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Macros, tips, and templates for Corel® WordPerfect® for Windows®
© Copyright 1996-2024 by Barry MacDonnell. All Rights Reserved.

How to create a
Table of Contents
and how to automatically include items in it

The following 3 steps are quick and easy to do — in fact, they are easier to do than to describe. Many of the annotations, tips, etc., are primarily for reference and to help you fix TOC format issues that might arise.

You can skip Step 1 if you are using only the 5 standard Heading styles that are included with WordPerfect and/or specially marked custom styles or outline styles (see below), since these special styles will automatically include their text as entries in the TOC when you complete Step 3.

However, continue with Step 1 if you have regular text (even if it is initially formatted) that you want to automatically include in the TOC. This is a simple select-and-click process. (For WordPerfect Outlines or other existing styles used in the document, you will want to mark their format codes in a special way; see the next main section below.)

Note that you can use both the 5 standard Heading styles (including any specially marked custom or outline styles) and manually marked text in the same document.

---

Step 1.  Mark the words or phrases in your document that you want included in the TOC. These typically include chapter titles, section headings, etc.

Step 1(b).  Mark the selected text. 

Click on Tools, Reference, Table of Contents.

The Reference Tools dialog appears:

Click on the [Mark 1] button to mark it as a top-level TOC entry (e.g., all your Heading 1's), the [Mark 2] button to mark it as a second-level TOC entry (e.g., all your Heading 2's), and so forth.

As noted on the dialog, each button simply corresponds to a desired level of indentation in the TOC — i.e., the number of indents from the left margin. (The tab setting at that location determines the actual amount of indentation for each level chosen.)

The result of using these buttons on the currently selected document text can be seen in Reveal Codes as pairs of "On/Off" codes surrounding the text, depending on the chosen level of indentation: [Mrk Txt T.O.C.: 1], [Mrk Txt T.O.C.: 2], etc.

Repeat Steps 1(a) amd 1(b) as needed.  It you need to mark more items later, just repeat Step 1. Then repeat Step 2 (if a TOC does not yet exist) and/or Step 3 (if a TOC exists so as to regenerate it and display the changes).

Tips

¤  This dialog will remain on screen until dismissed. Note that it can be dragged to reposition it by first placing the mouse cursor on the title bar until the cursor changes to a 4-headed arrow. Also, if you drag it to the top or bottom of the document area it will become docked above the ruler area or below the Reveal Codes area, respectively. To undock it, place the mouse cursor on an empty part of the Reference Tools's tab area or the bottom area first, then drag it back to the main document area.

¤  You can use small macros to automate marking the text.
See Footnote 1 below.

¤  Do you have a problem seeing the entire Reference Tools dialog? If you cannot see the [Define] button (or any of the other options on the line below that button) it might be because Reference Tools dialog has been “truncated.” There's a Windows setting that might be causing the problem. See Footnote 2 below.

Step 2(b). On the Tools, Reference, Table of Contents (tab) click the [Define] button:

[Can't see the [Define] button? See tip above.]

The Define Table of Contents dialog appears:

Step 2(c).  Choose the number of levels that you want to use in the TOC.

At the top of the Define Table of Contents dialog, type a number in the "Number of levels (1-5)" field or click on a spinner arrow in that field to set the number.

For example:

If you used both the Heading 1 and Heading 2 styles in the document, you could set the number to 2.

Typically, you might set more than one level (the maximum is 5 levels). Setting extra levels, even if you don't need them, is harmless — although it means that you probably will see a lot of indented ("stepped") entries in the TOC if you actually used some of the other 5 Heading styles and/or you manually marked items using more than one or two TOC levels (in Step 1(b)).

You can also set fewer levels than were actually used in the document. The "Number of levels" set in this dialog simply means the number you want to use (i.e., display) in your TOC; the items marked in the body of the document are not affected (i.e., changed or deleted) by this setting.

