Dot Leader Sporadically Missing from Table of Contents

Anonymous
2012-04-18T23:56:07+00:00

I am updating an automatic table of contents.  I'm using Word 2010.  There are dot leaders for each toc entry.  However, for several (but not all) of the new toc entries, the entry appears with the page number, but with no dot leader.  I've deleted the item and re-entered, re-formatted and done everything else I can think of and nothing works.  Help??

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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2012-05-22T18:43:08+00:00

Considering just the entries that are missing the period leaders, are those entries much shorter or longer than the other entries? Often this problem is a result of placement of tab stops in the relevant TOC style; in that case, however, the problem also results in page numbers being in the wrong place as well as lacking leaders. The situation arises when there is a tab stop (or hanging indent) fairly far to the right in the TOC style. A very short entry will stop short of this tab stop, and so the tab that should go to the right-aligned tab stop at the right margin (for the page numbers, with leader) instead stops at the first tab stop/hanging indent.

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-07-26T01:17:23+00:00

    You should certainly be able to change the tab stops in any TOC style. Since these styles are set to update automatically, changes you make in any entry at a given level should be propagated to all the entries at that level. If updating the TOC is resetting your style definitions, then something is wrong.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-07-25T14:27:26+00:00

    Indeed it seems to be a problem with short heading titles and wrong tab settings.  You can modify the tabs under Style settings, but every time you update the Table of Contents, the old tab settings return and the problem is back again.

    I found a workaround, which might be a little fastidious if you have lots of short headings.  I only had 3 of these without leading dots, so it worked for me.  What I did was to enter about 10 dots after the text of the heading.  I then changed their colour to white so that they were invisible.  When you generate the TOC, the dots fool Word into thinking that the heading is longer than it really is, and miraculousy the leading dots appear.  As the extra dots you added are there all the time, even when you update the TOC the leading dots remain and everything lines up nicely.

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-07-15T23:01:30+00:00

    I'm glad you found it helpful.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-07-15T17:15:42+00:00

    Thanks Suzzane - I am using 2010 and your tip was EXACTLY the help I needed.

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