How to create a Table of Contents (or List)
in three easy steps
Before you can create a Table of Contents
(TOC), the words or phrases you want included in the TOC
must be marked with special format codes. Then WordPerfect
can find them and arrange them in a TOC.
This can be done in
the three easy steps outlined below, but please read on for some
other things to consider since they could save you time in the
long run.
WordPerfect's five standard paragraph Heading
styles (Heading 1 through Heading 5
-- accessed via a drop list on the Text property bar, or via
the Format, Styles menu) are already marked (internally)
for inclusion in any TOC. They were created for you by Corel
programmers and they already have the necessary codes in them.
So, for example, using the Heading 2
style on a word or short phrase will cause it to be automatically
included in the TOC as a "level 2" entry when the TOC
is defined and generated. This is very handy and a major reason
to use these "shipping" styles (or custom versions
of them) when you need to introduce sections of a document (e.g.,
Chapters, Sections, Appendices, etc.) with text headings.
Note: If
you use only these five standard paragraph Heading styles, and
you do not need other document items in the Table of Contents,
you can skip Step 1 below. But you still need to perform
Steps 2 and 3.
For other items (i.e., those not marked
with a WordPerfect standard Heading style) that you want included
in a TOC you can
(a) go through the document and mark each
item manually as explained in Step 1 below ("Mark
the entries")
...or...
(b) you can optionally create (or edit) your
own custom style (see the column on the right  ) and simply apply the special
style to any text you want included in a TOC
...or...
(c) you can do both. Then simply follow
Step 2 and Step 3 below.
- Step 1: Mark the entries in your document that you want included in the TOC. To mark the entries manually:
- Turn on Reveal Codes (View, Reveal Codes)
so you can see what you are doing.
- Select the text you want included as an item
in the TOC (but not any format codes, unless you also want them
in the TOC!).
- Click Tools, Reference, Table of Contents,
then click on the [Mark 1] button for a top-level entry,
the [Mark 2] button for a second-level entry, etc.
- Repeat the select-and-mark procedure as needed.
- Tip: You can
use small macros to automate this procedure. See Footnote
1 below.
- Step 2: Define the TOC.
- Place your cursor where you want the TOC
to appear. You can create a blank page at the top (Ctrl+Enter
will insert a hard page break), with a title ("Table of
Contents" or similar). You might want to enter a couple
of hard returns (with the Enter key) to provide a separation
between the title and the TOC.
- Choose Tools, Reference, Table of Contents
(tab), and click the [Define] button. (If you cannot see a
[Define] button in the Reference Tools dialog that should now
be on screen, see Footnote 2 below.)
- The Define Table of Contents dialog appears.
Type the number of levels (or use the spinner arrows) you want
in the TOC.
- Optional:
- You can Position the page numbering (i.e.,
the numbering format on the TOC page) relative to the text entries
for each level using the fields adjacent to each Level's style.
[The default is to use dot leaders with flush-right page numbers,
but you can use other numbering positions -- or no numbering
at all, in which case the TOC's text entries will be hyperlinked
to the relevant pages.]
- Use the custom [Page Numbering] button to
change the numbering format for any one or more levels. (N.B.:
The [Styles] button lets you change the TOC's text entry
formatting for each TOC level; the [Page Numbering] button
lets you change the TOC's page number formatting for each
level.)
- Click OK, and WordPerfect will insert
a [Def Mark] code at the cursor location -- that is, where the
TOC will be generated -- and a temporary text marker ("<<Table
of Contents will generate here>>") bracketed by a
pair of [Gen Txt] codes..
- Tip: You can
double-click the [Def Mark] code to bring up the Define
Table of Contents dialog if you need to change things.
- Step 3: Generate the TOC with the Generate button. In the next dialog, you
are given two choices: Save Subdocuments and Build
hyperlinks. The first is only useful if you are working in
a Master document which has one or more subdocuments (for more
on this topic see here),
and the second is only useful if you have hypertext links in
the document. Most often, you can just click OK.
