How To Make A Table Of Contents In PowerPoint and Google Slides

Updated April 2023

If you need to create a table of contents in PowerPoint in just a few clicks, you aren’t the only one out there! This feature isn’t used often in many PowerPoint presentations, but it can make a big difference in giving your audience an understanding of what you’ll cover and add more structure to your content.

Adding this in PowerPoint can help those reading your presentation to stay focused. Let’s take a look at this handy feature.

How to Make A Table of Contents in PowerPoint and Google Slides

There are a lot of different design choices you can make to improve your PowerPoint presentations. One of the best ways to make your PowerPoint easier to follow is by adding a table of contents. Let’s take a look at how to add table of contents in PowerPoint.

Step 1: Create a Slide for the PowerPoint Table of Contents

A table of contents PowerPoint slide should go at the beginning of your presentation. When you add in a new slide from the option in the top left, make sure that you are adding the slide to the beginning of the presentation.

That way, when we go to add in everything for the slides later, everything will be nice and indexed for the presentation.

Step 2: Copy the Outline for the Table of Contents

Once the table slide is at the beginning, go to the View tab at the top and select the Outline View option. This will give you a view of the different slides and their titles and contents. Right-click inside of this outline and choose the Collapse All option to view just the titles.

Select the titles by highlighting all of them. Copy this text with a keyboard shortcut or the right-click menu.

Step 3: Insert the Table Entries

Once you have the outline copied, it’s time to paste this list into the contents table slide at the beginning of the presentation. Go to the slide where you want your table of contents to be and use either a keyboard shortcut or the right-click menu to paste the text.

Feel free to remove some of the lines from the table of contents. You may not need every single title from the presentation in your table of contents. If that is the case, reduce the table down to a size that conveys the outline of the presentation without clogging up the slide.

Step 4: Number the Table Entries

With the contents table arranged the way that you want, it’s time to number the entries. Highlight all of the text for the table of contents with your mouse and select the Numbered List option from the toolbar at the top of the window. This will automatically add a number to the front of each entry on the list.

Google Slides Table of Contents

Adding this in Google Slide is similar to how you would do it in PowerPoint. Google Slides outlines just like Microsoft PowerPoint, so you can use the same method as above in Google Slides.

Or, if you want to generate one automatically, you can use the Table of Contents option in Google Slides. In the Add-Ons menu, you can select the Table of Contents option for a slide. Once enabled, the table will generate a new entry every time you make a new slide with a title.

Table of Contents in Microsoft Word

If you need to know how to make a contents table in Word, the good news is that it’s very similar to what is done in PowerPoint. You just need to know where to find the tools.

In the References tab at the top of the Word window, there is an option called Table of Contents. This option gives a list of preset templates that can be automatically applied as a table of contents for your document. This option pulls all the different headings together for your document and makes a contents table.

Once you find a template you like, click it and it will be inserted wherever you have your cursor clicked in the document. The font and size can be changed if needed, so tweak the table until it looks the way you wanted it to.

Templates

PowerPoint templates are plentiful online. With how often PowerPoint is used for meetings and by students, creative folks eventually share the fun designs they have made over time. The easiest template to use is the outline automatically generated by PowerPoint. It comes built into the software and gives you a foundation to work with. Still, not everyone wants to tinker with our designs. If you need help creating a good-looking PowerPoint presentations in general, then there are plenty of design and template ideas out there for you.

How To Do A PowerPoint Presentation

While making a PowerPoint file is one thing, knowing how to do PowerPoint presentations is different. There’s a way to deliver these presentations in an interesting and engaging way. Here are some tips to follow when giving PowerPoint presentations:

• Don’t read directly from your slides, but instead expand on what each point means
• Learn how to navigate the slides while inside the slideshow presentation
• Use the Speaker’s Notes function to have notes ready for yourself
• Refer to past presentations that you have seen and liked when designing your own
• Make eye contact with the audience rather than burying your head in your laptop or tablet.
• Practice your presentation out loud to make sure that what you’re going to say sounds correct.

Summary

Making a table of contents in PowerPoint is straightforward. You can use the outline that the software generates as a template to create a number list at the beginning of the presentation. If you want something a little more fantastic, then there are plenty of templates out there on the Internet that creative folks have shared that you can use!

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