# Dynamic toc that populates page numbers in word \[creating question marks instead\]

**URL:** <https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210>\
**Category:** Other Software & Development\
**Created:** [April 18, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210 "2024-04-18T18:40:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 7:29pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/21 "2024-04-24T19:29:17Z")

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to press f9 do I need to also select the shift key or the ‘fn’ key at the bottom of the keyboard?

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**Author:** ![Kevitec57](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/kevitec57/32/20364_2.png) [@Kevitec57](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Kevitec57)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/22 "2024-04-24T19:49:06Z")

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No usually, not. On my keyboard (Windows machine) F9 doesn’t have an elevated state, which would require you to press Fn+F9.  
Try the different combinations you mentioned. Fear not, nothing drastic can go wrong.

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**Author:** ![Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Rolando)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/23 "2024-04-24T19:55:34Z")

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on my keyboard on a mac you need fn with the F9, but as Kevitec57 says, there is not harm in trying all combinations.

If one of these does not work, then you need to find out why you do not have dynamic TOC in your word document.

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**Author:** ![November\_Sierra](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/november_sierra/32/41086_2.png) [@November\_Sierra](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/November_Sierra)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/24 "2024-04-24T19:57:56Z")

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> **[How to use the function keys on your Mac - Apple Support](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102439)**
>
> The top row of keys on your Apple keyboard can control built-in Mac features or be used as standard function keys.

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**Author:** ![Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Rolando)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/25 "2024-04-24T20:14:02Z")

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@Kevitec57 solution is the correct one.  
Press Cmd A to select the whole document  
It should all be grey.  
Then press Fn together with the F9 key  
the page numbers will appear.

My solution of right clicking in the table of contents did not work because there is not a Word table of contents. But this does not matter. The solution above from Kevitec57 is the correct one.

I hope this solves your problem.

PS I tried compiling a document from scrivener to word (which I don’t usually use) and this process worked. I also had the ?? at the beginning.

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**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/26 "2024-04-24T20:22:26Z")

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when I click command a only the chapter titles in the toc turn grey , not the whoel documnet. Is that right? When I click fn & f9 button nothing happens

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/27 "2024-04-24T20:24:46Z")

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![Screenshot 2024-04-24 at 1.20.49 PM](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/uploads/default/original/3X/1/6/16452ba71f07a472d2a596f8e5131e6958aa7393.jpeg)  
this is the screen shot with the grey highlit chapter headings. When I click f9 nothing happens. If i understand correctly then the chapter page numbers should replace the question marks?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/28 "2024-04-24T20:28:13Z")

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when I command a in the toc page, the chapter headings light up grey, not the whole document. The when I hit f9 nothing happens

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**Author:** ![Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Rolando)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/29 "2024-04-24T20:35:12Z")

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Try Cmd A somewhere else in the document and then hold the Fn key while pressing F9. Yes the question marks should be replaced by page numbers.

But be patient it may take a while to update since your document has over 400 pages I think.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/30 "2024-04-24T20:56:29Z")

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so just keep holding the f9 key til I see a change take place in the doc?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 8:58pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/31 "2024-04-24T20:58:22Z")

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hit command a in the toc age. The headings all turned grey. Not the balance of the document - only the headings. I hit f9 and waited, still nothing happened.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/32 "2024-04-24T21:01:52Z")

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however when I tried to print while in ms word, a text box populates that says ’ preparing your pdf to print – then turns it into a pdf. the page numbers for the chapters are there in this case but now its in a different file format.Am I doing something wrong on that step? why does it convert to pdf when I ask it to print?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 9:03pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/33 "2024-04-24T21:03:41Z")

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I hit print and got a message box that said ‘preparing your pdf to print’ then a pdf pops up - it has the correct pages for the chapter heading but now its a pdf instead of a word doc.

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**Author:** ![Kevitec57](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/kevitec57/32/20364_2.png) [@Kevitec57](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Kevitec57)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/34 "2024-04-24T21:11:18Z")

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> [@Rolando](#):
>
> But be patient it may take a while to update since your document has over 400 pages I think.

In the scheme of things, 400 pages is irrelevant. The refresh should update instantaneously.  
Scrivener might not know what a page is, but Word knows. Your file should be short of 1 MB in size, if it contains text only. I ran a test on a 110,000-word document of 283 pages at 408 KB. So my guesstemate won’t be far off.

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**Author:** ![Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Rolando)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/35 "2024-04-24T21:14:25Z")

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> [@liseygwrites](#):
>
> I hit print and got a message box that said ‘preparing your pdf to print’ then a pdf pops up - it has the correct pages for the chapter heading but now its a pdf instead of a word doc.

I think this is because you are using the web version of word. Do you have Word installed on your computer? For these tests it would be better to open in word on your computer not in Safari.

This may be the reason F9 does not work.

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**Author:** ![Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Rolando)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/36 "2024-04-24T21:26:59Z")

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> [@liseygwrites](#):
>
> I hit print and got a message box that said ‘preparing your pdf to print’ then a pdf pops up - it has the correct pages for the chapter heading but now its a pdf instead of a word doc.

This is because it needs to produce a pdf that you can print because you are working from an online version of Word. If you simply save your document now you should have a docx file with the table cf contents with the correct page numbers. As I mentioned before you would avoid these problems if you use a version of word installed on your computer and not the online version in Safari.

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**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 9:40pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/37 "2024-04-24T21:40:04Z")

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Ok you might be on to something here! I think I am using a web version of word.This might have become a Microsoft issue rather than a scrivener issue. I purchased the ms 365 basic package. So when I go into the one drive I can put up my documents and it ‘looks like’ I’m in word. When I try to download the word app onto my desktop, ms doesn’t recognize my account - any thoughts?

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**Author:** ![Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Rolando](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Rolando)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/38 "2024-04-24T21:51:59Z")

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> [@liseygwrites](#):
>
> This might have become a Microsoft issue rather than a scrivener issue.

It never was Scrivener issue. I do not know what the microsoft 365 basic package includes and in particular whether it includes access to a desktop version of Word. You need to check this. I am sure there is a solution even with the online version and will check for you tomorrow, as it almost midnight here.

I am sure it is possible to get it working properly.

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**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/39 "2024-04-24T23:15:59Z")

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ok got it – now tell me this – when I compile and export, some of the chapters have numbers and others have words – see screen shot – I have a feling i must have somehow done that by writing in chapter numbers in scrivener – can you tell me how to get uniform formatting?

> [@Rolando](#):
>
> > [@liseygwrites](#):
> >
> > This might have become a Microsoft issue rather than a scrivener issue.
> 
> It never was Scrivener issue. I do not know what the microsoft 365 basic package includes and in particular whether it includes access to a desktop version of Word. You need to check this. I am sure there is a solution even with the online version and will check for you tomorrow, as it almost midnight here.
> 
> I am sure it is possible to get it working properly.

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**Author:** ![liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@liseygwrites](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/liseygwrites)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/dynamic-toc-that-populates-page-numbers-in-word-creating-question-marks-instead/140210/40 "2024-04-24T23:26:23Z")

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Ok – Kevitec57 you’ve been a big help. See if you can advise oaths – once I expert, the toc has some headings Chapter 1 and some headings Chapter One – I think I did something weird in the formatting I did in scrivener to make it export that way. Any thoughts?

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