Forum Discussion
MS Word TOC and Heading Problems
Hi Ed:
How paragraphs/headings display in the Navigation pane depends on the Outline Level of the style.
When you used the built-in Heading styles, this corresponded to the numbering level. The numbering level is independent of the outline level. The outline level is set in the paragraph formatting of the style, the numbering level is set in the numbering list. My guess is that you based your custom styles on Heading 1. See the link below for ideas on why you may want to use the built-in heading styles; you can add custom names / aliases to them if you want.
You need to modify the paragraph formatting of your custom styles to reflect the outline level you wan used in the Navigation Pane and any Table of Contents.
If you want, you can save a sample document with the problem to a cloud location and post a share link here so someone can examine it and perhaps give you a definitive answer.
Why a sample file is important for troubleshooting - - - - - - - and how to do it.
The following may be information you already know:
If you use automatic paragraph numbering or bullets read Shauna Kelly's directions on numbering and bullets. Start with How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Word 2007 and Word 2010. For large documents you must follow these directions or you will lose your hair!
(Mac version: https://www.brandwares.com/bestpractices/2016/06/outline-numbering-in-word-for-os-x/)
This may seem a bit convoluted at first, but it really is not. Just follow the steps. Shauna Kelly's instructions use the built-in heading styles, but you can use any existing paragraph styles including your custom styles. There are, however advantages to using the built-in heading styles when you create a Table of Contents. Here are some more advantages: Why Use Word's Built-In Heading Styles? by Shauna Kelly Note, you can modify these built-in styles to look exactly the way you want.
If you want, I can provide links to videos demonstrating setting up numbering linked to styles.
The basic idea is that the numbering is set using the Define MultiLevel List dialog with each numbering level being attached to an existing paragraph style. Once you have this set up, you should not use the buttons for numbering in the Ribbon but rather apply the appropriate style for that level.
You can save a document with this as a template for future documents if you want so you will not need to do this every time.
