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In my TOC, Some of the heading numbers are bold while other heading numbers are not.

Anonymous
2012-09-26T13:08:59+00:00

I have a TOC

{TOC \o "1-3"}

My level 1 headings come out bold numbers and bold text just as I intended.

My level 2 headings come out nonbold numbers and non bold text just as I intended.

My level 3 headings come out bold numbers and non bold text.  I do not want the heading3 numbers bold in the TOC.

All heading level numbers are set to Arial + bold in the body of the document as intended.

I have verified that TOC3 settings are Arial Regular.

I have verified that the multi-level numbering fonts are all the same (Arial + bold) for each level.

I have copy pasted the TOC code from another document (which comes out correct) into the new document and upon refreshing, the problem persists.

I am thinking that the TOC Field Code is correct, and that the problem must be somewhere else, but where?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2012-09-26T16:38:25+00:00

    Assuming that the numbering is coming from the heading style itself and has not been added to the TOC 3 style:

    1. Place the insertion point in a Heading 1 paragraph.
    2. Click the Multilevel List button in the Paragraph group on the Home tab and select Define New Multilevel List. This should open the Define New Multilevel List dialog with your list (linked to your headings) selected.
    3. Select Level 3 and click Font...
    4. In the Font dialog, all the boxes (Font, Font style, and Size) should be empty. If anything is selected, then clear the boxes and click OK.
    5. I have found that if Bold has been selected, then, even if the boxes are cleared and OK clicked, the number will still be bold. So return to the Font dialog and select Regular, then click OK. If you then return to the dialog, you'll find that the boxes are empty, and this does remove the bolding from the number.

    If the numbering has been applied to the TOC 3 style rather than Heading 3, then you'll need to use this procedure for that style instead.

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-06-13T17:16:51+00:00

    If your headings are bold, then the numbers should follow suit. If they don't, selecting the paragraph and pressing Ctrl+Spacebar should sort it unless the numbers have been explicitly formatted as Regular instead of Bold.

    If you want the numbers bold while the rest of the heading is not, then that's where you'll probably run into trouble in the TOC, whether you apply the formatting through the Multilevel List dialog or directly as you did.

    What hasn't been mentioned in this thread is that the numbering will usually pick up the formatting of the paragraph mark. Even if you have carefully included the paragraph mark when applying or removing formatting from a numbered paragraph, it may still not affect the numbering. Sometimes you have to select the paragraph mark itself and format it.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-06-13T14:31:56+00:00

    Hi Suzanne,

    I had a similar problem in that the level 1 TOC number and heading were not bold (as I wanted), but levels 2 and 3 TOC numbers and headings were bold. Your solution for removing the bold format from the levels 2 and 3 TOC numbers and headings worked. But as I've often found, the law of unintended consequences is invoked when one makes changes like this. In my case, the levels 2 and 3 headings in the document body changed from bold (which I want) to regular. I did smoething anathema to me to fix this. I selected the levels 2 and 3 numbers in the headings, and clicked Bold. It worked.

    I'd like some feedback on my "fix." Is it acceptable, or will other problems ensue? Thanks very much for all of your advice and information.

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2012-09-27T17:26:00+00:00

    When you apply numbering to a style, the numbers match the formatting of the style, so it is not necessary to define the format of the numbers unless you want it to be different from the rest of the paragraph. The TOC picks up any direct font formatting applied to a heading (usually this is what you want, as when you have italicized a portion of the heading for emphasis), and bold formatting applied to the numbering apparently is counted as direct font formatting.

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-09-27T13:02:55+00:00

    Many thanks Suzanne.  That did the trick.  I'm not sure why it works that way, but the headings in the body are still bold while in the TOC they are normal which is what I want.

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