See the Tips section below for more
on editing and formatting the TOC, etc.
Lists
- The above three-step method is essentially
the same for creating a List of items with Tools, Reference,
List.
- Mark the List's entries (Step 1 above): You
can select some text first, then click Tools, Reference, List
and give the list a name in the Reference Tools dialog's List
field (if the List has not yet been created or named), then --
with the dialog still on screen -- click on [Mark]. This puts
a paired code around the selected text. Select other text as
required, clicking [Mark] for each selection. (It the list already
has been created, you can choose its name from the List field,
then select the text and click [Mark].)
- When you are done marking items, you need
to Define the List (and Insert it where appropriate) and then
Generate it, in much the same way you Define and Generate a Table
of Contents (Steps 2 and 3 above).
- Note that you can create several differently
named lists in the List field, choosing different ones for different
groups of document items to Mark for inclusion in those Lists.
- You can also create a custom
style that contains the required "mark for inclusion"
codes inside the style: See the next column for an explanation
of this method and how to use it with Lists. When you apply the
style, it will automatically include the item in the List when
you generate the List.
Tips
- Editing the Table of Contents: Once you create a TOC ("generate" it) it
can be edited and formatted just like any other block of text.
(Be sure to back up your document before making such changes.)
The TOC is ordinary (paragraph style) formatted text between
the special [Def Mark][Gen Txt] ... [Gen Txt]
codes. For example, you can select the entire TOC and set new
paragraph spacing with Format, Paragraph, Format, Spacing
between paragraphs. You can also remove any unwanted format attributes,
line breaks, etc.
- Note: Each
time you regenerate a Table of Contents, WordPerfect replaces
the existing TOC -- i.e., everything between the paired [Gen Txt]
codes. Therefore, it might be best to refrain from adding or
changing formatting to text inside (i.e., between) these
paired TOC codes until the final draft of the document.
- However, see Footnote 3
for more information and an example of how to format a TOC into
two columns that survives multiple regenerations of the TOC during
editing.
- Unexpected formatting in the Table of
Contents is typically caused by extraneous
formatting codes that were included in the body text you
selected and marked for the TOC. Use Reveal Codes to make precise
selections (see Step 1 above), or apply standard or custom styles
to body text that already have internal TOC markings (see the
column on the right).
- If you have lots of "non-style"
(i.e., plain text) items to mark,
you can record your TOC-marking steps to create a macro to mark
them more quickly (once they have been selected) for a particular
TOC level. Select an item, then use Tools, Macro, Record
and click Tools, Reference, Table of Contents, then click
[Mark 1] for a top-level entry, [Mark 2] for a second-level
entry, etc. Stop recording with the stop button (
 ) on the macro toolbar.
- Hypertext:
When WordPerfect generates a TOC, it creates hyperlinks around
the page numbers in the TOC. (Hyperlinks become "active"
if you enable Tools, Settings, Environment, Activate Hyperlinks.)
- Tip: To make
just the TOC headings -- the text entries in the TOC -- into
hyperlinks: When you define the TOC (Tools, Reference, Table
of Contents, Define) choose "No Numbering" for
the Numbering Format for each level of the TOC. All TOC entries
will become hyperlinked.
 You
might also be interested in creating an index
for your document. See here. |
[Page top] |
How to "mark" a custom style for
automatic inclusion in a Table of Contents (or List)
The column on the left describes how to mark
ordinary text so that the text will appear in a Table of Contents
(TOC), and also notes that several standard heading styles (Heading
1 ... Heading 5) included with WordPerfect mark their text in
such a way that the text will be automatically included in a
TOC.
But what about custom styles? How can they be set up to automatically include
their text in a Table of Contents?
[For Lists, another Reference
tool, and Outlines, which basically are specially
numbered styles, see the notes under Step 4 below.]
For those who use styles
to format document section and page headings, this is a common
question, since these headings probably should be included in
a TOC, and most people would want them to be included automatically
once the style is applied to a heading's text.
