How to Create a Table of Contents in PageMaker

Techwalla may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story.

How to Create a Table of Contents in PageMaker. It's a good idea to include a table of contents in any document longer than four pages, to help readers easily locate the information they need. After you specify TOC items, you'll then need to generate the TOC.

Generate the Table of Contents

Step 1

Go to the Utilities menu and select Create TOC, then enter the title of your Table of Contents.

Step 2

Select the checkbox and radio button items you want and make sure the Between Entry and Page Number box contains this info: ^t. Click OK. The upward-pointing arrow and the letter "t" ensure that PageMaker places leader dots between the TOC item and the page number.

Step 3

Position the cursor in the upper-left corner of the page where you want the table of contents and click. Your TOC will be placed there.

Tag Items for the Table of Contents

Step 1

Click to place the cursor at the beginning or anywhere within the line of text you want to include in the table of contents.

Step 2

Go to the Type menu and select Paragraph.

Step 3

Select the Include in Table of Contents checkbox and click OK.

Step 4

Repeat steps 1 to 3 for every entry you want to include in this document's TOC.

Things You'll Need

  • PageMaker 6.5 (Mac OS)

  • PageMaker 6.5 (Windows)


To update the TOC, go to the Utilities menu and select Create TOC. Select Replace Existing Table of Contents before you click OK. To create illustration lists or figure lists, follow the instructions for creating a TOC. Enter the name of the new list in the Title box in the Create TOC window. PageMaker recognizes any text entry followed by a paragraph return as a paragraph. Therefore, a paragraph in PageMaker can be one word, a sentence, or even an entire paragraph when you create a table of contents (TOC) using the Paragraph command. You'll probably want to be very consistent in tagging TOC items - all chapter and section titles only, for example.