How to add expandable text in word

When you’re working on a long, complicated document, you can collapse everything except the part you want to focus on. The ability to collapse and expand content in your document is based on its outline level. You can quickly add an outline level and make part of your document collapsible by adding a heading using Word's built-in styles.

Collapse or expand parts of a document

If you want the document to open with the headings collapsed, follow these steps.

1. Place your cursor in the heading.

2. On the HOME tab, in the Paragraph group, click the dialog box launcher.

3. In the Paragraph dialog box, click the checkbox next to Collapsed by default.

4. Click OK.

Here's a handy trick you can use when you're having trouble navigating a large document.

Right-click a heading, click Expand/Collapse, and click Collapse All Headings.

Now with all the body text out of the way, it's easier to browse through the document.

The collapsed headings become something like a table of contents.

To expand a section, click this triangle. And click it again to collapse the section.

If you want to see all the text, click Expand All Headings.

If you can't collapse a heading, it's either because you are using an earlier version of Word – it only works in Word 2013 – or the headings aren't formatted using one of the built-in heading styles.

In this case, the writer added formatting to make it look like a heading, but as you can see in the Styles gallery, it's still formatted as Normal.

To change that, choose one of the heading styles. When you add a heading style, you add an outline level to the paragraph.

And when you do that the triangle appears and you can collapse the heading.

Collapsible headings are great for helping you read a document, but they can also be a time-saver when you are writing.

While you are editing a document, you can select one or more collapsed headings to quickly Copy, Move, or Delete whole sections.

Or, you can click and drag a section to a new location.

When you are deciding how you want readers to navigate the document, you can lay it out with collapsible headings in mind.

For example, if you are designing the document to be read on a computer, you can collapse all the headings by default.

Select all the headings you want to collapse.

Then, on the HOME tab, click the Paragraph dialog box launcher, and check Collapsed by default.

Now, when readers open the document, they can use the collapsed headings like a table of contents – choose the section they want to read and click the triangle to expand it.

Here's one last thing to keep in mind. Collapsed sections don't print.

So typically you'll want to expand all headings before you print a document.

But you could, for example, use collapse and expand to selectively print only the sections you want.

Click the FILE tab and Print. Print preview shows you exactly what will go to the printer.

So, collapsible headings can make it easier to read and quickly organize a document.

But, if you're really serious about organizing a document, you should look into Outline view.

For more information about that and other related topics, check out the links in the course summary.

Neha is a software professional with 13+ years of experience in the IT Industry. She enjoys writing technical tutorials.

Three Level Collapsible Menu Structure

7 Steps to Create Collapsible Headings and Menus

You can easily make desired portions of your document collapsible by using Word's headings. Once you apply the heading style to a title/subtitle, a small triangle appears on the left-hand side of the heading, which can be used to toggle the collapsibility of the text. Read on to learn how to do it.

Here's how you can create a three-level collapsible menu structure in a Microsoft Word document.

1. Sample Content

Let us assume this is our sample content:

• One main title
• Two subtitles
• Some text under each of the subtitles

Sample Content

2. Use Heading Styles

Use the Heading styles 1, 2, and 3 under the Home tab to create collapsible menus as desired.

Home > Styles > Headings

3. Use Heading 1 Style for the Main Title

Select the main title and apply the Heading 1 style.

Once this style is applied, a small triangle appears on the left-hand side of the title which can be used to collapse the text under this title.

Main Title - Heading1

4. Subtitles 1 and 2: Apply Style Heading 2

Apply the Heading 2 style to subtitles 1 and 2.

A small triangle each will appear on the left-hand side of both the subtitles. As a result, the individual content text under each of these subtitles can be collapsed using the respective triangles.

Subtitle 1 and 2 - Heading 2

5. Collapsible Menus Are Created

The entire content marked with the big grey square will collapse under the main title.

The small squares will collapse under subtitle 1 and 2 respectively when the corresponding triangles are used to collapse the menu.

Collapsible Menus

6. Create Another Level of Collapsible Menu Using Heading 3

In a similar fashion, you can create another level of collapsible menus by applying the Heading 3 style to the sub-menu.

As a result, Sample content 3 will collapse under the sub-menu. And everything under Subtitle 2 including the submenu will collapse under subtitle 2.

Sub Menu - Heading 3

7. Three-Level Collapsible Menu Structure Is Ready!

The three-level collapsible menu structure is now ready to be used in your Microsoft Word Document.

Three Level Collapsible Menu Structure

Pro Tips: Expand All / Collapse All and Removal

• Expand or Collapse All. You can expand or collapse all headings in the document by right-clicking any heading and selecting Expand All Headings or Collapse All Headings as necessary. This trick can be used to ease up browsing or reading lengthy, complicated word documents. You can click on the triangle and expand just the part that you would like to focus on. It makes it more readable and comprehensible with all the text out of the way. You may click the triangle to expand or collapse any section while reading as needed.
• Remove Collapsible Menu. To remove the collapsible menu for a particular heading, select the heading and change the style to a normal font style instead of heading 1, 2, or 3. This will remove the collapsible menu for that heading.

Expand All Headings / Collapse All Headings

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

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