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Word-Fu
And then it was brief-writing time, which is over for me, but not apparently not for others. So, for anyone who would like to format a Table of Contents (TOC) in Word where the page numbers are all aligned nicely on the right-hand side with dot leaders between the TOC sections and their corresponding page numbers, the easiest thing is to make Word generate the TOC for you. Go to: Insert -->Index and Tables.... --> TOC.
But then, if tabs elude you, then I'm guessing Styles are not your friend, and you must apply styles for Word to do its TOC automagically. So instead of a primer on Styles (which maybe I'll do another day if anyone's interested, though I'm sure primers on these things abound elsewhere), here's a "brief" bit o' tab magic (pun intended):
- Before beginning, "Save As" a copy so that if you mess things up, you can revert to what you've got. ;-)
- Select (highlight/drag mouse over) the text you'd like to align. Go to Format --> Tabs.
- In the "Tab Stop Position" box, set a tab at 6.5 or 7", click the box/button for a a RIGHT tab, and click the box/button for a "dot" leader.
- Click "Set." Then click "ok."
- Go back to your TOC, and delete all the periods you put in between your section headings and the page numbers.
- Once all periods are gone, click at the end of your section headings and hit the tab key. Your page numbers should now jump to the right side of the page with a dot leader in between. They will now all line up perfectly.
I hope that helps. For a time in my past I was a professional Word jockey, so I have a little Word-fu if you have more questions or if my instructions are unclear.
Now it's back to that journal competition thingy for me...
Posted March 7, 2004 10:05 AM | law school
I got through about eight years of higher education without ever knowing how to do this. (Not that there was much call for a table of contents in a seminar paper: "Introductory Crap...1; Crap Resembling an Argument...2; Crap In Which I Use Large, Specialized Vocabulary Without Entirely Knowing What I'm Talking About...3-25.")
But now I know some some Word-Fu myself. Macros and templetes and revision tracking, oh my!
Posted by: raquel at March 7, 2004 10:40 AM
Ah, careful Young Grasshopper! Tread lightly when displaying the secrets of Word-Fu or risk the wrath of Masters of the Macros. I once sought to share my knowledge, hoping to bring enlightenment on the nature of hanging indents and drop caps to the world. But alas! Angering the Masters of the Macros, I was cursed with the sight of the visual basic code below the world and destroyed my defaults! Now everything prints a quarter of an inch too low and I am left to cry my bitter, bitter tears in the darkness, weeping for my footers cut most unprofessionally in half.
Posted by: Famous P at March 7, 2004 11:51 AM
What a very helpful post!
But, um... what should I do if I don't use Micro$oft Word?
I know, I know. Keep my whining to myself. :)
Posted by: Carey at March 7, 2004 06:38 PM
Carey: No no, please whine on! I *loathe* Word w/a passion, and until only about a month ago I did not own a copy or use it. I used Appleworks and Open Office and I've tried Mariner Write and lots of other options -- anything to keep M$ bloatware off my system. But then I finally had to give in because my legal writing adjunct and teaching fellow demanded things in .doc format and people kept sending me things in .doc format that just were never quite right if I opened them in other programs. And then there's those damned Excel files...
So what do you use instead?
Oh, and BTW, in my experience, the tabbing instructions are pretty universal for most word processors these days. The specifics are different (i.e., what the menus and menu options are called and how they're organized), but the general concept (right tab w/a dot leader) is the same.
Posted by: ambimb at March 7, 2004 09:41 PM
Raquel: Revision tracking!? No! Help! Run away! Ok, it finally seems to work ok now if everyone involved understands the concept, but if not, can't it just be a nightmare?
Famous P: I, too. weep for your footnotes. It is the despotism of those damned defaults that I despise and by which your're doomed!
Posted by: ambimb at March 7, 2004 09:43 PM
Yes, I gave into the evil of M$ for the same reason as you. I am a Mac person, and swore I'd never have M$ software on my machine. Let's not even mention the Linux boxes!
But I gave in. My instructors want and expect M$, and, even worse, they give explicit formatting instructions for what they want only in Word.
I hate it with a passion.
Posted by: transmogriflaw at March 8, 2004 12:39 AM
Revision tracking *and* use of embedded comments, my friend. Which if you're using any version newer than Word 2000, creates a horrifying mishmash on-screen, confusing authors and editors alike--and woe betide you if you edit in Word 2000 and your author revises in Word 2002/3, for your comments will disappear into the ether and make it even easier for the author to ignore you.
Generally it's a nightmare anyway. I am in no way a Master of the Macro, and I tremble in fear of the day when my Normal templete (not to mention our publication templete) becomes corrupted. The more fancy stuff you do in Word, the more opportunity for things to go horribly, horribly wrong.
M$ is evil, anyway--I heartily agree.
Posted by: raquel at March 8, 2004 09:55 AM