Note that you can always change any of the settings in this dialog later, as explained in Step 2(d) below.

Optional:

•  You can set the Position of the page numbering (i.e., the numbering format on the TOC page) relative to the text entries for each level using the fields adjacent to each Level's style. [The default is to use dot leaders with flush-right page numbers, but you can use other numbering positions — or no numbering at all, in which case the TOC's text entries will be hyperlinked to the relevant pages.]

•  The [Styles] button lets you change the TOC's text format for each level in the TOC area (not in the body text area) to some other pre-existing custom paragraph style (see the Advanced Topic#1 tip below).

•  Use the custom [Page Numbering] button to change the numbering format for any of the levels.

Step 3(a).  Click the Generate button at the bottom of the Reference Tools dialog. 

Tips:
- This function is also located on the main Tools, Reference menu.
- For more on the Auto geenerate button check box see below.

In the Generate dialog that appears, you are given two choices: Save Subdocuments, and Build hyperlinks. Both are enabled by defauult.



The first option is useful if you are working in a Master document which has one or more subdocuments (for more on this topic see here). If you are not working in a Master document this option has no effect. [Note that the program must open each linked subdocument, generate it, then re-save it. This might not be desirable during some editing operations, and in any case it might take some time if there are many subdocuments. If this is the case simply disable (clear) the check box.]

The second option is useful if you have (or need to have) hypertext links in the document — such as those applied to the TOC and Index page numbers. If the document is to be printed on paper you can disable this option to prevent hyperlinks from being created and showing up as blue underlines in the printed document. (Tip: If they already exist in a document the blue underlines can be removed with or without deactivating the hyperlinks: see here which also shows another way of preventing them.)

  Regenerate!

   Custom TOC layouts - Editing and formatting the Table of Contents.

•  Use WordPerfect column formatting on the TOC.

See Footnote 3.

You can create multiple versions of a Table of Contents at different locations in the same document, each one relevant just to the adjacent section of the document. (This trick is based on a tip described by Noal Mellott in a post on WordPerfect Universe.)

A note before you try this method...

A potential problem with using multiple Tables of Contents — i.e., extra copies of the generated TOC interspersed in the body of the document — is that their entries (and page numbers) typically refer to document items (e.g., Headings, Chapters, etc.) further down in the document.

So making one or more duplicates of the generated TOC (see method below) and inserting them into the document will push down the material that follows the insertion(s). This is what happens when any text or other material is inserted above a given point — and a generated TOC is mostly text with some specialized format codes.

Conversely, deleting some entries — as suggested below — in one of the TOC copies will "close up" the material below that TOC, and this might, and likely will, affect the accuracy of entries in one or more of the document's TOCs.

Further, re-generating the TOCs will not help since it will remove all but one of the TOCs (there can normally be only one TOC is a document), and remove all intra-TOC edits, such as special formatting, as well.

The result of the method below is a possibility that each TOC in the document will have entries and corresponding page numbers that no longer accurately point to some of the actual (referenced) items in the body of the document.

Possible solutions or alternatives:

•  Add an extra empty page (or pages) with Ctrl+Enter where you want to insert the additional TOCs — i.e., "reserve" a space large enough at each location for the extra TOC copy — before you generate the initial TOC. Once generated, it should help maintain TOC pagination.
(Or else create the space after you have edited the copies to restore proper pagination; see step 6 below. Some experimentation might be required.)

•  Use a WordPerfect List at each location where a "Table of Contents" is needed. This feature is similar to a TOC in that it associates page numbers with entries in the List. It is less complicated than the method below, but the process is otherwise similar to generating a TOC.

Advantages:

1. You can place the List wherever you want in the document.
2. More than one List can exist in the document. Each List can be different from other Lists, and can be easily updated as needed.
3. A Table of Contents in a document can reference one or more Lists — they are not mutually exclusive.

