Bizare TOC in Word 2012

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I have a document that I can’t seem to get the TOC to display properly. I’ve formatted the paragraph headings using number outline 1., 1.1, 1.1.1, 1.1.1.1…. and heading 1, heading 2, heading3, heading 4…. styles. The headings display properly in the body of the document.

When I created (and recreated) the TOC in the front I got a TOC that had page numbers first, then the heading, then the paragraph number in that order. What a mess.

How do I get the TOC to display Para#, Heading, then Page# in that order again? Help! I’m stumped!

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The Table of Contents is a field, with settings. Here is how to set that field:
How to Create a Table of Contents in Word

Here is a reference to the field’s details.

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Thanks Charles. I deleted the TOC and followed the directions to create a new one. It came out better, but the first entry is still messed up:35740-Word-2010-TOC

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This looks like a right to left language issue. Though why it would happen only for the first line of your TOC escapes me. I only have one language installed on my computer (English) and so am unable to do any testing to help you. Sorry.

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Good thought!
I checked, and I have no other languages installed. Just US English.
I’m going to create a new blank document, copy the text only (no formatting at all) into it, format it like the original, and see what happens. – Dave

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You could have gotten the language direction from something you copied or a file you received. Language is font formatting, I believe. I’d look for it in that first heading 1 or in the direct formatting of the first TOC entry. Something along those lines.

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There’s actually a right-to-left command that can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar, even if you don’t have any right-to-left languages installed. I just discovered it (right-click the QAT, “Customize Quick Access Toolbar,” then change the drop-down to “All commands,” scroll to “Right-to-Left Text Direction,” click “Add,” then click “OK”). With my cursor within a generated TOC paragraph similar to the one in your image, I clicked that icon, and got results very similar to what you got. Presumably that command somehow got applied to the first heading level in your generated TOC.

Fortunately, there’s also a left-to-right icon (“Left-to-Right Text Direction”) that you can add to the QAT to reverse the direction of the “backwards” paragraph.

Hope this helps.

Jan

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I (finally) found the Left-to-right and Right-to-left and tried that. It worked – temporarily. When I updated the TOC it was messed up again. I tried saving it to the TOC1 and Heading1 styles, but that didn’t help either. I finally resorted to starting over. I opened a previous version, and started to apply all my revisions to the older document. So far so good. The more I use MS Office the more I like Libre Office, Open Office, Star Office,….

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