Table of contents, index, references
When you insert figure captions in Word, the numbering sometimes jumps from Figure 1 to Figure 3 or Figure 5, skipping numbers entirely. This happens because the SEQ field that controls automatic numbering gets corrupted or duplicated when you copy, delete, or move figures around. This article explains why the SEQ field breaks and provides … Read more
When you update a cross-reference in Word, you may see the error “Reference source not found” inside the field instead of the expected text or page number. This error occurs because the target bookmark, heading, or numbered item that the cross-reference points to no longer exists or has been moved. This article explains why the … Read more
You export a Word document to PDF, but the table of contents entries are no longer clickable links. Instead of jumping to each section, clicking a TOC line does nothing. This happens because Word’s default PDF export settings strip the hyperlinks from the TOC field codes. This article explains the specific setting that controls hyperlink … Read more
You click Add New Source in the Word Citations & Bibliography tool, and the entire application stops responding. The Source Manager dialog either hangs for 30 seconds or never recovers, forcing you to end the Word process through Task Manager. This freeze typically occurs because the XML-based citation storage file has become corrupted or because … Read more
When you click a heading in a Word Table of Contents and the cursor jumps to the wrong page or section, the document navigation becomes unusable. This problem typically occurs when the underlying heading styles are misapplied, the TOC field codes are outdated, or the document contains manual bookmarks that conflict with the automatic TOC … Read more
You add or remove content in your Word document, but the page numbers in the Table of Contents remain unchanged. This happens because Word stores the TOC as a field code that does not refresh automatically when page breaks shift. This article explains why the TOC field fails to update and provides the exact steps … Read more
When you insert a standard table of contents in Word, every heading level uses the same tab leader, typically a series of dots. You may want a solid line for Chapter titles, a dotted line for subheadings, or no leader at all for minor headings. Word does not offer a built-in dialog to assign different … Read more
When you insert a table of contents in Word, heading levels below a certain number may not appear. For example, Heading 3, Heading 4, or Heading 5 entries can be missing from the TOC even though the headings exist in the document. This happens because the TOC style is set to show only a limited … Read more
Legal professionals often need to organize citations by authority type such as cases, statutes, regulations, and secondary sources. Manually sorting and formatting these citations wastes time and risks errors. Word provides built-in tools to create authority tables that automatically categorize and format citations. This article explains how to set up and use Word’s Table of … Read more
You insert a new figure or table in a Word document, add a caption with a number, and then update the table of contents expecting to see the new caption. Instead, the TOC either shows the old numbers or omits the new entry entirely. This problem occurs because Word’s TOC and caption fields rely on … Read more