If you’re like most people, you use a document map to keep track of the different sections of a document as you work on it. You might also call it a outline, table of contents, or simply a guide. The document map is an easy way to organize your thoughts and keep track of where you are in your document. To create a document map in Word 2007:

  1. Open the document that you want to use as your map.
  2. On the toolbar, click the Map tab. The Map dialog box appears.
  3. In the Map dialog box, click Add New Item to add a new section or item to your map (see Figure 1). Figure 1: The Map dialog box
  4. Type a name for the section or item in the Name text field and then click OK (see Figure 2). Figure 2: Adding an item to your map
  5. Click anywhere in the document where you want to add the section or item to your map (see Figure 3). Figure 3: Adding an item to your map
  6. In the Document Map window, drag and drop each section or item that you added from Step 3 onto its appropriate location on your diagram (see Figure 4).Figure 4: Adding sections and items to your document map ..

The Document Map in Word 2007 provides easy navigation in long documents. You can jump around your document by headings or pages. It also provides a bird’s-eye view of your document’s structure.

Recently, we showed you how to use the navigation pane in Word 2010. It is similar to the Document Map in Word 2007. Several features were added to the Navigation Pane in Word 2010, such as a Find tab and the ability to reorganize your document by dragging and dropping headings.

However, the Document Map in Word 2007 is still useful. This article shows you how to use it to navigate your document and to view your document’s structure and how you can change the style of the Document Map outline.

NOTE: To make full use of the Document Map, you must format the headings in your document using the built-in headings styles. The document outline on the Document Map is generated using the built-in headings in your document.

To view the Document Map, click the View tab on the ribbon and select the Document Map check box in the Show/Hide group.

A pane displays on the left side of the Word window. By default, the Document Map displays. Click on any heading in the outline to quickly jump to that section of your document.

You can also view a collection of thumbnails of all the pages in your document. To do this, select Thumbnails from the drop-down list at the top of the Document Map pane.

A collection of thumbnails representing all the pages in your document displays in the Document Map pane. Click on a page to quickly jump to that page.

You can select which heading level you want to display by right-clicking on the Document Map pane and selecting a Show Heading option. For example, if you select Show Heading 2, then all Heading 1 items display expanded to only show Heading 2 items. Any headings under Heading 2 are collapsed and do not show.

NOTE: You can also expand or collapse the headings using the plus and minus signs to the left of the headings.

You can resize the Document Map pane by moving your cursor over the border between the pane and your document until it looks like the cursor in the image below and says Resize. Click and hold on the border and drag it to the left or right to make the pane narrower or wider.

Unfortunately, the Document Map context menu does not provide a way to change the formatting of the Document Map outline. However, you can change this formatting by changing the Document Map style. To do this, click the Styles dialog box launcher button in the Styles group on the Home tab. You can also press Alt + Ctrl + Shift + S.

The Styles window displays. Click the Manage Styles button at the bottom of the Styles window.

On the Edit tab, on the Manage Styles dialog box, scroll in the Select a style to edit box until you find the Document Map style. Select it and click Modify.

Select the desired formatting options on the Modify Style dialog box. Use the Format button to access more options to set. Click OK when you are finished changing the formatting. You are returned to the Manage Styles dialog box. Click OK to close it.

To close the Styles window, click the X button in the upper, right corner of the window.

NOTE: In Word 2007, the Document Map sometimes displays the outline of the headings in tiny, unreadable type. This is a known bug. However, there is a workaround. The solution is to switch to Outline View and then back again. To do this, click Outline in the Document Views group on the View tab. Then, click Close Outline View on the Outlining tab.

Besides allowing you easy navigation within your document, the Document Map also tells you where you are in your document. As you scroll through your document using the scroll bar or the Page Up and Page Down keys, the Document Map highlights the current heading.

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