The Navigation pane in Microsoft Word 365 provides a quick and easy way to access contents of a document using headings. It also allows to reorganize content easily, add new headings or subheadings, and print selected sections of the document. In this blog, we look at using this pane in effectively to improve productivity.
What is the Navigation Pane?
The Navigation pane in Word is a sidebar that you can display on the left in your document and it helps you navigate through your document in various ways: via a table of contents like structure of all headings in the document, a thumbnail view of each page in the document, and matches of a searched term.
This pane has three tabs:
- Headings: This tab displays all the headings (with hierarchy) in your document.
- Pages: This tab displays all the thumbnail image of each page in your document.
- Results: This tab displays the results of a search.
Accessing the Navigation Pane in Microsoft Word 365
- Open your Microsoft Word 365 document.
- In the ribbon, click the View tab.
- In the Show group, select the Navigation Pane checkbox.
The pane is displayed on the left side of the document.
Note: The keyboard shortcut to display the navigation pane is Ctrl+F.
Using the Headings tab of the Navigation Pane
Accessing a Specific Section via the Associated Heading
The Headings tab of the Navigation pane displays the headings in your document; with hierarchy just as a Table of Contents would.
- Click any heading in this list to navigate instantly to that section in the document.
Note: The titles/headings in the document must be formatted using the Heading styles; for example, the built-in heading styles Heading 1 to Heading 9.
Changing Heading Styles
From the Navigation pane, you can change the heading styles from a higher level to a lower level, and vice-versa.
For example, you can change a Heading 1 to Heading 2; (this is called demoting a heading) or change a Heading 2 to Heading 1 (this is called promoting a heading).
To demote a heading:
- In the Navigation pane, right-click the heading and select Demote.
You’ll notice that all subheadings under it are also correspondingly demoted.
Similarly, to promote a heading:
- In the Navigation pane, right-click the heading and select Promote.
You’ll notice that all subheadings under it are also correspondingly promoted.
Adding Additional Headings and Subheadings to the Document
Consider a situation where you want to add new content section to the document. New content sections typically start with a heading and you can add such headings (and subheadings) to the document via the Navigation pane.
- In the Navigation pane, right-click a heading and in the displayed pop-up menu:
- Click New Heading After to add a new heading at the same level (using the same style) as the chosen heading after the content of the current section.
- Click New Heading Before to add a new heading at the same level (using the same style) as the chosen heading before the selected heading.
- Click New Subheading to add a new subheading at the end of the content for the current section.
Expanding/Collapsing Headings
If you have a lengthy document, it may have many headings and you need to scroll down in the Navigation pane to view the headings at the bottom. In such a situation, you could hide some or all subheadings and this will make the list of headings shorter making it easier to access headings that come later in the document.
The act of hiding subheadings is called collapsing a heading, while the act of displaying hidden subheadings is called expanding a heading. You can choose to collapse/expand a particular heading or then all headings at once.
- To collapse a heading, click the small black triangle icon to the left of the heading.
The icon turns white.
- To expand a collapsed heading, click the white triangle icon.
The icon turns black again.
- To collapse and expand all headings at once, right-click any heading and then select Collapse All or Expand All.
Reorganizing Content
You can also reorganize content in your document via the Navigation pane.
- Drag and drop a heading to its new place and all the content under it will also move along with it in the document.
Printing a Specific Section in the Document
The Navigation pane allows you to select all the content under a heading, without selecting it manually in the document.
- Right-click the heading and click Select Heading and Content.
To print this selected portion of the document:
- Right-click again and click Print Heading and Content.
The Navigation pane really is a great feature that simplifies managing documents that are large or have a particularly complex structure. Say goodbye to endless scrolling and hello to pinpoint accuracy with the Navigation pane.
Watch the Video Tutorial
More Microsoft Word Tips and Tricks
Here are a few more useful features in Microsoft Word 365 that can boost your productivity: