For those who have to work with voluminous text files, the question often arises of how to make content in Word 2007. Manually compiling the content is very time-consuming, in addition, with the slightest change in the formatting, volume or composition of the text, the page numbers in such content must be reconciled. Meanwhile, doing this automatically is very simple.
Auto Content Features
The automatic content in Word 2007 is a list of headings and subheadings. This list differs from the usual one in the following features and features:
- The list is compiled by the program, page numbers are affixed automatically.
- Each line of the list is a link allowing you to dynamically jump to the corresponding part of the document. Clicking on the title while pressing the Ctrl key moves to the corresponding section.
- The list may respond to changes in the document. If the chapter, which originally began on page 56, has moved to page 57, it is enough to update the content so that the page number changes (the cursor on the content area - right-click - “Update table of contents”). The same applies to the titles, number and order of sections, chapters and paragraphs.
Labeling headings and subheadings
Before you make the content in the "Word 2007", you need to prepare the text, marking the headings and subheadings. Pieces of text marked with a specific style or level can be read by the program as elements of content.
Highlight the title, go to the "Home" tab in the program menu, find the "Styles" group. Select the "Heading 1" style. Marking done. In the same way, mark all the titles of other sections or chapters. If the content implies two levels (display of both headings and subheadings) or more, select and mark each subheading one by one with the corresponding styles (“Heading 2”, “Heading 3”, etc.).
An alternative way to markup is to use the tool "Levels of structure" ("Links" - "Table of Contents" - "Add Text" - select a level). In general, for different purposes, both the first and second options are used, and the selected method has almost no effect on how to insert content in Word.
When marking chapter titles, their formatting changes according to the default settings. You can change these settings, but it’s even simpler to re-format the already marked heading, and then use the “Format by sample” tool (the “Home” tab, the “Clipboard” group) to change the appearance of all other headers. By the way, you can also mark headings using this tool: it is enough to mark and format one heading, and all the rest to mark according to its model.
Additional benefits of automatic content
After marking up the document, it will become possible to track its structure using the “Document Outline” option. It allows not only to clearly represent the composition of the text, but also to move very quickly through it.
Go to the “View” tab, in the second group “Show or hide” find this option and check the box. An additional area will appear to the left of the document, in which headings of all levels will be reflected. When you click on the title, the cursor moves to the corresponding section of the document. This is a very convenient feature that can hardly be overestimated when working with voluminous texts of complex structure. The same function will help to eliminate accidental or erroneous markings.
Eliminate accidental or erroneous markings
It is very important to make sure that the document does not contain other marked headings (this can be the case if inserts were made into the text or it was created from several documents, as well as as a result of the “arbitrariness” of the program, which, unfortunately, sometimes happens). It is better to check the text for marked headings before making the content in Word 2007.
The easiest way to identify marked headings that exist in the text is to use the “Document Outline” option. If when opening this field no heading is displayed, then the text does not contain them. If they exist and do not correspond to the real structure of the work, the marking should be removed by changing the style of the marked fragment to “Normal” or by applying the “Format by sample” tool to it, taking the text of a regular paragraph as a sample.
Content Creation
So, how do you make the content in Word 2007? The process consists of two stages - preparing the text and directly creating an automatic list with page numbers.
Position the cursor where the table of contents should begin. In the Links tab, in the Table of Contents group, find the Table of Contents tool. After clicking on this button, you will see a menu, in it you need to click on the tab, which is also called the "Table of Contents" and brings up the dialog box of the same name . It is not difficult to understand its options: with their help, the appearance and functionality of future content is regulated (presence / absence of page numbers, their location on the right edge or next to the text, number of levels, type of placeholder, etc.).
The Parameters button allows you to control the possibility of creating a table of contents based on the selected markup method. If the names were marked using styles, then the corresponding option should be checked with a tick (“Collect table of contents using styles”), if structure levels were used, then the checkmark should be opposite the option “Collect table of contents using structure levels”. Usually both options are checked by default.
Formatting content
The text of the content is formatted in the same way as usual, except that if you change the format of one heading (content line), the program is likely to make identical changes in all other headings of the same level. On the one hand, it is very convenient, on the other, sometimes this is not required. In this case, it is enough to press the keys Ctrl and Z, and these total changes will be eliminated, and a single change will remain.
Often the question arises of how to align content in Word. For this, it is most convenient to use the sliders on the line. Put the cursor on the line of the level of content that you want to change, and move the sliders, and with them the text as required by the design of the document. If you want to change the entire content, select its entire area and use the sliders to adjust the alignment.