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Multiple Table of Contents/ TOC for Each Section in Word

    Multiple Table of Contents/ TOC for Each Section in Word

    Watch the video tutorial, read the step-by-step instruction and download the example file here. You probably know that Microsoft Word allows you to create a table of contents that lists the headings in your document.  If you make changes to your document the table of contents can be refreshed to keep it up to date.

    Where you have a large document you may wish to display multiple table of contents, say for each chapter or section.  This can be done by creating bookmarks for different areas of the document and then adding a field switch to the table of content so it only picks up headings that relate to them.This is how you do this…

    Create the Bookmarks

    The first step is to create the bookmarks. Select the area of the document that you want the table of contents to relate to and then click the INSERT Ribbon tab. In the Links group click the Bookmark button:  enter a bookmark name, I called mine very simply “a”, (the bookmark must start with a letter and contain no spaces or punctuation) and then click Add.

    Bookmark name

    Create a bookmark, in the same way, for each area of your document that you want to create a separate table of contents for.

    Inserting the Table of Contents

    Inserting a table of contents, for a bookmarked area of a document is best done via the Fields dialog.  Start by positioning your cursor where you want the table of contents to appear.  Now open the Fields dialog – the button for this is on the Ribbon’s INSERT tab, in the Text group in the Quick Parts menu.

    Select TOC in the Field names list and then click the Field Codes button.

    TOC Field

    Once you have clicked the Field Codes button an Options button appears next to it – click on this to open the Field Options dialog.

    Select the \b switch in the switches list.  This switch “uses a bookmark to specify area of document from which to build table of contents” – as you can see in the switch description.

    Now click the Add to Field button.

    Filed Option dialog adding a switch

    Click on OK to confirm and you are back in the Fields dialog. In the Advanced field properties add the name of your bookmark to the field code. So for my example the Field code reads TOC \b a

    TOC Field Code with Bookmark Swicth

    There should always be a space between the bookmark name and field switch.

    Click OK to confirm and your table of contents will appear in your document – job done. You just repeat this for each table of contents you need to create.

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