But there are some small disadvantages:

1.  You will need to manually mark each item in the document for a List, whereas the Heading styles or custom-marked styles described elsewhere on this page can include the items automatically in a TOC.
2.  WordPerfect Lists do not have "levels" like a TOC, so you would need to format (indent) items to create them — though this is easy to do.

Method:

  Unexpected formatting in the Table of Contents is typically caused by extraneous formatting codes (e.g., [bold] or [italics], or [Tab] codes, or even numbering codes) that were included in the body text you manually selected and marked for the TOC (see Step 1 above).

  If you have lots of "non-style" (i.e., plain text) items to mark, you can record your TOC-marking steps to create a macro to mark them more quickly (once they have been selected) for a particular TOC level. Select an item, then use Tools, Macro, Record and click Tools, Reference, Table of Contents, then click [Mark 1] for a top-level entry, [Mark 2] for a second-level entry, etc. Stop recording with the stop button (  ) on the macro toolbar.

  Hypertext (hyperlinked text). When WordPerfect generates a TOC it typically creates hyperlinks around the page numbers in the TOC. (It also does this when generating an Index or a List.)

Notes and tips

¤  Automatic creation of hyperlinks assumes you have enabled the Build hyperlinks option when generating (or re-generating) the TOC.
See Step 3 above.

¤ Hyperlinks become "active" when you enable Tools, Settings, Environment, Activate Hyperlinks. Note that this setting is stored in the document when it is saved.

¤  If the document is to be printed on paper you can disable this option to prevent hyperlinks from being created and showing up as blue underlines in the printed document. Also, if they already exist the blue underlines can be removed (with or without deactivating them).
See Step 3 above.

¤ See also "Why some hyperlinks can fail to work while inside WordPerfect documents (.WPD, .WPT)".

  Remove page numbers from the Table of Contents. You can hyperlink just the text entries in the TOC rather than using hyperlinked page numbers. When you define the TOC (Tools, Reference, Table of Contents, Define) choose "No Numbering" for the Numbering Format for each level of the TOC. All TOC text entries will become hyperlinked. [See previous tip about hypertext above).]

  Change the dot leader characters that connect to Table of Contents page numbers. The program typically uses dot leaders to connect TOC entries with their associated page numbers. But you don't have to settle for the default "dots". See Footnote 5 for how to change them or add spacing between each character.

  Auto generate option on the Reference Tools dialog. Note that the "Auto generate" check box option at the bottom of the Reference Tools dialog is enabled (ticked) by default when you first install the program.

Purpose:

The Auto generate option (see image above) automatically detects the presence of any Reference Tools in the current document, and allows the program to display the small Generate dialog below whenever you try to print or save the document.

Despite its name, the Auto generate option does not automatically generate the current document without user intervention — which is something you might not want, especially during creation or editing the document.

Instead, it automatically displays the Generate dialog to alert you of the possible need to generate the current document (and any subdocuments) if it contains any of the Reference Tools (e.g., entries and related page numbers in a Table of Contents (TOC), Index, cross references, etc.), in case you have made any changes in the document that might affect these items.

For example, adding a section to the document during the editing phase will most likely require an update to any existing Table of Contents to include any marked headings in that new section and their page numbers, as well as require the updating of the remainder of the TOC.

And, if the current document is a Master document, it also alerts you to the possible need to generate and save changes in any (linked) Subdocuments (for more on the Master documents and Subdocuments see here).

Briefly, the Generate dialog options instruct the program to -

•  save any subdocuments (the program will open each one, generate it, then overwrite the original, which can take some time); and/or

•  build or update (rebuild) all Reference Tools' entries and their related hyperlinks/page numbers in the current document, which should be fairly quick.



See a bit more detail about these two options above.

Note: 

Some users have found that if the Auto generate option is enabled one or more irritations or problems can occur, such as:

(1) the Generate dialog always pops up each time the document is saved or printed — even if the document has no Reference Tools in it;

    and/or

(2) the cursor can unexpectantly move to the bottom of the screen;

    and/or

(3) selected text might not be printed (WP11 and later versions);

    and/or

(4) printing can sometimes be slowed.

