Table of contents does not get updated in my Word document

[Peter_Magpie1645]

Hi,

I have this Word template (see the attachment) that I need to use for various documents but every time I write new sections and update the automatic TOC in it, I get an error message.

When I take a document created by someone else and want to update it and then update the TOC the same thing happens. However when other people take my document they can update it and update the TOC. 
So it works on other PCs but not on mine.
Anyone had the same situation?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@Peter_Magpie1645 

If you press Alt+F9 to show the underlying field code, the following is shown:

This is a custom field code with the \t switch which uses a separator between style names and levels (a comma in this case). For example, the code above says that Heading 1 paragraphs should display at TOC level 2.

The challenge with the \t switch is that the separator may be different on different systems. The separator is defined by the regional settings in Windows. 

It appears that your system does not recognize commas as a list separator. You can change the separator to a semi-colon (would usually work when a comma doesn't work). The downside is that your colleagues will run into trouble instead. 

If possible, change the setting for list separator in Windows instead. 

[#3]

@Stefan_Blom thank you for your help. You are right, the semi-colons work for me in Poland, they do not work for my colleagues in the USA. 
I wish I had asked this question earlier here, I was struggling with this TOC. Thanks once again.

[#4]

@Peter_Magpie1645 

Thanks for the follow-up.

It's a similar experience for me here in Sweden; the regional settings define semi-colons as list separators (and commas as decimal signs). 🙂