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. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2017-09-18T21:09:22+00:00

    If you want to send me a copy of the file, I will investigate the issue.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-09-18T19:45:44+00:00

    I am using Windows 10 with Office 365 and I have the same problem.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-04-19T20:31:03+00:00

    You my friend are a [f-word deleted] hero! God bless you!

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-03-02T15:27:46+00:00

    Same thing happened to me - i saved as Adobe Acrobat and it seemed to keep the TOC in tact.  Then i was able to print ok.

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