Direct formatting in the body of a document appears in the table of contents in Word (833973)

SYMPTOMS

When you have a Word document that uses a table of contents that is based upon styles, and you apply direct (manual) formatting to text that is formatted with a Heading style, the table of contents may take on some of the direct formatting when the table of contents is updated.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, use one of the following steps, depending on your situation.

Step 1: Remove direct formatting from the table of contents

To remove direct formatting after the table of contents is updated, select the table of contents, and then press CTRL+SPACEBAR.

Step 2: Update page numbers only

To prevent your table of contents from updating with the direct formatting, select your table of contents, press F9, select Update page numbers only, and then click OK.

Step 3: When you print your document

To prevent this behavior when you print your document, follow these steps:

On the Tools menu, click Options.
On the Print tab, click to clear the Update fields check box, and then click OK.

When you now print your document, your table of contents will not be automatically updated with the direct formatting in your document.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the table of contents, click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type table of contents in the Search for box in the Assistance pane, and then click Start searching to view the topic.
Microsoft Word considers direct formatting to be deliberate. Therefore, Word retains direct formatting when it formats the entries in the table of contents. Similarly, Word considers style definitions to be deliberate and adheres to the settings in the table of contents style.

For example, if you select part of a Heading 1 paragraph and apply italic formatting to that text, the corresponding entry in the table of contents also appears in italic. However, if you modify the attributes of Heading 1 style to include italic formatting instead, this formatting does not appear in the table of contents. The table of contents shows only the formatting that is defined in the table of contents 1 style.