Word Navigation Pane

In MS Word, there is a left-hand sidebar that enables us to navigate documents, called the "Navigation Pane". If we use standard Word tools - headings, shortcuts and bookmarks - the Navigation Pane allows us to skip through the document outline quickly. Hierarchies of headings can be collapsed, so we can navigate to chapter headings, making large documents more workable. I seem to recall that the Navigation Pane is on by default.

However, the problem arises when I turn it off. Most of the time I have it open, but every now and again I turn it off to conserve screen space (in Zooms, for example). And I close out my apps, shut my PC down and only come back to it the next day... to find no Navigation Pane. And I KNOW there is an easy place to find the magic turn-on... and it MUST be on the View Ribbon, but I cannot see it.

So I sigh and run a search. Luckily, I am not the only one who has trouble finding this. MissKathy (2021) does too. Luckily, Stefan Blom, a volunteer moderator, was able to provide the answer.

And well, that magic turn-on IS on the View Ribbon. But not where we would expect: it is tucked away as a wee tickbox in the "Show" section. I expect to see it in the "Views" tools section, and try heaps of things there. But no. It is in the "Show" section.

Hopefully by writing this aide memoire I mayn't need to look this up again (but I probably will!).

Sam

Reference:

MissKathy. (2021, January 19). Word 365 How to show document outline on side of screen. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/word-365-how-to-show-document-outline-on-side-of/98210619-c918-4470-aca8-5ec7a8972ecc