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
    2015-06-22T17:29:50+00:00

    The default TOC 3 style has a 0.33" left indent (no hanging indent). Until the TOC is created, the style has no tab stops at all; they are inserted dynamically based on the current margin settings. If you have the default 1" left and right margins, then a tab stop at 6.5" (actually 6.49") is expected.

    If your level 3 entries are numbered, Word will insert a tab stop following the number. For example, if you have applied the default 1 Heading 1, 1.1 Heading 2, 1.1.1 Heading 3 multilevel list, this tab stop will be at 0.92" for TOC 3. If your Heading 3 style is not numbered, then there's no reason for the 0.5" tab stop, and it should be removed. The easiest way to do this is just to drag it off the ruler.

    But the issue seems to be that a period leader is not selected for the 6.5" tab stop. To correct this, you'll need to get to the Tabs dialog. One way to do this is to right-click in a TOC 3 paragraph and choose Paragraph ... In the Paragraph dialog, click the Tabs... button. In the Tabs dialog, select the 6.5" tab stop and, under Leader select the #2 radio button. Click OK to exit. The style should be updated automatically.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-06-22T16:19:47+00:00

    Hello, I am having this same problem.  Only level TOC3 is missing these dots.  I tried to follow your steps with changing the tabs but I am still confused.  I have tabs .5 and 6.5 on level TOC3.  I too am sorry to ask you to re-explain, but I just cannot see what is different about my TOC3 from the other TOC levels, and I can't figure out how to change any of the settings (hanging indent, etc) to get the dots to show up.  I can just manually type them into the TOC directly, but I'd rather understand why I can't get this to work. Thanks!

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-05-22T23:40:26+00:00

    The 1.75" tab stop is the problem. In any TOC entry that ends short of 1.75", the default tab will go to that stop instead of the 6" one, placing the page number in the middle of the line with no leader. If the tab stop is associated with a hanging indent, you can reduce the indent. If the 1.75" tab stop is not needed, you can delete it.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-05-22T22:55:55+00:00

    Yes.  There are 2 tab stops

    1.75" with no leader; and

    6" with a ....... leader

    Now what do I do?

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