Customise your Table of Contents in Microsoft Word
Word's default table of contents almost never fits your document - wrong heading levels showing, formatting that clashes with your brand, page numbers you don't want. Most people assume that's just how it is. It isn't.
In this tutorial I'll show you how to take full control of your table of contents in Word - which headings appear, how it looks, and how it behaves - so it feels like a cohesive, finished part of your document instead of something bolted on.
**This video was originally recorded for Thrive Academy, my separate members-only training library. The Academy is now being retired, so I'm bringing some of its most useful lessons over to the channel where everyone can watch them. **
IN THIS VIDEO:
📑 Why your table of contents is really controlled by your styles
(and why a missing heading is almost always a style problem)
🎨 How to use Custom Table of Contents to set page numbers, tab leaders, hyperlinks, and heading levels
🔢 How to choose exactly which heading levels appear
(and change that per document)
✏️ How to restyle the TOC itself
(using the TOC1–TOC9 styles to match your branding)
🔄 How to update the table after adding new headings
(without losing your custom formatting)
📋 Why this matters
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction - taking control of your table of contents
2:33 Editing your existing table of contents
3:39 Custom TOC options: page numbers, leaders, hyperlinks, levels
5:35 Modifying the TOC styles to your branding
7:44 Adding a new heading and updating the field
8:41 When a heading isn't showing
9:11 Using Options to map styles to TOC levels
10:56 Summary
NOTE: this was recorded for the Academy, so you'll hear me mention "Micro-Magic Tips" emails - that daily email is now the Daily Systems Fix (link below), same idea, one practical tip each morning.
📬 Daily Systems Fix — one practical systems tip every morning, takes 2 minutes to read: https://www.mariannetansley.com/dsf
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