How to Create a Navigable Table of Contents for Ebooks

Step 1—

List your contents.

Just before the prologue or first chapter of your book, create a blank page using a Page Break. Now list all the contents in the book. Put a single content on one line. Here’s an example:

Prologue

Chapter 1………………………Chapter Title

Chapter 2………………………Chapter Title

Chapter 3………………………Chapter Title

Epilogue

Author Bio

Note: eBooks do not have page numbers. eReaders have their own internal page numbering system, so including page numbers on this document would only cause readers confusion.

Step 2—

Bookmarks

We’re going to use the bookmark and hyperlink function to make the TOC interactive. When a user clicks on the interactive pieces of the TOC, they’ll be taken to that chapter or piece directly. Bookmarks serve as anchor points and the hyperlinks link the words to those anchor points.

Locate the start of your Prologue in your document. Select the title (usually Prologue) or the first few words on the prologue if there is no title. Click on the Insert tab on the tool and then click on the Bookmark icon. This opens the Bookmark dialogue box.

In the Bookmark Name box, type Prologue and then click the Add button to the right.

Now select the next item in your table of contents. Most likely that item is Chapter 1, so scroll through the manuscript and find Chapter 1. Highlight Chapter 1 or whatever wording you have used to indicate that chapter. Repeat the process of setting the bookmark, giving it a unique name like ChapterOne or Chapter1. Names cannot contain spaces.

Go through each item of the TOC one by one and create a bookmark for it.

Step 3—

Hyperlinks

Return to your TOC page and select the first item. In the example above, the item is Prologue. Now return to the Insert tab and select the Hyperlink icon. This opens the hyperlink dialogue box.

On the left side, choose Place in This Document. A list of the bookmarks you created will appear in the frame in the center. Choose Prologue from the list.

To try it out, return to your document’s TOC page. The word Prologue should be blue with a line beneath it to indicate it is now a link. Depending on your MS Word settings for this feature, it may not be blue and underlined. If you scroll over the word, however, your cursor will turn to a hand. Click on the word and it should take you to the beginning of the prologue. In some versions, you’ll need to hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the word.

Now move on to the next item and repeat the process to link it to the bookmark to which it corresponds.

Once you’ve finished, test each link to make sure all the links take you to the proper locations.

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