The remedy is the same:

Disable the option — but remember to manually re-generate the document (Tools, Reference, Generate) whenever changes are made to it that might affect any reference tools you have used.

Let's assume you previously created a (Paragraph) Heading 2 style ("NewHeading2") that formats the style's text in a large, bold, dark blue color and you have opened that style in the Styles Editor (Step 1 above) to edit it (next image). [Note that the procedure also applies to creating a new style (see the Note below the next image).]

At the bottom of the Styles Editor dialog be sure to enable (tick) the two check boxes "Reveal codes" and "Show 'off codes'".



The first box lets you edit the Contents area by making format codes visible, and is typically enabled by default. 

Enabling (ticking) the second box lets you perform Step 3.

In the Contents field of the Styles Editor, select just the single, long code labeled [Codes to the left are ON, codes to the right are OFF].



An easy way to do this with your mouse is to put the block cursor in front of this code (just click there) as shown, then hold down the <Shift> key, and press the <Right Arrow> key once.

While this long [Codes to the left...] code is selected (a [Select> code appears just to the left of it as shown in the image above) click Tools, Reference, Table of Contents from the Styles Editor's menu at the top of that dialog. The Reference Tools dialog (or, in earlier versions, a Table of Contents bar) should appear:



Step 4(a) On that dialog (or bar) decide on one of the TOC levels (e.g., for the example here we would choose [Mark 2] for a second level TOC entry) and click its button.

Step 4(b) Click on the [Close] button to go back to the Styles Editor.

Note here that the "Auto generate" box on that dialog was disabled — i.e., not ticked — for this example. This is the author's general preference; see above for the reasons.

You should now see a pair of [Mrk Txt T.O.C.] codes appear, bracketing the [Codes to the left...] code in this sequence:

Here, the block cursor in the Contents field was moved to the upper left of the field in this image to let you see the entire Contents field.

Note also that when you bracket the long [Codes to the left...] code with any pair of format codes (as was done here), the "Show 'off codes'" box will have no further effect: The long code will always be visible in the Editor for that style.

