Sara Hopkins | Professional Book Editor
As an avid e-reader, I love to come across an e-book that has a “hyperlinked” table of contents. Then I can easily click back and forth between the start of each chapter and the TOC—particularly handy if there is a map, table, or other reference in the front matter, or I forgot to mark my place in the text. However, as an editor, I frequently come across manuscripts that appear to be hyperlinked yet the links don’t work on my computer. Also frustratingly common are manuscripts with hyperlinks that seem fine until they are loaded to an “e-tailer,” at which point they cease to function. Fortunately, after quite a bit of trial and error, I have found a system that works the vast majority of the time—so of course I couldn’t wait to share the news.
Step I: Create a Table of Contents
The very first step is to make sure you are in “compatibility mode,” meaning the document is saved as a Word 97–2003 doc, no matter what version you are actually using. Then type a list of all the chapter headings at the beginning of your manuscript; I would also recommend including any front or back matter you wish the reader to have easy access to, for example, maps, family trees, or glossaries. At this point nothing is bookmarked or hyperlinked, just typed with one chapter head per line and the heading “table of contents.” Below is a screenshot of my fake manuscript, which I’ll use for illustrations throughout.
Step II: Bookmarks
The next step is to create a bookmark. First highlight the words “table of contents” and then click on the “insert” tab at the top of the document. From the options now displayed at the top of your screen, select “bookmark.” A pop-up screen will appear requesting the bookmark name. Enter “ref_TOC” here and then click “add,” as illustrated in the screenshot below. Smashwords in particular seems to look for this exact reference name, so don’t get creative.
All right, that’s one down. Next up, it’s time to go through the manuscript and bookmark the chapter heads at the start of each chapter. I recommend using a shortened form of the title, just to keep things straight or in case you ever decide to sell multiple books bundled together. Keeping in mind that spaces are not allowed, I will name my first chapter bookmark “fake_ch1.” Then, just like with the TOC head, highlight the chapter head, click on “insert,” then “bookmark,” and finally name your bookmarks according to the naming convention you have selected, and choose “add,” as illustrated below.
Go through the entire manuscript and do this for all chapter headings and any back and front matter you have included in the table of contents.
Step III: Hyperlinks
So now you’re all bookmarked and ready for the main event. It’s time to go through the table of contents and hyperlink the individual chapter heads to the corresponding heads in the text. In the table of contents, highlight the chapter head and click on the “hyperlinks” tab at the top of the page, then select the left-hand button labeled “place in this document.” This will bring up the bookmarks you just made for the chapter headings throughout the manuscript, as shown below.
Next select the bookmark which corresponds to the highlighted chapter head, in this example “fake_ch1,” and then click on “ok.” At this point, if all has gone well, the link should turn blue and underlined and be actively hyperlinked.
I use the word “should” because in some versions of Word it is necessary to hold down the control key and then click to make the hyperlink work, the little pointing finger does not appear. Try this trick, “ctrl” + click, before you panic if you are unable to click directly on your newly hyperlinked chapter head. This will also turn the hyperlinked text purple, which seems to have no purpose whatsoever.
Step IV: Linking the Chapters Back to the Table of Contents
This final step is particularly useful if you have a table or map or anything else your readers will wish to refer to again and again, but I always recommend it simply because I enjoy clicking back and forth with impunity. Plus, now that you’ve got the hang of things, it’s easy. Go into the text, highlight the chapter head, and then hyperlink it back to “ref_TOC,” as show below. Repeat for all chapter headings in your manuscript and you are good to go.
Happy hyperlinking.
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Hey, thank you for the expert directions, especially Compatability Mode!
Thanks, It helped in creating better experience for my document. Especially the reverse linking.
Finally! Someone who knows what I’m looking for and has the ability to show me how to do it. (written in easy ENGLISH and not COMPUTERESE).
It took a few tries, but I think I’ve got.
I wonder why this is never included in any writing templates I’ve looked at. Maybe I’ll just create my own.
Used this information tonight, right before I uploaded my new book.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. You are awesome and I appreciate it.
I dreaded doing another Kindle because of the hyperlinking chapters ‘trauma’ I went through the last time. I read your article. You were concise, your screenshots were most helpful, and most of all you did not take it for granted that I just ‘understood’ some things. That is what made me crazy the last time I did the TOC. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Doing a TOC was a ‘walk in the park’ with your directions.
GREAT JOB
It was very clear and concise. Much appreciated.
Hi Sara,
Thank you for the guide!
I have a quick question. Is it possible to click the table of content and get to the location in the text without using the “Ctrl” button along slide the normal click button? if yes, please let me know how to go about that.
Thank you!
Which version of Word are you using? In some older versions of Word it is necessary to hold down the control key and then click to make the hyperlink work; the little pointing finger does not appear. As far as I know, the only solution is to upgrade to a newer version. Hope this helps!
Hi Sara Hopkins,
Thank you very much for the clear instructions on how to do linking. Yours was an easily understandable explanation, coupled with the good pictures were helpful
Thanks for the detailed instructions! I was able to follow them and my document is working exactly like you described.
And by the way, I found out how to get rid of the need to hold the CTRL button down and click. If you have that scenario go to FILE>OPTIONS>ADVANCED> and un-check the box that says “Use CTRL + Click to follow hyperlink”
Thanks so much. It was really helpful
Thanks so much. Highly appreciate this