How to stop table of contents listing itself as the first chapter?

Question

I'm using Word 2011 on OS X and have a problem with the table of contents.

It lists itself as the first chapter.

How do I stop it from doing so?

Answer 1

Check the style you used for the heading on the table of contents (TOC). Chapters in many tables of contents are generated from the heading styles. If you used Heading 1 as the style for the heading on the TOC, then it will show up as a chapter.

To fix this you can do one of the following.

• Change the style of the TOC heading to Normal and manually apply the font, etc. to make it look the same as Heading 1.
• Create a new style (say TOC Heading) and base it on Heading 1. It will have the same font, etc. as Heading 1 even if you change the Heading 1 style. Use this style for the heading of the TOC.