Adding the preface to contents

Question

I'm trying to add the preface to the contents along with the page on the far right.

I had written it as following:

\chapter*{Preface}

but it does not appear on the contents. If I write it as

\chapter{Preface}

then it would be the first chapter of the book and I don't want this at all...

How can I do that?

Something like \addtotoc{chapter}{Preface} should do it. [Edit, sorry, this is a macro, see karlkoeller for the correct answer.] — Clément, Jan 13 '15 at 17:20

score 29 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 13 '15 at 17:21

29

Add the line

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Preface}

Just after

\chapter*{Preface}

MWE

\documentclass{book}

\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\chapter*{Preface}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Preface}
\chapter{First}
\end{document}

Output

enter image description here

If you want a different alignment like this one

enter image description here

use instead

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\protect\numberline{}Preface}

answered Jan 13 '15 at 17:21

karlkoeller

124,410

@karlkoeller I personally had to use \protect\numberline{~} to make sure the alignment went through. Thanks for the pointer! – Tom Apr 12 '16 at 12:56

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 13 '15 at 19:02

I'd modify \frontmatter and \mainmatter to do continuous (arabic) numbering and exploit the fact that chapters are not numbered in the \frontmatter.

\documentclass{book}

\makeatletter
\renewcommand{\frontmatter}{\cleardoublepage\@mainmatterfalse}
\renewcommand{\mainmatter}{\cleardoublepage\@mainmattertrue}
\makeatother

\begin{document}

\frontmatter
\tableofcontents

\chapter{Preface}

A preface

\chapter{Abstract}

An abstract.

\chapter{Introduction}

An introduction.

\mainmatter

\chapter{First}

\end{document}

It's much easier than remembering to add \addcontentsline.

enter image description here

Adding the preface to contents

2 Answers2

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