Notes on similar methods for Outlines and Lists ¤ WordPerfect Outlines You can use most of the 4-step method above to mark an Outline's levels so they can be included in a Table of Contents, since they also contain embedded Paragraph styles. [Outlines can be created with Insert, Outline... — or even more quickly with the automatic numbering method described here. Further, custom outline schemes (explained on that linked page) can be set up and saved in your default template with their levels marked for inclusion in a Table of Contents using the special codes below.] The easiest way to mark them in the current document might be to - [1] first create the entire outline in the main document (or at least one instance of each level that could appear in the TOC); [2] edit (double-click on) a single instance of each level's [Para Style...] code in Reveal Codes in the main document; [3] be sure the "Show 'off codes'" box is enabled (ticked) in the Editor that appears (see image below); this displays the long "placeholder" [Codes to the left...]; [4] (unlike Step 3 above) select the entire contents of the Editor's pane (Shift+arrow works well to select material while moving the cursor); and then [5] add the paired [Mrk Txt T.O.C.] codes around the selected material, like this: - Click on Tools on the Styles Editor's menu (see image below), then click Reference, Table of Contents; - on the Reference Tools dialog that appears, click the Mark button for the desired TOC level (Mark 1 - Mark 5 as shown in the image in Step 4 above); then - click on Close, then OK. - Repeat steps 2-5 for one instance of each of your other outline level's [Para Style] codes. (Modifying one instance of a given level's style modifies all instances of that level in the document.) Important: You'll want to be sure to include the outline item's number/letter code in the TOC's entries, so include the [Para Num] code inside the paired TOC codes. (See next image.) The screen shot below is an example of the result of marking an instance of an outline style for inclusion in the TOC. (Here, it's Level 1 of the outline.) Once the TOC is generated, each such marked outline level in the document will appear at that level in the TOC — i.e., at the same indentation from the left page margin in the TOC as the outline's indentation in the main document. Note the existence and placement of the beginning and ending [Mrk Txt T.O.C.] code pairs in the Contents pane: Other outline levels (2, 3, etc.) will have more [Hd Left Ind] codes. Tip Shorter blocks of text used for an Outline level (e.g., a single line or a short paragraph) that are marked for inclusion in the TOC using the method above might be preferable to several long paragraphs, since otherwise all sequential paragraphs of text at that particular Outline level entry will show up in the TOC as a single TOC entry. You can easily work around this issue of too-large TOC entries by simply - • stopping the affected outline level in the main document immediately after a short phrase or sentence (e.g., used as the section heading) with the Enter key followed immediately by the Backspace key (to remove the next entry's number/letter; •  indenting the following paragraph(s) of normal text to match the Outline's indentation for that level; •  starting the Outline again (e.g., with the outline shortcut key*) for the next numbered item. [Reference: See the Outlines page or the automatic numbering page for methods of quickly starting, stopping, or toggling outlines as you type.] The short phrase or sentence will then show up by itself in the TOC since the following paragraphs in that Outline level in the main document were essentially excluded from that level's style. ---------- * The factory designated shortcut key to start or stop an outline is <Ctrl+H> (or if you use the DOS keyboard, <Ctrl+T>). This topic is covered under "Stopping and restarting and outline" on the Outlines page. ¤ WordPerfect Lists Each item is (or already should be) marked for inclusion in the List, and when the List is generated the list item will point to the page where the item is located — just like a TOC. Thus, you probably would not want every item in the List to also appear in a TOC! However, to include a single reference in the TOC to the entire List, either - [A} use a text phrase to introduce the List (e.g., "List of Figures") in the body text area and then either apply a standard WordPerfect Heading style to that phrase in the document, or - [B] apply a custom style to it that was previously internally marked as describe above.

Method A: To create a back link to the TOC using a custom text style (above), add the hyperlink inside the custom text style's format code:

•  In the Styles Editor's Contents pane: Select the "long code" ("Codes to the left...") as described in Step 3 of the "mark a custom text style" above. Then use Tools, Hyperlink to open the Hyperlink Properties dialog.

•  In the Hyperlink Properties dialog: The Document/Macro field in that dialog should be set to the default of <current document> *. Click in the Bookmark drop list in that dialog to select the existing bookmark name (e.g., CONTENTS). [Screen shot] Click OK to close that dialog. A pair of [Hyperlink] codes should surround the long code. When you are finished creating or editing the style and the style is applied to some document text, that text becomes a clickable link.

- - -
* Use the Document/Macro field's default <current document> choice when linking anywhere inside the currently open (on screen) document. To link to some other document on your disk, you can click the Browse button  on the right side of the Document/Macro field.

Method B: To create a back link to the TOC using any document text, add the hyperlink in the main document's text areas (i.e., body text, header, footer, footnote, endnote, text box, etc.):

•  In the main document area: Select some document text to use for the reverse link. This can be in the body text, or inside a header or footer or other document "substructure" such as footnote, endnote or text box. Then use Tools, Hyperlink to open the Hyperlink Properties dialog.

•  In the Hyperlink Properties dialog: The Document/Macro field in that dialog should be set to the default of <current document> *. Click in the Bookmark drop list in that dialog to select the existing bookmark name (e.g., CONTENTS). [Screen shot] Click OK to close that dialog. A pair of [Hyperlink] codes should surround the previously selected text. The text immediately becomes a clickable link.

- - -
* Use the Document/Macro field's default <current document> choice when linking anywhere inside the currently open (on screen) document. To link to some other document on your disk, you can click the Browse button  on the right side of the Document/Macro field.

•  For some general information about styles and several links to related pages about styles on this site see here.