For example, one WordPerfect user who was
hunting for an answer to this question double-clicked on various
standard Heading [Style] codes in Reveal Codes and saw a unique
code inside each one (which turns out to be a special code that
is used to include, or "mark," these Heading styles
for inclusion in a TOC). This prompted the following exchange:
Q:
"I notice that inside the Heading 1 through Heading 5
styles the appropriate [Mrk Txt T.O.C.] code is included. How can I create a new style and
include this code? The 'Help' suggests that it is possible but
the 'How to' doesn't address it."
A:
"It's a little tricky, but simple. Here's how:"
- Step 1. Either
create a new Paragraph heading style or new Character style with
Format, Styles, Create, or edit your existing style with
Format, Styles, <stylename>, Edit.
- Step 2. At
the bottom of the Styles Editor dialog window that opens, be
sure to check (i.e., enable) the box, "Show off codes."
- Note: If you
are creating a new style, the Contents field will be empty.
You should enter the format codes in the Contents field that
will be applied to any text when you apply the style to it. For
example, if you want to create a new Character style that will
apply bold, small caps formatting to selected body text, and
then mark that text for inclusion in your Table of Contents,
click on the Styles Editor's Format, Font menu and check
(enable) the "Bold" and "Small caps" options,
then click OK to return to the Styles Editor and its Contents
field. You should see the new codes for [Bold] and [Sm Cap].
[For more information on styles, see here.]
- Step 3. Now,
in the Contents window of the Styles Editor, select the
code labeled [Codes
to the left are ON, codes to the right are OFF]. An easy way to do this is to put the cursor just
in front of this code, hold down the <Shift> key, and press
the <Right Arrow> key.
- Note: For most
typical heading styles, don't select any formatting (or numbering)
codes unless you also want their formatting to be applied to
those heading items in the Table of Contents, too.
- Step 4. While
this long [Codes to
the left...] code is selected (a [Select> code appears just to the left of it), click Tools,
Reference, Table of Contents from the Styles Editor menu.
The Reference Tools dialog (or, in earlier versions, a Table
of Contents bar) should appear. Choose one of the TOC levels
(e.g., [Mark 1]) and click its button. Click on [Close] to go
back to the Styles Editor. You should now see a pair of
[Mrk Txt T.O.C.] codes appear around the "[Codes to the left...]"
code.
- Lists: If you
are creating a WordPerfect List instead of a Table of Contents,
the above procedure is essentially the same, but instead of Tools,
Reference, Table of Contents in Step 4 you would use Tools,
Reference, List from the Styles Editor menu. Choose
the name of the List (or type one in the field if the field has
no name yet), then click the [Mark] button. Click on [Close]
to go back to the Styles Editor. You should now see a pair
of [Mrk Txt List] codes appear around the "[Codes to the left...]"
code. All custom styles with the same List name will appear in
that List when it is Defined and Generated (see the column on
the left for how to Define and Generate a Table of Contents;
the process is essentially the same for Lists).
- Outlines: You can use the above method to mark an Outline's
levels, too, since they also contain embedded Paragraph styles.
(Outlines
can be created with Insert, Outline... or even more quickly
with the automatic numbering method described here.)
In this case you probably want to include the outline item's
number in the TOC, so be sure to include the [Para Num]
code inside the paired TOC codes, using the <Shift+RightArrow>
method above.
- Step 5. Close
the TOC bar if it is open, and click OK to dismiss the
Styles Editor. When you are ready to create the TOC, see the
column on the left.
Optional
- Want to reuse the new style? While
editing the same document that contains the new paragraph Heading
style that is now marked for the TOC, save (i.e., copy) the
style to your default template so that it can be used in
any new (blank) document based on the default template: Click
Format, Styles, <select the style from the list>, Options,
Copy, Default template, OK.
