TOC randomly reverses the order of some entries.

[Mariana TF]

When generating a TOC some entries are located in the wrong place.

The text frames are not threaded. This implies intervening the TOC manually.

This happens in some cases but not in all: The assembly structure is identical.

Mac/Ventura 13.6 / ID 19.2

 

[Barb Binder]

A generated table of contents will work correctly when the content is pulled from threaded frames.

This is what's going to happen when the frames are not threaded. Option one is to thread the frames now. Option two is to move the frames  so that InDesign can see the hierarchy. Option two doesn't always work. 

~Barb

[Mariana TF]

Barb, thank you for your kind and timely response.

Surely, the conclusion that unthreaded frames can cause problems must be true.

However, the opposite is also true. I say this because is this a job (a publisher's catalog) that we have been doing for years and from the first day it was like that. A few lines (5/30) were out of place and others were fine. Always, coincidentally, the first page gave problems. This time we did a test with unthreaded frames (a twin of the main cat) and the result is identical.

In order not to give more turns we opted to place the variables on a page before the first one and that solved it temporarily. Other times extending the variable frame to both pp, a single frame from width to width covering the double page seems to solve the inconvenience.

It seems to be a software problem and not a user one, perhaps the way ID «reads» in disorder in the master page the incumbent information.

In this sample another possibility is showed:

 Best regards,

[Barb Binder]

Hi @Mariana TF:

My apologies for the delay in responding—I've been traveling.

I'm glad you found a workaround for now. And yes, this is an issue with InDesign. I was trying to say that InDesign doesn't always figure out the intended TOC order when the frames aren't threaded, though sometimes it does. Conversely, when we use threaded frames it always understands the order. 

If you are having difficulty redesigning your document to use threaded frames, you can share a screen shot or two and we offer some guidance. No rush to take us up on the offer—it's working for you now so I understand it is not a priority. 

~Barb