Table of Figures and Table of Contents switches

Word 365
Word inserts a Table of Contents and Table of Figures as a TOC field (see how to work with fields in Word). The TOC field collects entries for an appropriate Table using Heading styles, other specified styles, captions, or Table of Contents Entries.

Also, Word offers many useful features you can use in the Table of Contents and Table of Figures by adding and specifying switches. Below you can see an example for some switches.

Display the TOC field

The TOC field looks like this:

TOC field in Word 365

To display the field instead of the existing Table of Contents or Table of Figures, do the following:

   1.   Select all lines of the Table of Contents or Table of Figures, including the last, empty one (see how to select the Table of Contents).

   2.   Right-click and select Toggle Field Codes in the popup menu:

Toggle Field Codes in Word 365

Note: If you did not select all lines for the Table, you see something like this Hyperlink field in Word 365. Select them again and do Toggle Field Codes again. Word displays the TOC field instead of the Table with all used switches.

Switches that include or exclude the entries

Specify Heading levels

\o Levels – specifies the Heading levels to include in the Table of Contents. By default, Word includes Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 levels:

The \o switch for TOC field in Word 365

Note: The Levels can be used with or without quotes.

Table of Contents with \o switch in Word 365

You can specify other levels. For example, the above Table of Contents includes only Heading 2 and Heading 3:

Example \o switch for TOC field in Word 365

Example Table of Contents with \o switch in Word 365

Note: You can not use the non-continuous range such as “1-2,4”. See the \t switch to use other styles.


Include custom, non-heading, or non-continuous heading styles

\t "Style, Level, Style, Level, ..." – includes the non-heading, custom styles in the specified levels. You also can include non-continuous Headings.

  • Styles should be referenced by their names,
  • The entry-level in the Table of Contents for the style follows the style name and defines the level number 1, 2, ...

Be careful! The styles and levels should be separated by the comma (,) or semicolon (;), depending on which character is specified as the list separator in your operating system. All styles and levels should be in the quotes.

Example 1: The Table of Contents includes:

  • The Custom style in level 2,
  • The Heading 5 style in level 3:
The \t switch for TOC field in Word 365

Table of Contents with \t switch in Word 365

Note: You can use both the \o switch and the \t switches to create a Table of Contents from the Heading and non-heading styles. For example, the Table of Contents includes the Heading 1, Heading 5, and Custom styles:

Example 1 \t switch for TOC field in Word 365
Example 1 Table of Contents with \t switch in Word 365

Example 2: The Table of Figures includes all captions in a Word document:

Example 2 \t switch for TOC field in Word 365
Example 2 Table of Contents with \t switch in Word 365

Include captions created in the Caption dialog (with numbers)

\c Identifier – includes captions of figures, tables, charts, or other visual objects specified by the Caption functionality (see figure captions, table captions, etc.).

For example, the Table of Figures includes all table captions in the Word document:

The \c switch for TOC field in Word 365

Note: The Identifier can be used with or without quotes. So, The \c switch for TOC field in Word 365 and The \c switch 1 for TOC field in Word 365 both work correctly.

Table of Contents with \c switch in Word 365

Notes:

  1. To create the Table of Figures with different caption types, use the \t switch for the Caption style (or any other style).
  2. Use the \a switch to create a Table of Figures without labels and numbers.

Include captions created by the Caption feature without labels and numbers

\a Identifier – includes captions of figures, tables, charts, or other visual objects that are created in the Caption dialog but omits caption labels and numbers (see figure captions, table captions, etc.).

For example, the Table of Figures includes all table titles captioned using the Caption dialog without labels and numbers:

The \a switch for TOC field in Word 365

Note: The Identifier can be used with or without quotes.

Table of Contents with \a switch in Word 365

Notes:

  1. To create the Table of Figures with different caption types, use the \t switch for the Caption style (or any other style).
  2. Use the \c switch to create a Table of Figures with labels and numbers.

Include the Table of Contents Entry

\f Entry_Identifier – includes the specified Table of Contents Entry (see how to create Table Entries).

Note: When you select the Table Entry check box:

Example 1: There are TC fields in a document (see Add parts of the paragraph or even non-existing phrase to the Table of Contents for more details):

TC - non-existing phrases in Word 365

The Table of Contents includes the Table Entries specified as H:

Example 1 \f switch for TOC field in Word 365 (see about the switch \n below)
Table of Contents - non-existing phrases in Word 365

Example 2: There are TC fields associated with the table titles in a document (see Add two- or three- lines headings, titles, captions in the Table of Contents or Table of Figures for more details):

Table entry fields 1 in Word 365

***

Table entry fields 2 in Word 365

The Table of Figures includes the Table Entries specified as T:

Example 2 \f switch for TOC field in Word 365
Table entry fields in Table of Figures Word 365

Include the Table of Contents Entries with specified levels

\l Levels – includes the specified levels of the Table of Contents Entry (see how to create Table Entries).

For example, if the text contains several different TC fields:

The Table of Contents includes the Table Entries specified as H with levels 1-2:

Example 1 \l switch for TOC field in Word 365
Example 1 Table of Contents with \l switch in Word 365

The Table of Contents includes the Table Entries specified as H with level 4:

Example 2 \l switch for TOC field in Word 365
Example 2 Table of Contents with \l switch in Word 365

Limit the Table of Contents entries by some parts of the document

\b BookmarkName – collects entries only from the part of the document marked by the specified Bookmark.

For example, using the \b switch, you can create multiple Table of Contents in one document:

Table of Contents in Word 365

See how to create multiple Tables of Contents in one document for more details.

Switches for formatting


Hide the page numbers for some levels

\n Levels – hides page numbers (or omits page numbers) from the Table of Contents for the specified levels.

Example 1: The Table of Contents without page numbers (see Example 1 in Include the Table of Contents Entry above):

Example 1 \n switch for TOC field in Word 365
Table of Contents - non-existing phrases in Word 365

Example 2: The Table of Contents with skipped page numbers for level 1:

Example 2 \n switch for TOC field in Word 365

Example 2 Table of Contents with \n switch in Word 365

Use entries as hyperlinks

\h - inserts entries as hyperlinks.

The entries of the Table of Contents or Table of figures are not displayed as hyperlinks, but they can be clicked to move to the defined heading, caption, or title. By default, you need to click Ctrl+Click to follow to link. You can customize your Word to use just Click to follow to link.

Without that switch, you can't link to the heading from the Table of Contents or Table of Figures.

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