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#1
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Table of Contents won't build
I have a document in Word '97. It's very similar to a document I've worked on
previously but was created by another user. All the headings and subheadings work fine in text. IOW, the formatting is correct and they autonumber sequentially as expected. I try to build the TOC using Insert / Index and Tables. I get the "Do you want to replace the selected table of contents" window. I choose 'yes' but nothing happens. I have checked Insert / Index and Tables / Options. The Styles checkbox is checked. The styles selected for each level are checked. In addition, there were originally two additional styles checked. Both Heading 1 and Title are marked "1" and Heading 2 and Subtitle were marked "2." I tried several times to remove the number from the Title and Subtitle boxes. I could delete them but, like they re-appeared when I re-opened the Options window. I have Reset the Options / Styles a couple of times without effect. I deleted Subtitle from Styles altogether and I attempted to delete Title. Subtitle now appears to be gone but Title remains. I assume it's a built-in Style. And it continues to show up as "1" along with Heading 1 in the Options / Styles area for the Index and Tables window. I tried to Find any text associated with Title by opening the Find window and choosing Style from the Format dropdown with no text typed in the search box. No joy. Honestly, I'm not even sure that this is the reason the TOC won't build but it's the only thing I can "see" that could be a problem. I appreciate any suggestions about where else I might look or what else I might try to fix this. My next thought is to try the copy-paste to new document method. Thanks, all! |
#2
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Manual page breaks before headings could be the cause of at least some of
your problem. I assume that the headings use the heading styles. -- Charles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. "Blaise" wrote in message ... I have a document in Word '97. It's very similar to a document I've worked on previously but was created by another user. All the headings and subheadings work fine in text. IOW, the formatting is correct and they autonumber sequentially as expected. I try to build the TOC using Insert / Index and Tables. I get the "Do you want to replace the selected table of contents" window. I choose 'yes' but nothing happens. I have checked Insert / Index and Tables / Options. The Styles checkbox is checked. The styles selected for each level are checked. In addition, there were originally two additional styles checked. Both Heading 1 and Title are marked "1" and Heading 2 and Subtitle were marked "2." I tried several times to remove the number from the Title and Subtitle boxes. I could delete them but, like they re-appeared when I re-opened the Options window. I have Reset the Options / Styles a couple of times without effect. I deleted Subtitle from Styles altogether and I attempted to delete Title. Subtitle now appears to be gone but Title remains. I assume it's a built-in Style. And it continues to show up as "1" along with Heading 1 in the Options / Styles area for the Index and Tables window. I tried to Find any text associated with Title by opening the Find window and choosing Style from the Format dropdown with no text typed in the search box. No joy. Honestly, I'm not even sure that this is the reason the TOC won't build but it's the only thing I can "see" that could be a problem. I appreciate any suggestions about where else I might look or what else I might try to fix this. My next thought is to try the copy-paste to new document method. Thanks, all! |
#3
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Charles,
Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure how manual page breaks before headings could cause a problem. I assume by "manual page breaks" you're referring to using the Insert / Break / Page option. If that's correct, I have used that option before headings in other documents and had no problem with the TOC. As a follow-on note -- I have turned on Formatting Marks / All on to see if there are any hidden codes. On the page that the TOC would generate in, there is a small gray rectangle. I've tried deleting it every way I know how. No joy. If I delete the entire page, the gray rectangle moves to the next text item. If I delete that item, the gray rectangle simply moves to the item following that. So, for example, if I delete the entire TOC page and the first text on the following page is LIST OF FIGURES, the gray rectangle colors the entire line LIST OF FIGURES. If I delete LIST OF FIGURES, the gray rectangle colors the next line of text. I -am- curious about this gray rectangle as it seems the likely culprit -- whatever it is. But my next step may be to copy-paste everything around it into a new document. "Charles Kenyon" wrote: Manual page breaks before headings could be the cause of at least some of your problem. I assume that the headings use the heading styles. -- Charles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. "Blaise" wrote in message ... I have a document in Word '97. It's very similar to a document I've worked on previously but was created by another user. All the headings and subheadings work fine in text. IOW, the formatting is correct and they autonumber sequentially as expected. I try to build the TOC using Insert / Index and Tables. I get the "Do you want to replace the selected table of contents" window. I choose 'yes' but nothing happens. I have checked Insert / Index and Tables / Options. The Styles checkbox is checked. The styles selected for each level are checked. In addition, there were originally two additional styles checked. Both Heading 1 and Title are marked "1" and Heading 2 and Subtitle were marked "2." I tried several times to remove the number from the Title and Subtitle boxes. I could delete them but, like they re-appeared when I re-opened the Options window. I have Reset the Options / Styles a couple of times without effect. I deleted Subtitle from Styles altogether and I attempted to delete Title. Subtitle now appears to be gone but Title remains. I assume it's a built-in Style. And it continues to show up as "1" along with Heading 1 in the Options / Styles area for the Index and Tables window. I tried to Find any text associated with Title by opening the Find window and choosing Style from the Format dropdown with no text typed in the search box. No joy. Honestly, I'm not even sure that this is the reason the TOC won't build but it's the only thing I can "see" that could be a problem. I appreciate any suggestions about where else I might look or what else I might try to fix this. My next thought is to try the copy-paste to new document method. Thanks, all! |
