How to set the header, footer and margins of the Word table of contents page

Key points of this article

The contents page should be formatted separately. Use section breaks to separate it from the cover and main text. Otherwise, changing one place will affect the entire document.
The header and footer are connected to the previous section by default. You need to cancel the link first so that the table of contents page can remain blank or use Roman numeral page numbers.
Page margins take effect by section. When only the section where the table of contents is located is changed, the text margin will not change accordingly.
The generation and update of the table of contents should be done after the layout is finalized. After updating, check whether the page numbers of each title still correspond.

When many people make a Word table of contents, they find that the title of the paper is written in the header of the table of contents page, but Arabic numerals are written in the footer. The margins are also different from the main text. If one part is changed, other pages will be changed accordingly. The root cause of this type of problem is usually that the contents page and the main text are not set separately. Word's table of contents automatically generates headers, footers and margins, which are essentially "section" issues. By treating the table of contents page as an independent section, you can control its layout separately.

This article is written for those who need to submit a graduation thesis, tender, or research report, or who require a table of contents page without a header and page numbers in Roman numerals. After reading, you will know why you need to divide into sections first, how to make the header and footer of the table of contents page independent, how to adjust the margins of only the section where the table of contents is located, and how to check the results after generating the table of contents. The following methods are common Word operations and are applicable to any version of Word.

How to set the header, footer and margin of the table of contents page so that they do not affect each other? One sentence conclusion

First use section breaks to separate the table of contents page from the preceding and following content, then cancel the link between the header and footer and the previous section, and finally set the page margins and page numbers in the section where the table of contents is located. All three are effective in units of "sections", and dividing them into sections is a prerequisite.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
The table of contents page does not need a header, but the main text needs a header.	Insert a "next page" section break before and after the table of contents, leave the header of the table of contents section blank, and unlink to the previous section	The header is only cleared in the table of contents section, and the body section is not affected.
The contents page is numbered in Roman numerals (i, ii, iii), and the main text starts with 1	The page numbers of the Table of Contents section are formatted as lowercase Roman numerals, and the page numbers of the Text section are formatted as Arabic numerals and numbered starting from 1	The preface and the main text are numbered separately, which conforms to the standards of most dissertations.
Contents pages require wider or narrower margins than the main text	Only modify the page margins in the section where the table of contents is located, and limit the modification scope to this section	Margins take effect by section, leaving other sections as is
The table of contents page does not need a footer, but the main text does.	Delete the content in the footer of the table of contents section, cancel the link to the previous section, and then check whether the footer of the body section is complete	The footer is also in sections. Clearing the directory section will not affect the main text.
The document only has a few pages, no cover and no chapters	You can directly set "different home pages" without dividing into sections, so that only the first page has no header.	Sectioning is redundant when multiple page number formats are not needed

# before you start: confirm these points first

first, confirm whether the structure of the document is fixed. * the page number of the catalog page is generated according to the final number of pages in the body. If the text will also add and delete content, it is recommended to first write the text, and then set the header, footer and margins, and finally generate the directory. Otherwise, you have to update the catalog after each change, which is easy to miss.

second, confirm where the catalog page ends. The * directory usually takes up one or more pages. A section break is inserted at the end of the directory, and the text starts with the new section. If there is no clear demarcation at the end of the directory, everything that follows will be counted in the catalog section, and the setting of headers, footers and margins will be confused.

third, confirm the format requirements of the school or unit. * some dissertations require Roman numerals for catalogue pages, while others require abstracts and catalogs to be numbered separately. The layout requires that the documents of the school or unit shall prevail. This article only talks about how to implement these settings in Word, not instead of the format itself.

fourth, confirm the target value of the margin. * margins usually affect the binding line and center width. If the margins of the catalog page and the body are different, determine the value of the catalog page first to avoid repeated adjustments. After you change the margins, the number of rows in the catalog page may change, which should be checked.

Fifth, back up the original files. * operations such as segmenting and unlinking are prone to chain reactions. Save another copy before you start, and you can restore it if you make an error.

