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How to Keep Parent/Child Hierarchy in Two-Column TOC

I have a two-column table of contents that shows two levels of the heading hierarchy (Heading 1 and Heading 2). Word wants to make both TOC columns the same length regardless of whether there is a parent element at the bottom of the left column that has an indented child element at the top of the right column.

When I backspace the child element from the top of the right column to bring it back under the parent at the bottom of the left column, Word inserts the child immediately to the right of the parent in the left column--not below it. Word also puts the dot leader for the child on a line by itself in the left column below the line containing the parent, parent page number, and child headings. If I press ENTER to try to push the child below the parent in the left column, Word pushes the child element right back to the top of the right column.

Is there a manual step that allows me to keep child TOC elements with their parents when they appear by themselves at the top of the second column?
You could format TOC 1 as "Keep with next" (I routinely do this). That won't keep a Heading 1 with all the Heading 2s but will ensure that it is not stranded at the bottom of a column.
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
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As you said, Suzanne, the "Keep with next" did bring the first child header from the right column over to the left, but when I added a second child header, Word left it stranded by itself at the top of the right column.

I then added the same property to TOC2, and it moved all Heading 1 and 2 TOC entries to the left column (with a blank right column)!

So, the ideal solution would be if I could insert carriage returns to control how many headings are in each column.

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If it turns out that there's no way for me to control the number of headers in the left and right columns, I've found a workaround. I can use the trick of "Keep with next" for TOC1 to keep at least one child header with the parent at the bottom of the left column; then, I can manually insert a TOC1 entry at the top of the right column saying "Header Blah, Blah (Continued)" for the other children stranded in the right column.

Yes, I need to re-create this whenever I regenerate the TOC, but at least it looks better than an indented child header at the beginning of the right column.

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I thought it unnecessary to mention that adding KWN to TOC 2 would keep the whole TOC in one indigestible lump.
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
Screen shots captured with TechSmith's Snagit

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Last updated October 5, 2021 Views 571 Applies to: