Navigation Pane
By the Syncfusion DevTutorials team · Last updated
Use the Navigation Pane to see your headings, search the document, and jump between sections.
Scrolling through a 50-page document to find one section is slow and tiring. The Navigation Pane is a panel beside your document that lists every heading and lets you search, so you can jump anywhere in a click. In this lesson, you'll open the Navigation Pane, use headings with it, search, and move between sections.
Open the Word sandbox and follow along.
Opening the Navigation Pane
Go to the View tab and tick Navigation Pane. A panel opens on the left side of the document. In Microsoft Word, you can also press Ctrl + F, which opens the pane with the search box ready.
To close it, untick Navigation Pane, or click the × at the top of the pane.
Using headings
Once the pane is open, it needs something to list. The Navigation Pane builds its list from your heading styles. Every paragraph that uses Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3 appears in the pane, indented by level, like an outline:
- Heading 1 items sit at the left.
- Heading 2 items appear indented underneath.
- Heading 3 items are indented again.
Only heading styles show up in the Navigation Pane. A title you made with bold, large text is invisible to it. This is one more reason to use Heading 1, 2, and 3 for every heading (Lesson 14).
Navigating documents
Now that the pane lists your headings, you can use it to move around. Click any heading in the pane, and Word jumps straight to it. The cursor lands at the start of the heading, ready for you to read or edit.
As you scroll through the document, the pane highlights the heading for the part you're reading, so you always know where you are.
In Microsoft Word, you can also click the small triangle next to a heading to collapse or expand the headings under it, which helps you focus on one part of a long outline.
Searching documents
Headings aren't the only thing the pane can find. At the top of the Navigation Pane is a search box.
- Type a word or phrase.
- Word highlights every match in the document and lists the results in the pane, with a few words around each one.
- Click a result to jump to it, or use the up and down arrows to step through the matches.
Search in the Navigation Pane is great for checking how often you've used a word, or whether you've spelled a name the same way everywhere. Search for the name and look at every result.
Moving between sections
Once you're comfortable navigating and searching, the Navigation Pane can also help you manage the structure of long documents:
- Jump to a section by clicking its heading, instead of scrolling.
- Check the structure at a glance: if a section is missing, misnamed, or at the wrong level, you'll see it in the pane.
- Reorganize (in Microsoft Word): drag a heading up or down in the pane, and the whole section (the heading and everything under it) moves with it.
Dragging headings to move whole sections is a Microsoft Word feature. In the sandbox, use the pane to jump to a section, then cut and paste the section's text to move it (Lesson 4).
Common mistakes
Here are the most common traps, and how to fix them:
| Mistake | What happens | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Headings formatted by hand | The pane is empty, or some headings are missing | Apply Heading 1/2/3 styles |
| Body text in a heading style | Whole paragraphs show up in the pane | Change those paragraphs back to Normal |
| Wrong heading levels | Sections appear nested in the wrong place | Fix the levels: Heading 1 for main sections, Heading 2 under them |
| Searching with a typo | No results are found | Check the spelling in the search box |
| Can't find the pane | You think the feature is missing | Tick Navigation Pane on the View tab |
Exercise
Now it's time to use the Navigation Pane yourself.
Click New in the sandbox title bar, and type these paragraphs:
Section ANotes about the first topic.Section BNotes about the second topic.Section CNotes about the third topic.
Now do each task and press Check.
What to remember
- Tick Navigation Pane on the View tab to open it.
- It lists every paragraph that uses a heading style, indented by level.
- Click a heading to jump to it; use the search box to find every match.
- Use the pane to check your document's structure.
- If a heading is missing from the pane, give it a heading style.
In the next lesson, you'll use comments to give and get feedback on a document.