Accessibility: Table of Contents

Why Is This Important?

The table of contents allows users to go directly to a specific section of an online document and get an overview of a document's contents and organization. A table of contents provides links to sections of the same document and is particularly useful when a document is divided into multiple webpages.

When To Use It

When a document has multiple sections and subsections, a table of contents is useful to have to allow for easy accessibility and navigation.

  • Note: a table of contents is not required for WCAG compliance.
How To Use It

Word: Use the built-in table of contents generator attached to your heading structure.

Adobe Acrobat: Tag the table of contents as TOC with a reference and link if applicable.

Example

Table of Contents Example
Table of Contents Example
Table of Contents Nested Structure Example.
Nested Tagged Table of Contents Example

Creating Table of Contents in Microsoft Word

  1. Open your document.
  2. Ensure your headings are accurate and hierarchical.
    1. Visit Accessibility: Headings for more information.
  3. Select References > Table of Contents > choose a Table of Contents format.
  4. To update the Table of Contents after modifications, select the Table of Contents area and select Update Table. Choose to either Update Page Numbers or Update Entire Table.
    1. Note: "Update Page Numbers" are only used when the heading structure has not changed but content was added to change the page numbers. Update the Entire Table is used when the heading structure was changed.

Tagging Table of Contents in Adobe Acrobat

  1. Open your document in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
  2. Open the Tags panel.
  3. Right-click Document > New Tag > Table of Contents (TOC).
  4. Within the <TOC>, create <TOCI> (Table of Contents Item) tags.
  5. For each <TOCI>, create a <Reference> and <Link> if applicable.
  6. Associate each tag with the correct Table of Content entry by highlighting the text and choosing Create Tag from Selection.
    1. Note: all subsections must be nested under each <TOC> entry.
Tips for Checking Accessibility

When tagging PDFs, review the tags to ensure the tag tree is correct.

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