Adding unnumbered sections to TOC

Question

I have many unnumbered sections in my report (more than 100), all created with:

\section*{section name}

I want to find a way to easily add them all to the TOC (specifically to a minitoc). Since I use the * to remove the numbering, they won't appear in TOC. I found out in minitoc documentation that I should use:

\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{repeat here section title}

However, I don't want to have a duplicated title in every section, or even to change all the involved files to add those already written sections to the TOC. How to add those sections' names to the minitoc without using the addcontentsline command? Is it possible?

score 104 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 21 '11 at 19:28

104

The easiest way to do this is to use \section but to change secnumdepth so that they don't get numbered.

\documentclass{article}
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{0}
\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\section{ADSF}
\section{Foo}
\end{document}

answered Feb 21 '11 at 19:28

TH.

62,639

3

Thanks, it worked like a charm! It's easier to remove the * from each section than duplicate all their names! And I could even use the \setcounter{secnumdepth}{0} after some chapters, keeping the numbering on the previous ones! – Weslei Feb 21 '11 at 19:33
22

A convenient solution, but unsuitable for documents with a mix of numbered and non-numbered parts. For these scenarios, look at @Vser 's answer below – Avision Dec 02 '17 at 08:40
1

For a scoped version, enclose the relevant part in {} and use \makeatletter\c@secnumdepth=0\makeatother at the beginning.Also, to apply either to chapters, use -1. – golvok Aug 01 '19 at 17:00
2

This messes up either toc page numbers and/or bookmark page numbers and/or clickable links (wrong pages), unfortunately. You have to randomly spread \phantomsection additions and hope that nothing breaks. – Emit Taste May 14 '20 at 15:05
agreed ruins \hyperref on the toc – tedioustortoise Sep 06 '20 at 13:00

score 99 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 05 '22 at 08:53

99

Another solution using \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{repeat here section title} relies on nameref. In fact I'm numbering every section (chapters and so on) with a label. So you could use:

% Package 'hyperref' needed for command '\nameref'
\section*{Introduction}
\label{sec:intro}
\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{\nameref{sec:intro}}

It's only a local change and is persistent to names' change of your section.

edited Aug 05 '22 at 08:53

loved.by.Jesus

3,848

answered Nov 05 '14 at 16:06

Vser

1,911

Non numbered chapter* header issue – Johannes_B Nov 05 '14 at 16:20
1

Do you need to include \usepackage{nameref} in the header to do this ? – usernumber Jun 29 '15 at 16:08
1

Rather \usepackage{hyperref} I think. – lindhe May 23 '16 at 13:22
3

This is a better solution for those seeking a document with both numbered and non-numbered parts/sections. – Avision Dec 02 '17 at 08:39
This also works for other composition units like chapters with \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\nameref{<label_of_chapter>}}. – anaik Feb 15 '24 at 16:02

score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 20 '18 at 23:54

16

If you are using KOMA-Script the easiest way is to use these built in commands:

\addpart \addchap \addsec

Which work just like \part* \chapter* \section* while also being added to the toc.

answered Feb 20 '18 at 23:54

UntrustworthyKey

161

Simple and Elegant! God bless Markus Kohm, who created the Koma Scripts. They always surprise me with very elegant solutions to awkward LaTeX problems. (See, for example solution for landscape pages) – loved.by.Jesus Aug 05 '22 at 08:46

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered May 28 '22 at 19:48

4

Easy to use:

\section*{Preface}
\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Preface}

got this answer here : https://latex.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=335

answered May 28 '22 at 19:48

lebedevhh

59

Nicely simplified, but there is not a great difference with @Vser answer. ;) – loved.by.Jesus Aug 05 '22 at 08:44
Down vote. This is exactly the code that's included in the question. Your answer adds nothing new. – richard Feb 04 '24 at 16:14

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 13 '17 at 17:48

What you can do is to redefine your chapters (or sections). Here I copy what I did for my report. I redefined \chapter* and defined a \chapter**

The latter is the old \chapter*, while the former is an unnembered chapter, but added to the toc.

 \let\@originalchapter\chapter
     \def\chapter{
                 \@ifstar\chapterstar\@originalchapter
                 }
     \def\chapterstar{
                 \@ifstar\chapter@nonum@notoc\chapter@nonum
                 }
 \newcommand\chapter@nonum[2][]{
         \ifthenelse{\isempty{#1}}{
          \cleardoublepage
          \phantomsection
          \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\protect\numberline{}#2}
          \@originalchapter*{#2}
          \chaptermark{#2}
          }{
          \cleardoublepage
          \phantomsection
          \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\protect\numberline{}#1}
          \@originalchapter*[#1]{#2}
          \chaptermark{#1}
       }
  }
 \newcommand\chapter@nonum@notoc[2][]{
    \ifthenelse{\isempty{#1}}{
        \@originalchapter*{#2}
        \chaptermark{#2}
     }{
     \@originalchapter*[#1]{#2}
     \chaptermark{#1}
   }
}

\let\@originaltableofcontents\tableofcontents
  \def\tableofcontents{
   \let\@toclocaloriginalchapter\chapter
   \def\chapter{\@toclocaloriginalchapter*}
   \@originaltableofcontents
   \def\chapter{\@toclocaloriginalchapter}
}

Of course, you can do the same with \section and \section* — Oscar, Jun 13 '17 at 17:51

Adding unnumbered sections to TOC

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