How to Create a Digital Table of Contents / Digital TOC

Are you wondering how to create a digital table of contents or Digital TOC for your eBook? Do you ask yourself, why do I need one of those, what is it, and what benefits do I receive from doing extra work?

Here is the reason you want your eBook to have a digital table of contents: many retailers, including Barnes and Noble, will NOT post your eBook for sale without one.

What is a digital table of contents? It is a series of internal hyperlinks within a book that let a reader jump to points in that book. It makes sense to do this at the start of chapters, appendices, the author bio, and such forth.

How do you create a digital TOC? No worries, my friends, I will explain (for Word, sorry non MS Word users).

1. Create your bookmarks first. The bookmarks reference specific locations in documents. I will show you an example:

Chapter One: How to Create a Bookmark

chapter one body text here. this is where the actual chapter text goes.

- let’s say I want my readers to be able to jump to my chapter one title, listed above. I need to scroll to that place in my document (which should be at the start of chapter one, above the chapter body text), and highlight the entire line with my mouse.

2. With the title highlighted, go to Insert>Bookmark

3. Type a name for your bookmark (I like to name mine after the chapter name or number, so one, two, etc). Click add.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 for as many bookmarks as you will be adding in the document. Get them all done first. It makes the next part easier.

5. Once you have highlighted every place you want to bookmark, and have created the bookmarks to go with them, you need to create links that readers can click which will jump them to these locations within your document.  This is best done in your actual Table of Contents. Here is our below example:

Chapter One: How to Create a Bookmark

Chapter Two: How to Create a Hyperlink

Chapter Three: The Importance of Good Hygiene

-Now, to create the hyperlink, first highlight all the text for your chapter one. Then go to Insert>Hyperlink (or hit CTRL+K with it highlighted).

6. The next menu will say “Link to.” Select “place in the document” since you are linking it to a place within your document.

7. Select “one” (or whatever it is you called your bookmark for chapter one). Hit OK.

8. Repeat steps 5-7 until all your links are created.

That is it! I recommend testing your hyperlinks before you submit it to make sure they work correctly.
Congratulations, you’ve created your Digital Table of Contents and can now begin getting your Ebook into retailers around the globe.

 

 

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