TOC loses style definitions

[mlr123]

Created a TOC style, let's call it "MyTOC." MyTOC has five style definitions:

(Book paragraph style=TOC paragraph style)

TOCTitleStyle=TOCHead

Head1=TOC1

Head2=TOC2

Head3=TOC3

Head4=TOC4

When I set this up and save it as "MyTOC" style, it outputs the TOC perfectly.

But when I place the cursor in the existing TOC and choose "Update TOC," the entire TOC disappears. When I look at the style definitions for "MyTOC," they have disappeared, as well. The only style associated with the "MyTOC" style is [basic paragraph]. Because none of my book headings use the default [basic paragraph] style, it makes sense that the TOC is empty.

I don't lose the "MyTOC" TOC style, just the definitions within the "MyTOC" style.

Any idea what I am doing wrong? This problem has persisted throughout many versions of InDesign and I can't find anyone else complaining about it. Reluctantly, I have to assume that it is user error.

[pixxxelschubser]

Please show two screenshots:

menu Layout --> Table of Contents…

and

menu Layout --> Table of Contents styles…

[mlr123 · Accepted solution]

Thank you, pixxxelschubser, but I figured it out. After several years of dealing with this, I apparently needed to type out the problem for my brain to figure it out. As soon as I hit "enter," I had an idea of what was causing the problem and was able to confirm it within 10 min.

"Contents" file is file number 2 in the book. The controlling file in the book is "Cover." So everytime I set up styles in the "Contents" file, it would be overwritten whenever I synchronized the book. What was throwing me off was that the "MyTOC" TOC style was in both files (with different style definitions), so it was only the "MyTOC" style definitions that were changed when synchronizing the book -- it did not delete the TOC style named "MyTOC." I would have figured it out much, much, sooner if the "MyTOC" style disappeared altogether after synchronization.

Once I defined "MyTOC" styles in the "Cover" file, I was able to update the TOC without erasing it following book synchronization.

Thank you!