{"id":428879,"date":"2018-06-02T06:19:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-02T06:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essaypaper.org\/how-to-hyperlink-your-table-of-contents-in-microsoft-word-2\/"},"modified":"2018-10-24T09:10:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T09:10:51","slug":"how-to-hyperlink-your-table-of-contents-in-microsoft-word-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/how-to-hyperlink-your-table-of-contents-in-microsoft-word-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Hyperlink Your Table of Contents in Microsoft Word"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As an avid e-reader, I love to come across an e-book that has a \u201chyperlinked\u201d table of contents. Then I can easily click back and forth between the start of each chapter and the TOC\u2014particularly handy if there is a map, table, or other reference in the front matter, or I forgot to mark my place in the text. However, as an editor, I frequently come across manuscripts that appear to be hyperlinked yet the links don\u2019t work on my computer. Also frustratingly common are manuscripts with hyperlinks that seem fine until they are loaded to an \u201ce-tailer,\u201d at which point they cease to function. Fortunately, after quite a bit of trial and error, I have found a system that works the vast majority of the time in Microsoft Word\u2014so of course I couldn\u2019t wait to share the news.<\/p>\n

Step I: Create a Table of Contents<\/h2>\n
\n

The very first step is to make sure you are in \u201ccompatibility mode,\u201d meaning the document is saved as a Word 97\u20132003 doc, no matter what version you are actually using. Then type a list of all the chapter headings at the beginning of your manuscript; I would also recommend including any front or back matter you wish the reader to have easy access to, for example, maps, family trees, or glossaries. At this point nothing is bookmarked or hyperlinked, just typed with one chapter head per line and the heading \u201ctable of contents.\u201d Below is a screenshot of my fake manuscript, which I\u2019ll use for illustrations throughout.<\/p>\n

\"Step<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Step II: Bookmarks<\/h2>\n
\n

The next step is to create a bookmark. First highlight the words \u201ctable of contents\u201d and then click on the \u201cinsert\u201d tab at the top of the document. From the options now displayed at the top of your screen, select \u201cbookmark.\u201d A pop-up screen will appear requesting the bookmark name. Enter \u201cref_TOC\u201d here and then click \u201cadd,\u201d as illustrated in the screenshot below. Smashwords in particular seems to look for this exact reference name, so don\u2019t get creative.<\/p>\n

\"Step<\/p>\n

All right, that\u2019s one down. Next up, it\u2019s time to through the manuscript and bookmark the chapter heads at the start of each chapter. I recommend using a shortened form of the title, just to keep things straight or in case you ever decide to sell multiple books bundled together. Keeping in mind that spaces are not allowed, I will name my first chapter bookmark \u201cfake\u00ad_ch1.\u201d Then, just like with the TOC head, highlight the chapter head, click on \u201cinsert,\u201d then \u201cbookmark,\u201d and finally name your bookmarks according to the naming convention you have selected, and choose \u201cadd,\u201d as illustrated below.<\/p>\n

\"Step<\/p>\n

Go through the entire manuscript and do this for all chapter headings and any back and front matter you have included in the table of contents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Step III: Hyperlinks<\/h2>\n
\n

So now you\u2019re all bookmarked and ready for the main event. It\u2019s time to go through the table of contents and hyperlink the individual chapter heads to the corresponding heads in the text. In the table of contents, highlight the chapter head and click on the \u201chyperlinks\u201d tab at the top of the page, then select the left-hand button labeled \u201cplace in this document.\u201d This will bring up the bookmarks you just made for the chapter headings throughout the manuscript, as shown below.<\/p>\n

\"Step<\/p>\n

Next select the bookmark which corresponds to the highlighted chapter head, in this example \u201cfake_ch1,\u201d and then click on \u201cok.\u201d At this point, if all has gone well, the link should turn blue and underlined and be actively hyperlinked.<\/p>\n

\"Step<\/p>\n

I use the word \u201cshould\u201d because in some versions of Word it is necessary to hold down the control key and then click to make the hyperlink work, the little pointing finger does not appear. Try this trick, \u201cctrl\u201d + click, before you panic if you are unable to click directly on your newly hyperlinked chapter head. This will also turn the hyperlinked text purple, which seems to have no purpose whatsoever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Step IV: Linking the Chapters Back to the Table of Contents<\/h2>\n
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This final step is particularly useful if you have a table or map or anything else your readers will wish to refer to again and again, but I always recommend it simply because I enjoy clicking back and forth with impunity. Plus, now that you\u2019ve got the hang of things, it\u2019s easy. Go into the text, highlight the chapter head, and then hyperlink it back to \u201cref_TOC,\u201d as show below. Repeat for all chapter headings in your manuscript and you are good to go.<\/p>\n

\"Step<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Happy hyperlinking!<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an avid e-reader, I love to come across an e-book that has a \u201chyperlinked\u201d table of contents. Then I can easily click back and forth between the start of each chapter and the TOC\u2014particularly handy if there is a Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dissertation-writing","category-essay-paper-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}