You added a new heading. What do you do so it appears in the TOC?

Nothing; it appears automatically

How do a Heading 2 entries look in the TOC?

Indented under the Heading 1 entries

Why shouldn't you edit the text inside a TOC?

Your edits are lost when the TOC updates

Table of Contents — Word

By the Syncfusion DevTutorials team · Last updated October 20, 2026

Build a table of contents from your headings, update it, and remove it, then build a report with a contents page in the Chapter 7 project.

A long report without a contents page makes readers hunt for what they need. A table of contents (TOC) lists every heading with its page number, and Word can build it for you in one click, then keep it up to date. In this lesson, you'll create, update, and remove a table of contents. At the end, you'll build a report with a contents page and notes in the Chapter 7 project.

Open the Word sandbox and follow along. The tools are on the References tab.

Automatic TOC generation

The secret to an automatic TOC is something you already know: heading styles. Word builds the table of contents from your heading styles. Every paragraph with Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3 becomes a line in the TOC, with the page it's on:

Heading style	In the table of contents
Heading 1	A main entry at the left
Heading 2	An indented entry under it
Heading 3	Indented again

Plain bold text doesn't count. That's why using heading styles (Lesson 14) matters: it's the whole basis of the TOC.

No headings, no table of contents. Before inserting a TOC, open the Navigation Pane (Lesson 16): if your headings are listed there, they'll appear in the TOC too.

Create TOC

With your headings in place, the TOC takes seconds:

Make sure your headings use Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on.
Click where the table of contents should go, usually on its own page after the title.
Go to References > Table of Contents, and pick a style.
Word inserts the TOC, listing every heading and its page number.

In the TOC, hold Ctrl and click an entry to jump straight to that heading.

Put the TOC on its own page: insert it after the title, then press Ctrl + Enter after it so the first section starts on a new page.

Update TOC

One thing surprises many new users: the table of contents doesn't update by itself as you type. When you add, rename, or move headings, or when page numbers change, update it:

Click inside the table of contents.
Go to References > Update Table (or right-click the TOC and choose Update Field).
In Microsoft Word, choose Update entire table to pick up new and renamed headings, not just page numbers.

Make updating the TOC the last thing you do before saving or printing a final version.

Remove TOC

If you no longer need the contents list:

Click inside the table of contents.
In Microsoft Word, go to References > Table of Contents > Remove Table of Contents.
In the sandbox, select the whole table of contents and press Delete.

Your headings stay exactly as they are; only the contents list is removed.

Don't edit the text inside a TOC by hand. Your changes are lost the next time it updates. To change an entry, change the heading itself in the document, then update the TOC.

Common mistakes

Here are the most common traps, and how to fix them:

Mistake	What happens	How to fix it
Headings without heading styles	The TOC is empty or missing sections	Apply Heading 1/2/3, then update the TOC
Forgetting to update	Page numbers or headings in the TOC are wrong	References > Update Table
Typing the TOC by hand	Numbers go wrong whenever the document changes	Delete it and insert an automatic TOC
Editing an entry in the TOC	The edit vanishes on the next update	Change the heading itself, then update
Body text in a heading style	Whole paragraphs appear in the TOC	Set those paragraphs back to Normal

Exercise

Now it's time to build a table of contents yourself.

Click New in the sandbox title bar, and type these paragraphs:

Garden Guide
Planting
Plant seeds in spring after the last frost.
Watering
Water early in the morning or in the evening.

Now do each task and press Check.

Chapter project

Put Chapter 7 together, with skills from Chapters 3 and 5. You'll turn plain text into a short report with a contents page, a footnote, and an endnote.

Kenya wildlife report with contents

What to remember

The table of contents is built from heading styles.
Insert it with References > Table of Contents; Ctrl + click an entry to jump to it.
It doesn't update by itself: use Update Table after changing headings or pages.
Change entries by changing the headings in the document, never the TOC text.
Removing the TOC leaves your headings untouched.

That's the end of Chapter 7. In Chapter 8, you'll print documents and save them in different formats.