- Want to create a hyperlink back to
the Table of Contents, so that users can click on the custom
style's text to return to the TOC? Here's how to create such
a "reverse link":
- First, be sure to create a bookmark
at the top of the Table of Contents area. This is where WordPerfect
will return to when the user clicks the custom style. Click on
Tools, Bookmark, Create, and give the bookmark a name
such as TOC. Be sure the bookmark is created outside (i.e., above
or to the left of) the [DefMark][GenTxt]...[GenTxt] codes, so
that it will not be accidentally deleted if you decide to regenerate
the Table of Contents.
- Then follow the steps above -- but instead
of using Tools, Reference, Table of Contents in Step 4,
use Tools, Hyperlink, and then click in the Bookmark drop
list to select the bookmark name (e.g., TOC).
- Tip: You can remove underlines from
hyperlinks in the current document from the main WordPerfect
menu: Click Format, Styles, and select Hypertext in the
'Available styles' list. (Note: If no Hypertext style is present
in the document, the style name will not appear.) Then click
Edit and delete the [Und] code in the Contents pane; then
click OK. Note that this changes all hyperlink styles
in the current document, even those that are used in cross references,
and including the page numbers in the Table of Contents. (It's
an all-or-nothing situation.)
Tips
- You do not need to create a style in
order to mark some text for inclusion in a TOC. As noted in Step 1 in
the left column on this page, just select the text and
click Tools, Reference, Tables of Contents, and then click
the [Mark] button of choice. However, creating custom styles
with the TOC-marking codes inside them (as described above) will
let you apply other formatting to the text items at the same
time you mark those items for inclusion in the TOC. For more
on styles, see here.
- Editing the Table of Contents: Once the TOC is generated (Step 3 in the left column),
you can edit it -- it is ordinary text between the two special
[Gen Txt] codes -- to remove any unwanted attributes, and
remove any line breaks to "glue" the multiple-line
entries into a single entry in the TOC. You can also format it
differently by applying format codes to the entries. Be aware
that these are superficial changes that will disappear if you
re-generate the TOC: Everything between the paired [Gen Txt]
codes will be deleted and replaced when you generate the TOC
again. (For more permanent TOC formatting see the "Advanced
topic" tip below.)
- Multi-level TOC:
You can create multi-level Table of Contents entries by choosing
the appropriate TOC level (e.g., [Mark 2], [Mark 3],
etc.) while using the method described above. You will need to
create (or edit) several styles, one for each level.
- Spacing: If
you want to reduce the spacing between a Paragraph heading
style (e.g., Heading 2 or MyHeadingStyle 5) and the
following body text (i.e., the next paragraph), see here.
- Speed up marking entries: If you have lots of "non-style" (i.e.,
plain text) items to mark for inclusion in the TOC, you can record
your TOC-marking steps to create a macro to mark them more quickly
(once they have been selected) for a particular TOC level. Select
an item, then use Tools, Macro, Record and click Tools,
Reference, Table of Contents, then click [Mark 1] for
a top-level entry, [Mark 2] for a second-level entry, etc.
Stop recording with the Stop button on the macro toolbar.
- Advanced
topic: In contrast to the formatting
contained in standard or custom document Heading styles,
the formatting of the TOC page itself is governed by up
to five predefined TOC styles: TableOfCont1 ... TableOfCont5.
These built-in styles apply to the TOC levels you have chosen
to use in the Define Table of Contents dialog (Step 2, left column
of this web page), and they apply only to the current
document. However, they can be edited to change their format
codes for the current document's TOC. (For a macro technique
to do this, see Footnote 4.) The changes become
effective in the document immediately, so you can do this either
before or after a TOC has been generated in that document. Re-generating
the same document's TOC will not effect their new formatting
since the formatting is now contained inside the TOC page's
style code(s).
- Advanced topic:
As noted above, you do not need to create a style in order to
mark some text for inclusion in a TOC. You can simply select
the text and click Tools, Reference, Tables of Contents,
and then click the [Mark] button of choice. This procedure can
be automated with macros. See Footnote 1.
|
For
some basic information about styles, and several
links to related pages about styles on this site, see here. |
[Page top] |
|
Footnote 1
[Intermediate to Advanced
users]
[Tip: Macros
such as those below can be copied into WordPerfect. See here
for brief instructions.]
