Automating Report Writing
Task using Microsoft Word
Barry Hubbard
Table of Contents
2.2 Creating a Table of Contents
2.3 Regenerating the Table of Contents
Section
3 Generating List of Figures and Drawings
3.3 Updating the Table of Figures
Section
4 Concluding Comments
In your Freshman Design Course you will be required to write a moderate length written report complete with a Table of Contents, List of Figures, and List of Drawings. You will discover that the reports which you write will be living and working documents which constantly change in both content and organization. Because of the dynamic nature of the report, it is useful to have a tool that will allow Tables and Lists to update automatically when changes are made to the content reflected within the tables. Modern word processors contain a variety of these tools which aid you in the task of report writing. This paper will provide both an example of the table creating capabilities of Microsoft Word as well as brief introduction and instruction of their use. I will explain how, through the use of Styles and Formatting as well as the Table wizard, you can create a dynamic Table of Contents for use in your reports.
Type anything here.
Early in your process of planning the report it is important
to choose a set of formatting and style guidelines. Microsoft office provides Basic Styles such
as Heading 1 and
Once you have developed your styles list for the text that will be used in the report, you can begin writing the report. In order to use a given style for a new paragraph it is necessary to right click on the preferred style and start typing. If individual changes need to be made to only one paragraph, it is possible to specify those under the Format -> Font menu. If you desire to make changes to all of the text written in one style (such as changing the body text from 10pt font to 12pt font) it is preferable to modify the style definition (once again by right clicking on the style from the list).
If you are working with a existing
report, you may still create your styles as mentioned above. If styles have not already been established,
it is likely that all of the text will be in considered in the
Once the all of the text has been entered you may begin to generate the table of contents. Choose Insert -> Reference -> Index and Table and choose the Table of Contents tab. A message box will be displayed that will allow you to specify the Styles that will be used to generate the table of contents. By choosing Modify, it is possible to change the levels each style holds in the table. Also, it allows you to add or subtract styles from the table of contents. Pressing OK will create a Table of Contents based on your preferences. You will see the headings listed in the Table along with the corresponding pages that they appear on.
It is important to note that the table of contents will not automatically update page number and report information as it is added to the document. In order to update the table, it is necessary to right click on the table and choose Update Field. This will cause Word to rescan the document and reflect the changes made to the document in the Table.
Creating a list of figures in Microsoft Word is just the same as creating a Table of Contents. First you must begin by developing a set of styles for use with your Figure and Picture Captions. Even if the captions for Figures and Pictures match styles used in other portions of the report, it is important that each be given a unique Style in Word.
Once you have created the styles, be sure to use the styles whenever creating the caption for a picture, diagram, or figure. When you are ready to generate the list, choose Insert -> Reference -> Index and Table and choose the Table of Figures tab. Again, a dialogue box will open that will give you the option of customizing the appearance and organization of your Table. When you are satisfied with the selections, click OK, and Word will scan your document for all Figure text and add it to the list of tables.
Table of figures are updated in the same fashion as Table of Contents which are described in section 2.3.
You should find that the time invested in using styles in your report will reap great rewards when it comes to updating tables and appearance of the final copy. Furthermore, the Table of Contents will provide you will a collection of Hyperlinks which will allow you to click your way directly to sections of your paper which will reduce the amount of time spent on searching for problem sections. Jumping to a given section from the Table of Contents is as easy as pressing Control and then clicking on the desired section.
This paper is not designed to be an all inclusive help manual. Microsoft Office comes with a manual in the form of the Office Assistant. For aid with any of the topics discussed in this paper, click on the Microsoft Assistant and type in the topic that you are having problems with. If you do not see that assistant, go to Help -> Office Assistant and he will appear shortly to answer your questions.