How to make a handbook in Word

A handbook is a structured document

A handbook in Word is a document people can navigate: a cover, a short introduction, chapters with real headings, a table of contents, and page numbers. It is not one continuous paste with blank lines pretending to be titles. If you have never made the file at all, start with how to create a Word document, save it as .docx, then come back for structure.

Use styles. Heading 1 for chapter titles, Heading 2 for sections inside a chapter, Normal for body. The table of contents is built from those styles. If you only bold a line, Word cannot list it. Microsoft's support page for inserting a table of contents describes the References tab command.

Cover, numbers, and contents

Insert a cover page or type the handbook title, the owner, and the date on page one. Add page numbers from Insert, Page Number. For a handbook, bottom center or bottom outside is enough. If the cover should be unnumbered, use a section break (Layout, Breaks, Next Page) and unlink the header of section two from section one, then start numbering at 1 on the first chapter. That is the step people skip, and it is why the cover shows a 1.

When headings exist, open References, Table of Contents, and pick a built-in table. After you rename a chapter, click the table and choose Update Field, then update the entire table. The table does not watch the document by itself. Export a PDF for readers who should not edit. From Word that is File, Export or Save As, PDF. From a Google Doc the parallel steps are on Google Doc to PDF.

If you actually needed a folded booklet

Some people say handbook and mean a sheet folded in half. In Word that print layout is book fold: Layout, Margins, Custom Margins, and under Pages set Multiple pages to Book fold. Microsoft documents booklet printing in its book-fold article. Book fold imposes on the printer. It does not write your chapters.

Do the heading structure first, then the fold, and print one test signature before you print a stack. Folded layouts fail when margins are tight or when a landscape picture will not shrink. A PDF from Acrobat's export, cleaned up as on PDF to Word, can be the source text you pour into this structure. Do not try to book-fold a converted brochure without reading it.

Steps

1. Start a .docx and apply styles. Heading 1 for each chapter, Heading 2 for sections, Normal for paragraphs. Retire manual bold titles.
2. Add a cover and page numbers. Put the title block first. Insert page numbers. Use a next-page section break if the cover must not show a number.
3. Insert the table of contents. References, Table of Contents. After edits, update the entire field so page numbers match.
4. Export PDF, or set book fold only if you will saddle-stitch. PDF is the reading copy. Book fold is a margin option for a folded print, set under Custom Margins, and it needs a test page.