[...Continued from above...]

[Tip:  Macros such as those below can be copied into WordPerfect. See here for brief instructions.]

Example 1:

Here is a macro that can mark selected body text for inclusion in a Table of Contents. You might find it easier or quicker than using Tools, Reference, Table of Contents and then clicking the Mark button. Such macros can be assigned to keyboard shortcuts, toolbars, or menus for rapid access.

Note that this macro (or the manual marking method described above) doesn't accurately mark body text to which a Heading style was previously applied, or to which a previously created custom paragraph style with internal TOC marks was applied. Therefore it should not be used on those items. To mark such items for the TOC, see the method described at the top of the right-hand column above, "How to mark a custom style...".

The sample macro below marks the selected body text as a Level 1 entry in the TOC. You will need to modify several copies of the macro (as explained below) for other TOC Levels. (Advanced users: You could combine all five TOCMark() commands in a "two-key" macro.)

// Macro code begins -
If(?BlockActive)
   TOCMark(1)
Else
   Messagebox(;;"Select some text first")
Endif
// Macro code ends

Note: Change the "1" in the TOCMark(1) command to 2, 3, 4,or 5, as needed for the particular TOC Level desired.

Tip: Items marked for inclusion in a TOC by using the manual method (see above), or by using this macro, can later be modified to change their TOC Level by re-selecting them in the document's text and applying a new level. A macro to go though the document and stop at each item to allow you to change the level can be found on WordPerfect Universe here.

Example 2:

If you created custom styles for the purpose of applying a style that was marked for inclusion in a TOC (discussed above), here is an example of how to use a macro to quickly apply that custom style to selected text. Then, simple macros, each containing the special command StyleOn("nameofstyle"), can apply the custom style to selected text. (Note: Change "nameofstyle" to your style's name, but retain the double quote marks.)

// Macro code begins -
If(?BlockActive)
   StyleOn("nameofstyle")
Else
   Messagebox(;;"Select some text first")
Endif
// Macro code ends

Note: Change "nameofstyle" to your style's name, but retain the double quote marks.

Tip: Custom styles can be easily changed by editing them, or replaced with another style with a macro such as ReplStyl.

Tip: An alternative to using this macro is to use the Text Property Bar's "Select Style" drop list to choose the style and apply it to selected text. If the macro is assigned to a keyboard shortcut, it may be faster to apply the style than using the mouse.

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[...Continued from above...]

If you cannot see a Define button in the Reference Tools dialog (or any of the other options on the line below that button) it might be because Reference Tools dialog has been “truncated.”

There's a setting in Windows that might be causing the problem, relating to the number of Dots (i.e., pixels) Per Inch (DPI) setting for your computer screen. 

Windows XP:

Right-click on the Windows XP desktop, then click Properties (or click the Start menu, Settings, Control Panel, Display). Click the "Settings" tab, then click the "Advanced" button in the lower right-hand corner of that tab. Under DPI setting, make sure the drop-down displays "Normal size (96 DPI)" rather than "Large size (120 DPI)". See notes and tips below.

Windows Vista/7: 

Open "Screen Resolution" by clicking the Start button on your desktop, clicking Control Panel, and then, under Appearance and Personalization, clicking "Adjust screen resolution". An option there ("Make text and other items larger or smaller") lets you set the sizes of text and other items to Smaller, Medium, and Larger. If you want to fine tune the setting: Click on "Set custom text size (DPI)" in the left pane; click the scale (ruler) and drag the setting to whatever percentage size increase you want (100%-500%); then click OK. (If you prefer, you can type a number between 100 and 500 in the box next to "Scale to this percentage of normal size," and then click OK.) On the Display screen, click Apply. The change will take effect the next time you log on. See notes and tips below.