# steps to set the layout of a table of contents page separately in Word

locate the start and end of the directory. place the cursor at the end of the last line of the directory to make sure there is nothing else between the directory and the body. If there is a cover in front of the catalog, the cover also needs to be separated from the catalog.
insert section breaks. insert a section break of the "next page" type at the end of the directory, starting with a new page. If there is a cover in front of the catalog, also insert a "next page" section break at the end of the cover.
check whether the section is valid. Open the option to display the edit tag and confirm that the section break appears in the expected location. The section break is displayed as a double dashed line, indicating that the document has been divided into separate sections.
Unlink the header and footer of the catalog section from the previous section. double-click the header area of the directory section to enter the editing state, find the link setting in the header and footer connected to the previous section, and close it. At this time, the header of the catalog section can be modified independently, and the header of the text section will not be affected.
clear or modify the header and footer of the catalog section. if the catalog page does not need a header, delete the header content of the catalog section. If you need a footer page number, insert the page number in the footer of the catalog section and set it to lowercase Roman numeral format.
renumber the page in the text section. * enter the footer of the body section, unlink to the previous section, format the page number as Arabic numerals, and set the starting page number to 1. In this way, the first page of the text is displayed as 1, which does not interfere with the Roman numerals on the catalog page.
set the margins separately. position the cursor in the catalog section, open the margin setting, modify the value and limit the scope of application to the section where the directory is located. Do not apply it to the entire document. Check that the margins of the body section remain at the original value.
generate or update directories. insert or update the directory after all the layouts have been set. If it is an existing directory, update the entire directory so that the page number is aligned with the new layout.

# check item by item after completion

After the layout is complete, do not rush to submit, check the following item by item.

Check item	What do you think?	What if there's a problem?
Are there any extra headers on the catalog page	Turn to the catalog page to see if the header area is empty or meets the requirements	Go back to the header of the catalog section, confirm that the link has been cancelled, and then delete the content
Is the page number in the correct format?	The table of contents page is displayed as I, ii, etc., and the first page of the body is displayed as 1	Check the page number format and starting page number setting of the two sections, and the body section must set the starting value separately.
Does the margin change only the target section?	Compare the center boundaries of the catalog page and the body page to see if they are consistent with expectations	Re-limit the application of the margin to the section where the table of contents is located, and then check the value of the text section
Whether the page number of the catalog corresponds to the text	Randomly check several headings and find the corresponding pages to see if the page numbers are consistent.	Update the entire directory; if there is still a deviation in the page number, check the section break position and the starting page number of the text
Whether it is misplaced after printing or exporting	Navigate page by page with print preview or exported PDF, especially in sections	Adjust the line of the section break to avoid blank pages, and then re-export the check

One problem that is easy to overlook is that the number of rows in a catalog page may increase due to a change in margins, resulting in an extra page in the directory. If the catalog spread, check whether the page number format of each page is Roman numerals, and whether the second page after the spread has been mistakenly added a header.

# frequently asked questions (FAQ)

1. Why did I cancel the link, the header of the table of contents page or the contents of the body?

It is usually because the unlink operation is done only in the text section, or the header of the directory section is not edited separately. Double-click the header area of the catalog section to make sure that the link settings for the header and footer are turned off, and then delete the header content. If the header is still the same, check that a section break is actually inserted between the directory and the body.

2. The table of contents page uses Roman numerals, and the text starts at 1. Why does the first page of the text show iv or other numbers?

This is because the page number of the text section continues the number of the previous section. Enter the page number setting of the body section, turn off the option to continue the numbering of the previous section, and change the numbering starting from 1. The page number format should also be set separately as Arabic numerals.

3. Only the margin of the catalog page has been changed, why has the center of the text page also changed?

When you set the margins, the scope of application is selected for the entire document, not just for the section where the directory is located. Undo this change, re-select the section where the directory is located, and limit the scope of application to that section. After modification, you can see whether the margin value of the body page is the same as before the change.

4. The directory has been generated, and then the header and footer has been adjusted. Do you want to regenerate the catalog?

Generally, you don't need to regenerate, just update the directory. Update the entire directory and Word recalculates the page number based on the current layout. If the adjustment involves a change in the section or the starting position of the page number, it should still be checked item by item after the update to make sure that the page number of each title corresponds to the text.

5. What should I do if the catalog page wants to have no page number at all?

Delete the page code field in the footer of the catalog section and unlink the catalog section from the previous section so that its content is empty. Be careful not to just hide the page number, otherwise you may bring out the page number when you unlink in the text section. As long as the footer of the catalog section is empty, the catalog page does not display the page number.

# Summary

The key to automatically generating headers, footers, and margins in Word directories is to treat catalog pages as separate sections. First section, then cancel the link, then set the page number and margin in the catalog section and the text section respectively, and finally update the catalog and check it page by page. By operating in this order, the layout of the catalogue page will not affect the text and can be easily adjusted according to the requirements of the school or unit.

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