Word 2013 Table of contents - page numbers all change to 2 when print (or print preview)

Anonymous
2015-03-24T07:04:25+00:00

I have a single section document in Word 2013.  The first page is a TOC.  The document is 4 pages

long and has three Level 1 Heading styles through out the document.  The TOC initially appears correct. 

When I go to Print Preview the TOC will revert all page numbers to 2. 

Changing the Options "Update fields before printing" and  "Allow fields containing tracked changes to update before printing" has no effect (before anyone suggests this).

The only solution is to manually update the TOC, save to PDF, and print the PDF.

Anyone can reproduce this problem. Try it....

  1. Start with blank document
  2. Insert a TOC (ignore the error message, we will come back to this)
  3. Go to the end of the document and insert a page break to move to page 2
  4. Now type a heading in Heading 1 style and press enter
  5. type some dummy text (=rand(20) for example)
  6. Continue steps 4 and 5 to insert more headings and dummy text.
  7. Now return to the top (page 1) and update the TOC
  8. So far so good.  Everything working well
  9. Now go to Print Preview (Ctrl+P)
  10. Everything is still good
  11. Escape back to the document
  12. Go to Print Preview again
  13. AGGGHHHH! All the page numbers have reverted to page 2
  14. Happens every time without fail.  Totally reproducible on all our office PCs.

I have seen many descriptions of this behavior on different forums and not one solution. But I am like the proverbial dog with a bone - I will not let this issue go until MS gives me a solution !

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Stefan Blom 353.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-03-30T13:49:49+00:00

    For what it's worth, I haven't been able to reproduce it either, so far. I'm running Windows 7 64 bit on an HP Probook and the most recent update of Office 2013 Professional.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-04-03T08:46:11+00:00

    Mmmmmmm.....so what does this mean ???

    1.  I have three computers on a network that do this. 

    2.  I have (so far) four clients that also have this issue. 

    3.  I have John Korchok (community contributor) confirm this issue

    3.  I have Microsoft engineers reproduce the issue and supply me with screen captures showing the issue.

    And yet Doug and Stefan (who I respect and trust) do not have this problem.  Why?

    How about I put up a problem Word document for folks to open?  Would that achieve anything?  (Mind you - every document is a problem Word document for me!)

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  3. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-04-03T09:28:41+00:00

    I'll be happy to look at a document.  Either e-mail it to me or upload it to a folder on your OneDrive and set that folder to be shared and put a link to the folder in a message that you post back here.

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  4. Stefan Blom 353.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-04-03T10:03:27+00:00

    Sharing the document is a very good idea.

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-04-04T00:13:13+00:00

    Here it is http://1drv.ms/1DwPUxf

    1. It will open in Word Online
    2. Click "Download" to Open in Desktop Word
    3. No need to Enable Editing, just "Enable Printing"
    4. Ctrl + P to view the document in Print Preview
    5. Return to document
    6. Ctrl + P to view the document in Print Preview again

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