Notes

¤  Some users have reported on the results of increasing the DPI setting beyond 100% (96 DPI). For them, at 117% all buttons on the Reference Tools dialog's tabs are present; at 118% the bottom buttons are missing because the dialog is truncated. [Update 3/22/14: One user reported the 117% setting also worked with the eBook Publisher dialog included with WPX6.]

¤  Note that in some situations changing the DPI will make the numbers on your WordPerfect ruler invisible. This is a known issue [and still exists in at least WPX7]

¤  Note that some DPI changes can affect other programs, too. Always test your installed programs after changing DPI settings. You can always restore the DPI to default settings or perhaps to a setting that does not impact any programs.

¤  If you still need to increase the size of dialog (and other Windows elements) text, here's a tip from Charles Rossiter (Corel C_Tech):

[In Windows XP:] "Instead of changing the dpi, you can edit the display settings through Windows Start, Settings, Appearance tab, Advanced button. Click on item, and you get a list of about 20 items. Go through that list and increase every font size by 2 points (as a starter example).

If you increase the size of the characters that way, without changing the dpi, you will not lose the ruler measurements, nor disrupt the reference tools dialog."

[In Windows 7:] Click on Start, then in the Search field, type "change windows colors and metrics." In that dialog (Window Color and Appearance) you can adjust these items.]

Tips

¤  Workaround:  You can create a simple macro to display the Define Table of Contents dialog, the same as if you pressed the Define button in the Reference Tools dialog. Here's how:

Open a new blank document and use Tools, Macro, Macro Toolbar to display the Macro toolbar. Then type the single macro command TOCDefineDlg into the document. Press Save & Compile on the Macro toolbar to save it to your default macro folder (as shown in Tools, Settings, Files, Merge/Macro). Then go to the document where you want the TOC to appear and play the macro at the current cursor location (usually, the top of the document) with Tools, Macro, Play. It will let you choose the number of TOC levels to use and then insert the TOC codes and the text placeholder there. Then generate the document with Tools, Reference, Generate (<Ctrl+F9> on the Windows keyboard, or <Alt+Shift+F5> on the DOS keyboard).

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[Continued from above...]

While you can format the TOC after it has been generated (e.g., to format it into two columns) you might want some formatting to "stick" if you have to regenerate the TOC several times.

Regenerating the TOC will delete (i.e., replace) the existing TOC — including any changes in format of the TOC's text that you might have made. The trick is to either place the formatting code before the TOC codes, or select the entire TOC and its defining codes (as explained below) and then apply your formatting.

Example: Format the TOC into two columns.

If you want to format the TOC into columns, here's a way to do it that lets you regenerate the TOC without upsetting the column formatting.

[1] Back up your document. Generate the TOC (Tools, Reference, Generate).

[2] In Reveal Codes, place your cursor immediately to the left of the initial |[Def Mark][Gen Txt] codes at the beginning (top) of your TOC. (The cursor in your Reveal Codes is shown here as a red "|".)

(N.B.: Also check that no other paragraph format codes, such as [Para Spacing], are present. Sometimes these can mysteriously affect the TOC when regenerating it. So you should apply such formatting after creating the two-column format.)

[3] Hold the Shift key down while you move down with the arrow or Page Down keys until you have selected everything in the TOC including the last [Gen Txt]| code. (Again, the cursor is shown here in red "|".)

[4] Click Format, Columns, Balanced newspaper (if that's what you want), OK.

The TOC should now be in two columns, with headings and page numbers in the same column(s).

[5] Save the document under a different name to back it up again (as a separate document), just in case there are problems with the next step.

[6] Test things by making a change to a heading (or other marked TOC item) in the body text area of the document (e.g., edit a heading's text, or add a new heading, or delete an old one, or edit the heading [Para Style] to change the marked TOC level for that heading [as explained above, under "How to mark a custom style for automatic inclusion in a Table of Contents"]).

[7] Then regenerate the TOC with Tools, Reference, Generate.

The TOC should remain in two columns, but the changes you just made should be visible.

