Word 2010 Creating TOC out of a multi-level list

Question

I have a 50 page word document that is one gigantic multi-level list (all the same list--goes down about 7 levels at it's deepest). I need to create a automated TOC from the list using the first 3 levels however I can't figure out how to do it because TOC's only seem to work off of the "heading" styles. I can't even apply a heading style on a list item because it removes it from the list when it applies the style. Is there any way to create a TOC out of a multi-level list automatically? Maybe a macro can convert it to something word can read but I still can't think of how to do it since the heading styles remove the list item when applied. Anyone have an idea on how to do this?

Thanks.

Answer 1

For anyone else with this question I was not able to get an totally automated way to do this but I created 3 new styles and had to apply those styles to each line I wanted in the TOC. Then after adding the TOC I edited its parameters to use my new styles in the 1,2,3 positions.

Answer 2

Okay, I've found out a simple way to do this.

1. Click on your top level number/symbol
2. "Define new multi-level list"
3. Click "More >>"
4. Click on your top level line and click "link level to style"
5. Select "heading 1" or your own custom style, I don't care
6. OK
7. References > Table of contents > Insert table of contents
8. Show levels: 1
9. Options... > from available styles put "1" next to the style you used in the list
10. OK and OK, and Voila! You have a list from all your top level, or whatever level you choose, contents!

Answer 3

You should be able to create styles, say list1, list2 and list3, that are both list styles and have their heading levels set to 1, 2 and 3, then apply these styles to the elements in your list at the top three levels of nesting. Then ToC generation should work.

By the way, this is off topic for Stack Overflow. You might've been better off asking on http://www.superuser.com.