A table of contents, or TOC, gives readers a brief outline of the topics discussed in a document and helps them find their way around it.

Word has several ways to help you design and format your TOCs the way you want them.

To learn more about this course, read the overview in the center of this page or the table of contents in the left column. Then click Next to start the first lesson.

If you are not familiar with heading styles or document outline levels, see Format your document with styles and Create a document outline.

If you already know how to create and format simple TOCs using styles or outline levels, and you want to know about more advanced TOC features, including fields, multiple TOCs, and tables of authorities or figures, see the course Table of Contents II: Advanced TOCs, long documents, and other tables.