How to stop table of contents listing itself as the first chapter?

I'm using Word 2011 on OS X and have a problem with the table of contents.

It lists itself as the first chapter.

How do I stop it from doing so?

Solution 1:

Check the style you used for the heading on the table of contents (TOC). Chapters in many tables of contents are generated from the heading styles. If you used Heading 1 as the style for the heading on the TOC, then it will show up as a chapter.

To fix this you can do one of the following.

• Change the style of the TOC heading to Normal and manually apply the font, etc. to make it look the same as Heading 1.
• Create a new style (say TOC Heading) and base it on Heading 1. It will have the same font, etc. as Heading 1 even if you change the Heading 1 style. Use this style for the heading of the TOC.

Solution 2:

I know that the question is about Word 2011, but I wanted to put this here in case anyone else was trying on a not-so-different version.

In Word 2010, select your TOC header and go to the References tab in the top bar, from there select Add Text and select Do Now Show in Table of Contents.

Repeat this for any other headings that you wish to remove (I also used this to exclude List of Figures and List of Tables from my TOC.

Solution 3:

To set up a Table of Contents in Word for Mac 2011 I give everything a style, then:

1. Go into Document Elements on the ribbon.

2. Select Table of Contents -> Options.

3. Click Options and I get the Table of Contents Options window. This allows me to specify the styles I want to include in the TOC and what level each style is (1-4). To remove a style, clear the option.

4. Then go back and rebuild the TOC.