#4
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Whenever you *replace* a TOC, you have to start from scratch. That's why you
are seeing the same settings you've already changed. In recent versions of Word, there is an Edit Field command on the shortcut menu that allows you to reopen the TOC dialog with your current settings. I don't believe this is possible in Word 97, but you can edit the TOC field directly; see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TOCSwitches.htm -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Blaise" wrote in message ... I have a document in Word '97. It's very similar to a document I've worked on previously but was created by another user. All the headings and subheadings work fine in text. IOW, the formatting is correct and they autonumber sequentially as expected. I try to build the TOC using Insert / Index and Tables. I get the "Do you want to replace the selected table of contents" window. I choose 'yes' but nothing happens. I have checked Insert / Index and Tables / Options. The Styles checkbox is checked. The styles selected for each level are checked. In addition, there were originally two additional styles checked. Both Heading 1 and Title are marked "1" and Heading 2 and Subtitle were marked "2." I tried several times to remove the number from the Title and Subtitle boxes. I could delete them but, like they re-appeared when I re-opened the Options window. I have Reset the Options / Styles a couple of times without effect. I deleted Subtitle from Styles altogether and I attempted to delete Title. Subtitle now appears to be gone but Title remains. I assume it's a built-in Style. And it continues to show up as "1" along with Heading 1 in the Options / Styles area for the Index and Tables window. I tried to Find any text associated with Title by opening the Find window and choosing Style from the Format dropdown with no text typed in the search box. No joy. Honestly, I'm not even sure that this is the reason the TOC won't build but it's the only thing I can "see" that could be a problem. I appreciate any suggestions about where else I might look or what else I might try to fix this. My next thought is to try the copy-paste to new document method. Thanks, all! |
#5
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Hi, Suzanne,
Thanks for your help -- today and previously -- you, and several others in this discussion group, are simply amazing! I just got done copy-pasting the pages before and after the Table of Contents and got everything working. You just beat me to the punch letting this thread know that I'd fixed the problem with what is, admittedly, an effective, but unenlightening, workaround for quite a few "fine messes" I've gotten myself into. I'm saving your response to go over later. It looks really useful. And, yes, I'm still working on getting these Word '97 systems brought into the 21st century. Thanks again! Blaise "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: Whenever you *replace* a TOC, you have to start from scratch. That's why you are seeing the same settings you've already changed. In recent versions of Word, there is an Edit Field command on the shortcut menu that allows you to reopen the TOC dialog with your current settings. I don't believe this is possible in Word 97, but you can edit the TOC field directly; see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TOCSwitches.htm -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "Blaise" wrote in message ... I have a document in Word '97. It's very similar to a document I've worked on previously but was created by another user. All the headings and subheadings work fine in text. IOW, the formatting is correct and they autonumber sequentially as expected. I try to build the TOC using Insert / Index and Tables. I get the "Do you want to replace the selected table of contents" window. I choose 'yes' but nothing happens. I have checked Insert / Index and Tables / Options. The Styles checkbox is checked. The styles selected for each level are checked. In addition, there were originally two additional styles checked. Both Heading 1 and Title are marked "1" and Heading 2 and Subtitle were marked "2." I tried several times to remove the number from the Title and Subtitle boxes. I could delete them but, like they re-appeared when I re-opened the Options window. I have Reset the Options / Styles a couple of times without effect. I deleted Subtitle from Styles altogether and I attempted to delete Title. Subtitle now appears to be gone but Title remains. I assume it's a built-in Style. And it continues to show up as "1" along with Heading 1 in the Options / Styles area for the Index and Tables window. I tried to Find any text associated with Title by opening the Find window and choosing Style from the Format dropdown with no text typed in the search box. No joy. Honestly, I'm not even sure that this is the reason the TOC won't build but it's the only thing I can "see" that could be a problem. I appreciate any suggestions about where else I might look or what else I might try to fix this. My next thought is to try the copy-paste to new document method. Thanks, all! |
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