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Create a collapse/expand connection between two paragraphs in Word.

Hello,

How do you create a collapse/expand connection between two paragraphs in Word (2013)?

On occasion, I have seen Word documents which include the ability for collapsing or expanding certain paragraphs with a single click of the mouse. In these cases, a small triangle is present (just to the left of the "parent" paragraph) which when clicked, collapses or expands (hides or unhides) some number of "child" paragraphs below the paragraph with the triangle. 

In the uncollapsed state, the triangle is gray, points down and to the right, and is only visible when mousing over its corresponding paragraph. In the collapsed state however, the triangle is white (ie only its edges are visible), points directly to the right, and is always visible.

How do you create a collapse/expand (parent/child) connection between two or more paragraphs?

Is the connection in any way dependent of the styles assigned to parent & child? In other words, must both paragraphs be the same style or can there styles differ or does it not matter?

How do you designate the number of "child" paragraphs to collapse below a given "parent" paragraph?


Thanks

Answer
Answer

Word 2013 automatically adds the expand/collapse triangle to each paragraph that has an Outline Level of 1 through 9 -- typically because it has a Heading 1 through Heading 9 style applied to it.*

The "child" paragraphs that collapse are all of the ones after the Heading paragraph that have an Outline Level of "Body Text" or a larger number than the "parent" paragraph's level, up to but not including the next Heading paragraph of the same or superior level. As an example, if you have a Heading 1 paragraph followed by a mixture of Body Text and Heading 2, 3, etc. paragraphs, and then another Heading 1 paragraph, then everything between the two Heading 1 paragraphs will collapse/expand when you click the triangle of the first Heading 1. If you click the triangle of a Heading 2 paragraph, everything below it until the next Heading 2 or Heading 1 paragraph will collapse, and so on.

*If you right-click a style in the Home tab and click Modify, then in the dialog you click the Format button at the bottom and click Paragraph, you can change the style's Outline Level. You can also change the outline level of the selected paragraph(s) independently of the style, by going to the Paragraph dialog.

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Last updated October 1, 2021 Views 1,359 Applies to: