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J
J0HN_G00DWIN
Participating Frequently
October 5, 2011
Answered

Table of Contents Question

  • October 5, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 1671 views

Hello all - I'm brand new to the forums and relatively new to Frame, but I've been a tech writer for 10 years.

I added a Chapter to a book, and it won't show up in my ToC.  I did not set up the original ToC, so I'm not sure why it sees the other Chapters (I'm still learning).

I have played with a few things but can't get it to work.  I don't want to set up any paradigms that could limit the creativity of your responses, so I'll wait before I explain what I tried.

Any suggestions?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Bob_Niland

    I imported the formats from an old chapter to the new chapter.  I am assuming that this will ensure the paragraph format names are the same.  Is that a good assumption?

    Correct.

    .... there is no option under Edit to Set up Table of Contents.

    Ah. That suggests that the TOC file is not a "real" (generated) TOC file.

    It may have been set up by generating a TOC, then copying and pasting back into an ordinary chapter file. Or, it may have been created by hand-crafting Xrefs. Or it may have been a generated file at one time, but lost that status due to an inelegant move/rename operation. These scenarios suggest that either the author didn't know how to build and care for an automagic TOC, or they had some unique formatting or content problem that prevented using a generated TOC.

    You may have to make a backup of that file, delete it from the book, do an Add > Table of Contents to generate a new one, and import the formats from the failing TOC file.

    But not yet. Allow some time for other remote crystal ball readings from other contributors here.

    And is there anything odd about that TOC, like text trailing the entries that might be lost if auto-generated?

    2 replies

    J
    J0HN_G00DWINAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    October 10, 2011

    After further analysis, I believe that what I'm trying to do is get the Table of Contents to ignore a carriage return in a style.  In Chapter 1, for example, it begins like this:

              CHAPTER 1

    NORMAL OPERATIONS 1-1

    Because there is a carriage return after the "1," the Table of Contents wants to put the text on two lines.  I need it to ignore the carriage return so that it looks like this:

    CHAPTER 1 NORMAL OPERATIONS.....................................1-1

    Any way to make the ToC ignore that carriage return?

    V
    Van Kurtz
    Inspiring
    October 10, 2011

    John,

           CHAPTER 1

    NORMAL OPERATIONS 1-1

    Because there is a carriage return after the "1," the Table of Contents wants to put the text on two lines.  I need it to ignore the carriage return so that it looks like this:

    CHAPTER 1 NORMAL OPERATIONS.....................................1-1

    Any way to make the ToC ignore that carriage return?

    You make the TOC ignore the carriage return by setting the paragraph format for the chapter 1 TOC paragraph to RUN IN. A run in paragraph runs into the following paragraph. To get some space between the chapter number and the following paragraph, you will have to add some spaces at the end of the ChapterTOC (or whatever you name is) paragraph on the reference page. I suggest a standard width, such as an em space.

    Van

    Bob_Niland
    Bob_Niland
    Community Expert
    October 5, 2011

    I added a Chapter to a book, ...

    Added how? Using Add > Files from the .book menu?

    ... and it won't show up in my ToC.

    My first guess would be that the new chapter is using (heading) paragraph format names that are different, even if only slightly, from the names used in the other chapters that are seen by TOC gen.

    If so, you can fix that by either making the names consistent, or in .book, select the TOC file from the book menu, and Edit > Set up Table of Contents to Include the new names. You may need to do an Update Book for the book file to see all the fmts book-wide (but chances are you've already done that).

    J
    J0HN_G00DWINAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    October 5, 2011

    To add the chapter, I selected the Add File button and browsed to the new chapter, located in the same folder as the other chapters.

    I imported the formats from an old chapter to the new chapter.  I am assuming that this will ensure the paragraph format names are the same.  Is that a good assumption?

    When the .book is open but all files are not open (including the TOC), and I select the TOC (per your instructions) by clicking it once, there is no option under Edit to Set up Table of Contents.  When I actually open the Table of Contents, there is still no option under Edit to Set up Table of Contents.  I'm using FrameMaker 9.0, is that the reason?

    I did do an Update Book several times.  All the boxes are checked except *EDIT: "Apply Master Pages." *END EDIT.

    In any case, it still isn't showing the new Chapter in the TOC.

    Bob_Niland
    Bob_NilandCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    October 5, 2011

    I imported the formats from an old chapter to the new chapter.  I am assuming that this will ensure the paragraph format names are the same.  Is that a good assumption?

    Correct.

    .... there is no option under Edit to Set up Table of Contents.

    Ah. That suggests that the TOC file is not a "real" (generated) TOC file.

    It may have been set up by generating a TOC, then copying and pasting back into an ordinary chapter file. Or, it may have been created by hand-crafting Xrefs. Or it may have been a generated file at one time, but lost that status due to an inelegant move/rename operation. These scenarios suggest that either the author didn't know how to build and care for an automagic TOC, or they had some unique formatting or content problem that prevented using a generated TOC.

    You may have to make a backup of that file, delete it from the book, do an Add > Table of Contents to generate a new one, and import the formats from the failing TOC file.

    But not yet. Allow some time for other remote crystal ball readings from other contributors here.

    And is there anything odd about that TOC, like text trailing the entries that might be lost if auto-generated?

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