Here is a macro that can mark selected
body text for inclusion in a Table of Contents. (Note that this
doesn't mark a previously created custom paragraph style; see
the method described at the top of the right-hand column above.)
The macro marks the selected body text as a Level 1 entry
in the TOC. Modify copies of the macro (as explained below) for
others TOC Levels. The macros can then be assigned to a toolbar
or keystroke combination as explained here.
// Macro code begins -
If(?BlockActive)
MarkTableOfContents ()
Sendkeys("{Alt+1}{Alt+c}")
Else
Messagebox(;;"Select some text first")
Endif
// Macro code ends
Change the "1" in the SendKeys
command to 2, 3, 4,or 5, as needed for the particular TOC Level
desired.
[Not tested in Windows Vista. There are reports
that Sendkeys() can be problematic in the new operating system.]
[Page top]
Footnote
2
[Intermediate to Advanced users]
If you cannot see a Define button in the Reference
Tools dialog and you are using Windows XP, it might be because
Reference Tools dialog has been “truncated.” There's
a setting in Windows XP that might be causing the problem. Right-click
on the Windows desktop, then click Properties (or click the Start
menu, Settings, Control Panel, Display). Click the "Settings"
tab, then click the "Advanced" button in the lower
right-hand corner of that tab. Under DPI setting, make sure the
drop-down displays "Normal size (96 DPI)" rather than
"Large size (120 DPI)". [Click here
for a screen shot of what the Reference Tools dialog should look
like.]
Some users have reported they can increase
the setting beyond 100% (96 DPI). For them, at 117% all buttons
on the Reference Tools dialog's T.O.C. tab are present; at 118%
the bottom buttons are missing because the dialog is truncated.
Note that in some situations increasing the
DPI will make the numbers on your WP ruler invisible. This is
a known issue.
If you still need to increase the size of
dialog (and other Windows elements) text, here's a tip from Charles
Rossiter (Corel C_Tech):
"Instead of changing the dpi, you can
edit the display settings through Windows Start, Settings, Appearance
tab, Advanced button. Click on item, and you get a list of about
20 items. Go through that list and increase every font size by
2 points (as a starter example).
If you increase the size of the characters
that way, without changing the dpi, you will not lose the ruler
measurements, nor disrupt the reference tools dialog."
[Page top]
Footnote
3
[All users]
While you can format the TOC after it has
been generated, you might want some formatting to "stick"
if you have to regenerate it several times. Regenerating the
TOC will delete the existing TOC -- including any changes in
format that you might have made. The trick is to either place
the formatting code before the TOC codes, or select
the entire TOC and its defining codes (as explained below) and
then apply your formatting.
Example: Format
the TOC into two columns.
If you want to format the TOC into columns,
here's a way to do it that lets you regenerate the TOC without
upsetting the column formatting.
1. Back up your document. Generate the TOC
(Tools, Reference, Generate).
2. In Reveal Codes, place your cursor immediately
to the left of the initial |[Def Mark][Gen Txt] codes at the beginning (top) of
your TOC. (The cursor in your Reveal Codes is shown here as a
red "|".)
(N.B.: Also check that no other paragraph
format codes, such as [Para Spacing], are present. Sometimes
these can mysteriously affect the TOC when regenerating it. So
you should apply such formatting after creating the two-column
format.)
3. Hold the Shift key down while you move
down with the arrow or Page Down keys until you have selected
everything in the TOC including the last [Gen Txt]| code.
(Again, the cursor is shown here in red "|".)
4. Click Format, Columns, Balanced newspaper
(if that's what you want), OK.
The TOC should now be in two columns, with
headings and page numbers in the same column(s).
5. Save the document under a different name
to back it up again (as a separate document), just in case there
are problems with the next step.
