Hi everyone, I’m working on a cookbook in InDesign and I’m running into a strange issue with my automatically generated table of contents. Everything works fine until the last section: the TOC simply doesn’t display the last few entries, even though they use the same paragraph styles as the others. I double-checked: The TOC frame is large enough (no red overflow indicator). I’ve updated the TOC multiple times. All relevant paragraph styles are properly included in the TOC setup. The missing titles are styled identically to the ones that do appear. Even more confusing: if I reorder the pages in my document, the problem remains — the last few pages are still omitted from the TOC as you can see in the picture I also noticed that in the TOC frame, one of the last entries looks squashed or overlapping with the next line, which makes me think InDesign is trying to force content into the frame even though it can’t fit it properly. I tried enlarging the frame and even replacing it, but the issue persists. Any ideas on how to fix this or what’s causing it? Thanks in advance!

Known Participant

Question

TOC thinks there isn't any more place in the text box - TOC not showing all entries — missing lines

Forum|Forum|9 months ago
June 27, 2025
4 replies
1065 views

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a cookbook in InDesign and I’m running into a strange issue with my automatically generated table of contents.

Everything works fine until the last section: the TOC simply doesn’t display the last few entries, even though they use the same paragraph styles as the others. I double-checked:

The TOC frame is large enough (no red overflow indicator).
I’ve updated the TOC multiple times.
All relevant paragraph styles are properly included in the TOC setup.
The missing titles are styled identically to the ones that do appear.

Even more confusing: if I reorder the pages in my document, the problem remains — the last few pages are still omitted from the TOC as you can see in the picture

I also noticed that in the TOC frame, one of the last entries looks squashed or overlapping with the next line, which makes me think InDesign is trying to force content into the frame even though it can’t fit it properly.

I tried enlarging the frame and even replacing it, but the issue persists.

Any ideas on how to fix this or what’s causing it? Thanks in advance!

Bug

Barb Binder

Community Expert

The leading can come from a character style in the body of the document. Take a look at those two paragraphs as they appear in the actual document before being called into the TOC.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi @noamh40117061:

Why don't you try working through @Eugene Tyson's suggestions. If you don't make progress, I'd be happy to look at your files.

Also, vertical spacing is a combination of leading (line spacing) and space before and space after. If text doesn’t fit, and InDesign will not squish text to fit. It will always overset the frame.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

N

noamh40117061Author

Known Participant

@jmlevy @Barb Binder @Eugene Tyson
I am tagging you because my answer relate in a way to what every one of you talked about.

The fact that the TOC was not in order is simple but was hard to find : the toc thaught that my main title was lower in the visual representation that my other titles. I tried everything, but the thing that work was simple : align every one of the text box so that the visual order is clear for the software. It worked !

Now the only problem that I have is the fact that my last line is compressed. I also created an index that has the same problem (the index doesn't have the same style as the TOC).
I already tried (even before i posted) all the text and paragraph changes that you suggested @Barb Binder but it doesn't work. The problem seems to be of another dimension : whatever the last line is, it will show like that. The last line has exactly the same paragraph style as all the others, and there is no "+" that indicates that changes have been made. So I suggest maybe it's a problem in the TOC, but I can't be sure. I tried to export the file in IDML but it doesn't change anything

jmlevy

Community Expert

The fact that the TOC was not in order is simple but was hard to find : the toc thaught that my main title was lower in the visual representation that my other titles. I tried everything, but the thing that work was simple : align every one of the text box so that the visual order is clear for the software. It worked !

That's why I asked if there was different text frames…

C'est pour cette raison que je t'ai demandé si ces textes se trouvaient dans des blocs séparés du reste.

En ce qui concerne ton problème de ligne qui se chevauche, ce serait plus simple si tu nous mettais un exemple de fichier à disposition.

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Can you please share a screen shot of your Table of Contents dialog box so that we can see what styles you are calling in. And what styles are they mapping to? (Visible after clicking the More Options button with a style selected). The squished lines appear not to have enough leading assigned. This can originate in the body of the document—the TOC just picks it up and displays it.

the last few pages are still omitted from the TOC as you can see in the picture

We can't tell what is missing without seeing the document. On a general note: I recommend double checking the style names: any variations on style names will cause them not to be included. It could be an extra space at the end of the style name in one file but not in another, or a different case in the style name, or a style that appears in a folder in one document and not in a folder in an other document. Screen shots will help us help you troubleshoot.

I see that multiple entries end with a hyphen—are you getting the entire headings as expected, or are there words missing, too?

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

N

noamh40117061Author

Known Participant

Hi barb,
First of all thanks for your answer.
The problem doesn't come from the style or paragraphs names. No matter what pages I put last, the last line always seems to not have enough place. I joined screenshot of the TOC window and after i changed the pages order

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

If a document is not behaving well then try

File>Export

Choose IDML

Open the IDML in InDesign
Save the file as a new InDesign file with a new name
See if the issue persists.

-------------

alternative to check if this works - could be something built up in the background of the file.

Open the document that contains the pages you want to move.

Check the Page Setup of the Source:
With the source document open:

Go to File > Document Setup to see the page size, orientation, and number of pages.
Go to Layout > Margins and Columns to check the margin settings.

Make a note of these details — you’ll need them for the new document.

Create a New Document (Destination):
Go to File > New > Document.

Enter the same page size, orientation, and margins as the source document.
Go to File > Save As, give it a name, and save it somewhere you can find easily.

If it’s not open already, go to Window > Pages.

Switch back to the source document. In the Pages panel, select the page thumbnails you want to move.

To select a range: click the first, hold Shift, then click the last.

With the pages selected, click the menu icon (three lines) at the top right of the Pages panel and choose Move Pages…

Set the Destination:
In the Move Pages dialog box:

Move Pages: This will list your selected pages.

Destination: Choose your new document from the dropdown list.
Location: Choose where the pages should go beginning, end, before or after a certain page.

Click OK and the pages will move into the new document

Save this and see if it works for you now.

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noamh40117061Author

Known Participant

I checked the IDML option, but it didn’t change anything.

I also tried the second option, but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to see.

However, I noticed something that might help: the titles in the TOC are not appearing in the right order. For example, the title “Les techniques” on page 136 should stand alone — on the actual book pages, it’s by itself. So in the TOC, I should see the orange title “Les techniques” followed immediately by “Les essentiels - les bases.”

But instead, some of the recipes from the “Les essentiels - les bases” section are showing up under “Les techniques,” as if they were part of it.

I hope that makes sense!

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

2nd option should move all the pages to a new document - which should fix TOC issues, has fixed some problems in the past.

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