The "sneaky technique" is just basic FM processing.
When you generate a TOC (or any generated file), FM looks to see if an earlier version of the generated file exists. If so, it uses the existing file as a template and replaces the entries within it. If not, it creates a new file with default formatting. Of course, the update will fail if an existing file is not writable.
FM cannot tell if an existing file was created by generating a TOC for a previous version of the same book or by copying another file; it simply tests for a file of the name exists. The question of creating the initial TOC for one book by importing templates into a file that FM generates for the current book or by copying and renaming the TOC from a finished book is really independent of the fact that the file is a TOC. Consider other situations in which you have a finished document and want to create a new one with the same formatting. You can do any of the following whether or not the documents in question are generated files:
1. Use File > New (or Ctrl-N) to create a new document, specifying the finished document as the template to use.
2. Make a copy of the finished document and rename it.
3. Create a new document from some other template and import formats from the finished document.
The rest of this message simply lists a couple of other things you can do with generated files.
1. The TOC extension for the table of contents is just a default. You can change it in the Set Up Table of Contents dialog box if you wish. Furthermore, you can completely change the filename of a book's table of contents. Suppose, for instance, that you are working on a set of several books, all with the same formatting. You can use a generic filename such as contents.toc for all the TOCs. That way, if you want to change the formatting throughout the set of books, you can simply make the change in one of the contents.toc files and copy the edited file to the other directories, without having to change the name of the copied file or to open each TOC file and import the updated formats into it. You will need to add a table of contents and rename it in every book. To rename it, you can right-click on the filename in the book window and select Rename from the resulting context menu. Alternatively, you can click on a filename in the book window to select it, pause, and then click on it again (if the two clicks are too close together, they will be interpreted as a double click that opens the file instead of allowing you to rename it).
2. There's another way you can prepare for updating the formatting of all TOCs in a set of books. Remember that a single file can be used in multiple books. Furthermore, a file that is a generated file in one book need not be generated in another book. Thus, you can create a book in which all files are the TOCs from the various publishable books. You are creating this book just as a handy way of making a collection of files. Enter the TOCs as files not as tables of contents. Suppose you want to update a master page or paragraph formats used in the TOCs. Make the changes in one TOC, then select all files in the book of TOCs and import formats from the edited one. The changes are then available in your publishable books.
--Lynne
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