[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

A TOC is not intended to be a working outline of a document; it is meant to
be a guide to where things are in the document (like the TOC in a book). By
default, page numbers in a TOC (and in some Word versions the entire TOC
entry) are linked to the content in the document. Because the TOC is a
single field, it cannot be changed in the way you describe. This is just a
backwards way of thinking about it. Perhaps what would work better for you
is to work in Outline view (see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/UsingOLView.htm), or you could use the
Document Map to show you a working outline of the document, from which you
can easily jump to any part of that document to add a new heading/section.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

wrote in message
...
(For people reading this, my last reply was bottom-posted (below), but
the current reply to that was top-posted, so I'm top-posting here.)

You seem to be saying the TOC can be updated to match a changed
document (and I can rely on the automatic renumbering in the main
document when I add something in the middle). I wanted to use the TOC
as an evolving outline, so that stuff is concisely together so I can
see it, and change it there.
You seem to be saying I could go through dozen of pages to where a
new entry goes, add it there, and then go back to the TOC and press
F9. I want to do the opposite. I want to add it in the TOC, and have
the entry created in the middle of the existing document. I may want
to add several things like that at once, and go back and do the actual
writing later. If I have to go through pages and pages to add each
entry, that is a DISTRACTION TO THINKING. I can type much, much
faster than I can write by hand.
From my original post: "I also need the TOC to point to more than
the page number - I want the TOC number repeated where the actual
document text is:"
I had read of "linking," and I hoped it would do that.
It is not going to be helpful to me to have a TOC that can only be
created/udpated when the document is DONE (or a change is ALREADY
made), that's why I said "Again, I'm not interested in making
something pretty when I'm done with it" at the beginning of my last
post."
Maybe the problem is I'm having a hard time getting across what I
need. If MS Word won't do it, I need something else for this
particular project (which I've been putting off...). That's what I
want to know. You can't use a wrench as a screw driver, or "you need
the right tool for the job."
I used to write software, and it would be fairly easy to write. I
could then take the finished result (the manuscript) and import it
into MS Word to get the fonts I want and make it pretty. I may very
well end up doing just that, if I can't find software that does BASIC
OUTLINING. I don't care about pretty when I'm working on it. I need
headings, tabs, and any readable font. When comparing the time is
would take to write the software, vs. the time manually updating a TOC
and then the main document, I think the benefit of being able to work
with free flowing ideas in a concise TOC would outweigh the fact that
writing that software would take longer than doing manually updating
(which actually would only be true IF if already knew the whole format
in advance, which I don't, and which I need the free flow of ideas to
develop).
I thought my original question was simple. This reply is a bit
lengthy, but apparently I haven't said what I need effectively. I'm
bothering with this in case there IS a way to get MS Word to do this,
or something similar, because nobody here has said "NO," but rather
seem to misunderstand what I need to do, or I'm misunderstanding and
you are actually describing a way to do it.
I do appreciate your time replying.

On Feb 15, 12:37 am, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:
If the TOC is based on your numbered headings (or other styles), then all
you have to do is press F9 in the TOC field to update it whenever you add
new numbered headings/paragraphs. It does not update automatically, but
neither do you have to "renumber" anything; you just update the field.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USAhttp://word.mvps.org

wrote in message

...

On Feb 12, 6:03 am, "Stefan Blom" wrote:
As described earlier in this thread, you can have Word pick up any
paragraph
style (numbered or unnumbered) in a table of contents.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

wrote in message

...

On Dec 13 2008, 7:52 pm, "Robert M. Franz (RMF)"
wrote:
wrote:

[..]

I hope you can give me a suggestion on the method you find works
the
best in the long run.
I am using MS Word 2000.

How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in your
Microsoft
Word document (by Shauna
Kelly)http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/numb...Numbering.html

So MS Word is not going to do what I need... I will look for
something
else.

Again, I'm not interested in making something pretty when I'm done
with it, but with an ongoing, evolving table of contents, where I
don't have to renumber things either in the TOC at the top, or with
the number below where the relevant text is, when I add a new entry in
the TOC. Nobody has said MS Word will do this.
My original post very clearly spells this out, but I will repeat it
one last time.

TOC:
1. Some stuff 'a'
2. Some stuff 'c'
(Document text)
1. Stuff about 'a'
2. Sutff about 'c'

I want to add 'b' between 1 and 2, without renumbering everything (in
the TOC and in the numbers below.) With automatic renumbering (but
apparently not if it's in a TOC), I can simply press enter and the
end of the 1. line, and it will make a new 2., and renumber the
existing 2. to 3., but that doesn't automatically do the other part.