6. Test things by making a change to a heading
(or other marked TOC item) in the body text area of the document
(e.g., edit a heading's text, or add a new heading, or delete
an old one, or edit the heading [Para Style] to change the marked
TOC level for that heading [as explained above, under "How
to mark a custom style for automatic inclusion in a Table of
Contents"]).
7. Then regenerate the TOC with Tools,
Reference, Generate.
The TOC should remain in two columns, but
the changes you just made should be visible.
Tip: Wait until
the final draft to make any further format changes to the TOC
(back up the document first, of course).
[Page top]
Footnote
4
[Intermediate to Advanced users]
[Tip: Macros
such as those below can be copied into WordPerfect. See here
for brief instructions.]
Here is a sample of a macro that can automatically
change a single Table of Contents style -- the style that
governs the format of the Table of Contents page itself, normally
assigned with the Styles button on the Define Table of Contents
dialog or toolbar.
[For a macro that can change an Index
style, see the next macro below.]
This particular sample macro changes the style
for TOC Level 1, and uses several new format codes, shown in
dark red.
You must use the StyleEditBegin command to "point to"
the appropriate style to revise, then change the various format
commands to your preferences.
You can repeat this code segment four more
times -- one segment for each subsequent TOC Level -- to produce
a single macro that can modify all five levels of the TOC styles
in one operation.
Note that this changes the TOC style for the
current document only. At this time, the most recent version
(WPX3/sp2) sometimes will not allow you to change the
TOC styles in the default template. In any case, it seems to
be a better idea to use a macro to quickly set up a TOC's format
for a particular document, since the new TOC format will
be document-specific. It should be easier than going back into
the default template to change the TOC system styles back to
their defaults if they are not the currently required format
-- assuming you can remember the default formatting for these
five styles.
// Macro code begins -
// Change the Style name in the next command
for other TOC levels:
StyleEditBegin (Style: ToC1Style!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
StyleCodes (State: WithoutOffCodes!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
// Delete everything in the Contents pane:
While(?RightCode>0 or ?RightChar<>"")
DeleteCharNext
Endwhile
// Enter new format code commands here:
HardReturn
Indent
BackTab
FontSize (FontSize: 14p)
Font (Name: "Arial Regular")
AttributeAppearanceOn (Attrib: Bold!)
// Exit from the Styles Editor:
SubstructureExit ()
StyleEditEnd (State: Save!)
// Macro code ends
If you are wondering whether it is possible
to do the same thing with an Index, the answer is yes.
Here's a macro that will change the style of Index level 1 (which
appears as [Para Style: Index1] in Reveal Codes).
Using a macro might be better than saving
the new, modified Index styles to the default template, since
there might be new documents where you do not want the new Index
styles. Moreover, you might want different styles for different
Indexes.
In the same manner as explained for the previous
macro, you would need to create a separate macro for Index level
2. And as with the previous macro, the changes are document-specific.
This particular sample macro changes the style
for Index Level 1, and uses two new format codes, FontSize and
Font, shown in red. You must use the StyleEditBegin command to
"point to" the appropriate style to revise (Index1Style! or Index2Style!), then change the various format commands (in red)
to your preferences.
// Macro code begins:
// Change the Style name in the next command
for other Index levels:
StyleEditBegin (Style: Index1Style!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
StyleCodes (State: WithoutOffCodes!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
// Delete everything in the Contents pane:
While(?RightCode>0 or ?RightChar<>"")
DeleteCharNext
Endwhile
// Enter new format code commands here:
// (The first 4 commands are the WP defaults for Index1 -- i.e.,
level 1)
Indent
Indent
BackTab
BackTab
FontSize (FontSize: 10p) // (new)
Font (Name: "Arial Regular") // (new)
// Exit from the Styles Editor:
SubstructureExit ()
StyleEditEnd (State: Save!)
//Macro code ends
[Page top]
|
Barry MacDonnell's
To create an Index see 