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Table of Content Formatting

Anonymous
2024-12-19T10:14:20+00:00

Hi,

We have defined a style for the text that needs to appear in the document that will be reflected in the table of content.

We have a simple table of content with just one level is being shown. But for the data that will be refreshed in the table of content, we want it to appear using a different style. For example the heading in the document may appear times new roman bold size 14. but in the table of content, we want the data to appear aerial bold size 16.

how do I do that such that when I refresh the table of content, the formatting will stay as per what I design for the table of content page.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows

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Stefan Blom 341.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2025-01-20T16:04:04+00:00

No, avoid direct formatting in the heading paragraphs unless you also want that direct formatting to be replicated in the table of contents.

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Suzanne S Barnhill 277.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2025-01-20T12:31:52+00:00

No, the formatting of Heading 1 will not be replicated in the TOC. The TOC uses very simple formatting (similar to the Normal style), but the TOC styles (which are entirely separate from the heading styles) can be modified. If you apply direct formatting to a heading (formatting that is not part of the style definition), this formatting will likely be picked up by the corresponding TOC entry. This allows you to, for example, italicize part of a heading (when italics are not part of the style) and have that emphasis reproduced in the TOC entry.

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-12-20T14:16:43+00:00

    The styles in the document body and TOC can be different, but formatting in the document body that is applied as direct formatting (not specified in the style) will be reflected in the TOC. For example, the default formatting for the Heading 1 style is:

    The formatting for TOC 1 is:

    In other words, the formatting of TOC 1 is the same as Normal except for the Spacing After (5 pt instead of 8 pt). Note that the Heading 1 formatting does not include bold or italics, and the font color is specified. If you add bold or italics or change the font color, these changes will be reflected in the Level 1 entries in the TOC.

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-12-19T12:59:23+00:00

    You can't have it both ways. Direct formatting (at least some of it) will show up in the TOC. See http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com/TOCTips.htm#DirectFormatting

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-12-19T10:26:45+00:00

    The entries in the Table of Contents are formatted with a TOC# style. You need to modify the font in that Style so that it as the desired appearance.

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