Tips:

•  Wait until the final draft to make any further format changes to the TOC (back up the document first, of course).

•  For a similar method to format a generated Index into columns, see the indexDocs page, Footnote 6.

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[Continued from above...]

[Intermediate to Advanced users]

[Tip: Macros such as those below can be copied into WordPerfect. See here for brief instructions.]

Here is an example of a macro that can automatically change a single Table of Contents level style — any of the 5 built-in styles that govern the format of each individual Table of Contents level — which is normally assigned with the Styles button on the Define Table of Contents dialog or toolbar.

[For a macro that can change an Index style, see the next macro below.]

This particular example macro changes the style for TOC Level 1 and uses several new format codes (shown in blue). You must use the StyleEditBegin command to "point to" the appropriate style to revise, then change the various format commands to your preferences.

You can repeat this code segment four more times — one segment for each subsequent TOC Level — to produce a single macro that can modify all five levels of the TOC styles in one operation.

Note that this changes the TOC style for the current document only. At this time, the most recent version (WPX3/sp2) sometimes will not allow you to change the TOC styles in the default template. In any case, it seems to be a better idea to use a macro to quickly set up a TOC's format for a particular document, since the new TOC format will be document-specific. It should be easier than going back into the default template to change the TOC system styles back to their defaults if they are not the currently required format — assuming you can remember the default formatting for these five styles.

// Macro code begins -
// Note: Change the Style: <name> in the StyleEditBegin
// ccommand for other TOC levels; note that the name
// of the TOC style is an enumeration and can be obtained
// from the PerfectScript Commands dialog inserter:
StyleEditBegin (Style: ToC1Style!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
StyleCodes (State: WithoutOffCodes!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
// Delete everything in the Contents pane:
While(?RightCode>0 or ?RightChar<>"")
DeleteCharNext
Endwhile
// Enter new format code commands here:
HardReturn
Indent
BackTab
FontSize (FontSize: 14p)
Font (Name: "Arial Regular")
AttributeAppearanceOn (Attrib: Bold!)
// Exit from the Styles Editor:
SubstructureExit ()
StyleEditEnd (State: Save!)
// Macro code ends

If you are wondering whether it is possible to do the same thing with an Index, the answer is yes. Here's a macro that will change the style of Index level 1 (which appears as [Para Style: Index1] in Reveal Codes).

Using a macro might be better than saving the new, modified Index styles to the default template, since there might be new documents where you do not want the new Index styles. Moreover, you might want different styles for different Indexes.

In the same manner as explained for the previous macro, you would need to create a separate macro for Index level 2. And as with the previous macro, the changes are document-specific.

This particular sample macro changes the style for Index Level 1, and uses two new format codes, FontSize and Font, shown in red. You must use the StyleEditBegin command to "point to" the appropriate style to revise (Index1Style! or Index2Style!), then change the various format commands (in red) to your preferences.

// Macro code begins:
// Change the Style name in the next command for other Index levels:
StyleEditBegin (Style: Index1Style!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
StyleCodes (State: WithoutOffCodes!; Library: CurrentDoc!)
// Delete everything in the Contents pane:
While(?RightCode>0 or ?RightChar<>"")
DeleteCharNext
Endwhile
// Enter new format code commands here:
// (The first 4 commands are the WP defaults for Index1 — i.e., level 1)
Indent
Indent
BackTab
BackTab
FontSize (FontSize: 10p) // (new)
Font (Name: "Arial Regular") // (new)
// Exit from the Styles Editor:
SubstructureExit ()
StyleEditEnd (State: Save!)
//Macro code ends

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Footnote 5

[Continued from above...]

.....Dot leaders (see references to them in the above sections) place a series of periods (full stops) before the desired text.

For a Table of Contents they are used (by default) to give a visual connection between the TOC entries and their associated page numbers.

But you don't need to use "dots" — you can change them to any character or symbol, and even add extra spaces between them.

This is done using a somewhat unintuitive method:

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