35+00:00

    There's a tab position (left aligned) where "Title 1", "Title 2", etc. begins.

    It looks like, once you hit a 2-digit chapter, the chapter number is too wide so the title aligns with the next tab position (right aligned, meant for the page number).

    You have to nudge the first tab position a bit to the right to accomodate 2 digit titles.

    HTH, Robert

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  3. Charles Kenyon 167.4K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-08-14T20:47:27+00:00

    Hi Josephine,

    This is a user-to-user support forum, not the support team.

    You need to change the tab setting in your TOC 1 style.

    See TOC Tips and Tricks by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP.

    What is happening is that there is an automatic tab that is catching your Titles 10 and 11 because the numbers go past the tab setting.

    ()Stefan's post gives a way to do this. He apparently posted while I was typing.)

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-08-14T10:56:01+00:00

    Dear Josephine,

    Good day!!

    Apologies for the delay in the response and please don’t worry, let’s work together on your concern and move towards a resolution path.

    I understand your concern and I have tested the behavior in the latest version of the Word application in the Semi-Annual channel with the default Heading 1 style (without any customization), where I am not able to reproduce the problem: In this situation, I would like to confirm whether you face the same problem when you insert a new Table of Contents in the Word document. If same, can you please share the following information which will help us to better understand and guide you in the right direction:

    1. Screenshots of the Headings with double number in the Word document.
    2. Does the problem happened after updating the Office apps? If yes, please share the version of the Word app. Open the Word app> Account> Take a screenshot and share with us.
    3. If possible, please share the problematic Word document with us. Upload the sample problematic Word document to the cloud location such as OneDrive and share the link with us.

    Thanks for your patience and understanding. Have a good day!!

    Best Regards,

    Sophia

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