Add a table of contents
last updated at: 1 Nov 2026
A table of contents lists your document's headings, each indented by its level. It keeps itself up to date: rename, add, or remove a heading and the table of contents changes with it, for everyone who has the document open.
Add a table of contents
- Click where the table of contents should go, in a paragraph of your text. In the middle of a paragraph, the table of contents splits it in two.
- Open the Insert menu and choose Table of contents.
The new table of contents is selected, and the Table of contents panel opens on the right side of the editor, so you can choose how it looks right away. It lists your headings from Heading 1 to Heading 3. A heading with no text, the Title, and the Subtitle aren't listed. To turn a line into a heading, see Format text. Until the document has headings, the table of contents shows Headings you add appear here.
Choose how it looks
- Click anywhere on the table of contents to select it. A blue outline shows around it, and the Table of contents panel opens on the right side of the editor. You can also right-click it and choose Table of contents options.
- Under Layout, choose a Format:
- Plain text: each heading with its page number.
- Dotted: each heading with a row of dots leading to its page number.
- Links: each heading as a link, without page numbers.
- Under Layout, choose a number from 1 to 6 for Levels. With 2, it lists Heading 1 and Heading 2.
- Under Text, choose a Level. All levels changes every line, and Level 1 to Level 6 change only the lines of that heading level.
- Choose a Font and a Size, and turn bold or italic on or off with the buttons next to Style.
Each change shows at once, for everyone who has the document open. A level you don't change uses your document's normal text. The panel opens on a computer or a tablet, for people who can edit the document. On a phone, you can't change these options.
A document without pages has no page numbers to show, so in the editor, the PDF, and the web page its table of contents always looks like Links, and Format offers only Links. Your choice comes back when you switch the document to pages again. See Use page-less mode.
Where each format shows
The editor shows your document as one long page, so its table of contents never shows page numbers or dots there. Plain text and Dotted look the same in the editor, and Links shows the headings as underlined links.
| Format | PDF and print | Word file | Web page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain text | Page numbers at the right edge | Page numbers at the right edge | Headings, with no page numbers; a line underlines when the pointer is on it |
| Dotted | Dots, then page numbers | Dots, then page numbers | Headings, with no page numbers; a line underlines when the pointer is on it |
| Links | Underlined links, no page numbers | Headings, no page numbers; they jump to the heading but are not coloured | Underlined links, no page numbers |
In the Word file, the page numbers fill in when Word updates the table of contents. The fonts, sizes, bold, and italic you chose show in the PDF, the Word file, and the web page too.
Go to a heading
Hold ⌘ (on Windows and Linux, Ctrl) and click a line in the table of contents. Your cursor moves to the start of that heading and the page scrolls to it. A plain click selects the table of contents instead, so you can change its options.
On a touch screen, tap the table of contents once to select it, then tap a line to go to its heading. If you can only view the document, click or tap a line to go there.
Remove a table of contents
Click the table of contents to select it, then press Backspace. You can also right-click it and choose Delete table of contents.
Good to know
- A table of contents goes between paragraphs of your text. It can't go in a table, a list, a quote, a header, a footer, or a footnote, so Table of contents is grayed out there.
- A Word file keeps one look for all its tables of contents. If your document has two with different fonts, both come back from the Word file with the first one's look.
- A table of contents in a Word file you import becomes one that lists your document's headings, in the format and fonts Word gave it. See Import a Word document.