You have written a report in Word and realized that it is composed of so many pages that it is difficult to find the exact page of a specific topic. Therefore, to solve this inconvenience, you thought that a table of contents is the ideal solution, so you can see the page numbers for each chapter.
What can I say? Really great idea…how come you haven’t implemented it yet though? Excuse me? You have no idea how to make summary in Word? Then don’t worry, I can explain it to you. In the next few lines of this guide, in fact, I’ll explain how to easily perform this operation thanks to the special feature available in the famous Microsoft word processing program, on each platform on which it is available.
I bet you can’t wait to get started, can you? So sit back, pay close attention to the instructions I’m going to give you in the following chapters and put them into practice. I assure you that you’ll be able to insert a perfect summary in all your Word documents in no time. That said, all that’s left for me to do is wish you a good read and, above all, good work!
Word summary: what is it
Before helping you solve your problem, it is important to explain what a table of contents is in Word. Trivially, I can tell you that it is a table of contents, but be careful, because there are two types that you can create in the famous Microsoft software.
The first is the table of contents, which is a list that summarizes all available chapters and sub-chapters in a document, indicating page numbers to quickly reach the topics of interest. Usually, the table of contents is inserted before all other chapters, just after the cover page.
The second is the table of contents, also commonly referred to as the analytical index. In this case, it is a list of words, phrases, or locutions on which there is a page reference, so that you can identify the topic in which they are contained.
Regarding the latter topic, I won’t go into it in this tutorial, as I’ve talked about it extensively in my guide on how to create a table of contents in Word. As for the table of contents, you’ll be happy to know that you can easily create one using a special feature included in the famous Microsoft word processing program.
In this regard, in the next few chapters I’ll explain how to proceed with adding, updating, and deleting a table of contents in Word, regardless of the platform you’re acting on. In fact, the table of contents, although it can only be created in Microsoft Word desktop software for Windows and macOS, can also be managed in Word Online (the free version of Word running directly from the browser and in the Word app for Android and iOS/iPadOS. For all the details, read on.
Word summary: how to do it
If you want to know how to make a summary in Word, in the next chapters I will explain in detail how to proceed on the different versions of the program.
How to add Word summary
To add a table of contents in Word, the first thing you need to do is to make sure that chapters and sub-chapters are present in your document. In fact, without them, the table of contents cannot be generated in any way. Please note that the insertion of a table of contents can currently only be done in the desktop version of Microsoft Word for Windows and macOS.
To begin with, then, set your chapter titles with the Title style. If you don’t know how to do this, highlight the portion of text related to the title and move to the Home tab at the top. Then, click on one of the title styles (i.e. Title 1, Title 2, etc.) in the Styles section and you are done.
This must be done for all chapters and sub-chapters. My advice is to use Title 1 for chapters and Title 2 for sub-chapters. In case there are additional branches, you have Title 3 and Title 4 styles available.
After that, place the typing cursor where you want to insert the summary and move to the References tab at the top. Then press the Table of Contents button and select one of the predefined styles from the list.
Among the styles in the list, you will find both those marked with “automatic” and those with “manual”. My advice is to use the automatic summaries, which are more convenient and update automatically when titles or page numbers are changed.
You can also create a custom table of contents by clicking the Table of Contents > Custom Table of Contents tab at the top. You can choose whether to show page numbers, whether to align page numbers to the right, and which separator characters to use between chapter names and page numbers, just to give you a few examples. Then hit OK to confirm the insertion of the table of contents.
After adding the table of contents, I recommend that you place the typing cursor just below the table of contents and insert a page break using the appropriate button in the Insert section. This will help you to completely detach the table of contents from the rest of the document, which will start on the next page.
To create a table of contents in Word Online and Word apps, you can proceed to manually create a table or a list, indicating the page numbers of the respective chapters. However, it is not an immediate operation, nor is it convenient to use.
How to update Word summary
You should know that an automatic Word summary can be updated every time a change is made in the document, to be exact every time the title of a chapter or its page reference is modified.
So, if you want to know how to update a summary in Word, please note that you can do it both in Microsoft Word for Windows and macOS and in Word Online. In the latter case, since it is not possible for you to create a summary, you will first have to import the document by clicking the upload button on the service’s home page.
To update an automatic table of contents, all you have to do, then, is to go to the References tab and press the Update Table of Contents button. Then, in Word Online, the table of contents will be updated instantly with all changes made to the document; in Word for Windows and macOS, a new screen will be shown asking you whether you want to update the page numbers only or the entire table of contents.
This last option is useful when you have made changes to the chapters and, at the same time, to the page numbers. Then press the OK button to confirm.
In the Word app for smartphones and tablets, you can update a table of contents by simply performing a long tap on one of the entries in it and selecting the Update option from the menu that pops up.
How to delete Word summary
A table of contents in Word can be easily deleted using the function designed for this purpose. All you need to do is select the References tab in Microsoft Word, press the Table of Contents button and then select the Remove Table of Contents item.
As for the other platforms on which Word is available, such as Word Online, in the latter you have to reach the References tab and press the Remove Table of Contents button, to delete the table of contents in the document.
In the Word app, on the other hand, to remove the table of contents you simply have to select it and then press the Backspace (Delete) key on the virtual keyboard, or make a long tap on one or more of its entries and select the Delete item from the menu that pops up.