Forum Discussion
Add style to headings sidebar
Thanks for raising this question. In Word, only paragraph styles that have an "outline level" of 1-9 will appear in the navigation pane and be included in the default table of contents. Most of the built-in Heading styles are hard-wired with outline levels, but custom styles default to "body text" with no outline level, so they don't show up.
To make your custom style appear in the navigation pane, modify the style and set its "Outline level" (in the Paragraph > Indents & Spacing dialog) to the appropriate level. Alternatively, you can base your style on a built-in Heading style or link it to a level of a multilevel list, which will automatically assign an outline level. Once you've done this, headings using your custom style will display in the navigation pane and can be navigated to just like built-in headings.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for this discussion – I had the same question about getting my custom styles to appear in the Navigation pane. From the replies I learned that Word only lists paragraphs with an outline level. To make a custom style show up, set an outline level in the Paragraph settings or base the style on one of the built‑in Heading styles. If you need unnumbered headings in a multilevel list, you can use one of the list levels and its associated heading style. Once the style has an outline level, it will appear in the Navigation pane and in the table of contents. I appreciate the helpful explanations and links!