Altering Table of Contents Layout/Format/etc. in Microsoft Word (Add-in)

When creating a table of contents (also referred to as TOC) in an APA, MLA, or Turabian paper, PERRLA utilizes Word's built-in table of contents function. You can view the instructions for adding a table of contents to your PERRLA paper at the following link: Adding a Table of Contents (Add-in).

The table of contents will be formatted with double line spacing, showing all five heading levels, and in the default font format (Times New Roman 12). While there is not a required table of contents format in either APA, MLA, or Turabian, this format is widely accepted since it flows well with the formatting in the rest of the paper.

With that being said, there may be times when you are being required to change the formatting in the table of contents. Remember that PERRLA is utilizing Word's table of contents function to build the TOC, so there isn't a function in PERRLA that can accomplish this. However, you can make any changes to the TOC that you'd like through Word itself.

We are covering the basics, but Word has a number of different formatting possibilities for the table of contents.

These instructions will assume that you have already added a table of contents using PERRLA.

(Note: Once you have made any changes to your table of contents using Word, there is not a quick way to change the format back to the default PERRLA table of contents. You will have to manually change each setting back. Furthermore, applying an entirely new Word table of contents template cannot be undone.)

Applying a Word table of contents template

Word has a number of built-in table of contents templates that you can choose from. To access these and apply them to your PERRLA-created table of contents, follow these instructions.

1. Highlight your table of contents.
2. Click Word's References tab.
3. Click the Table of Contents button.
4. Click the template that you'd like to apply to your TOC.

The format of the table of contents will now be changed to reflect the template that you chose.

Changing which heading levels appear in the TOC

By default, your table of contents will include heading level 1 through heading level 5. If you're needing to show fewer heading levels in the TOC, follow these steps.

1. Highlight your table of contents.
2. Click Word's References tab.
3. Choose Custom Table of Contents...
4. Find Show levels and change the number to the largest heading level that you'd like to show.
   For example, if you only want to show headings 1 through 3, then change this number to 3. If you only want to show headings 1 and 2, change this number to 2. And so on.
5. Click the OK button.
6. Click the Yes button on the Replace this table of contents? screen.

The table of contents will be updated to include the heading levels of your choice.

Customize other aspects of the TOC

All of the customizations of the table of contents will be done from the Table of Contents screen that is accessed by clicking Custom Table of Contents... in the instructions above. 

Overview of what can be found on this screen:

• Show page numbers
  By default, the page numbers will appear in the table of contents. If you do not need them to appear, uncheck this box.
• Right align page numbers
  The page numbers are right-aligned in the table of contents by default. Unchecking this box will place the page numbers to the immediate right of the TOC entries.
• Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers
  Clicking an entry in the TOC will bring you to that section in the paper. If you want to turn off that feature, uncheck this box.
• Tab leader
  A table of contents entry is followed by ..... then the page number. You can change this using the dropdown box next to this option.
• Formats
  The default option is "Format template." You can change to any of the other options, and a preview will show in the window to the right.

Click the OK button to apply any changes that you make on this screen.

You will also notice a Modify... button and an Options... button. These buttons are used for more advanced formatting of the table of contents. For example, you can use the Modify... button to change the font, indentation, or line spacing of specific heading levels in the table of contents. The links below from Microsoft's own help articles should help you with making these types of changes.

Format or customize a table of contents

Custom table of contents

Using Word's functions to customize the formatting in the table of contents can get very in-depth, but you should be able to accomplish almost any formatting you'd like in the table of contents.