There may be a workaround if your “§1” is not random, i.e. if all “§1___Text” paragraphs are numbered sequentially (I mean, “§1” numbers items in a list scattered throughout the document).
You need to define a dedicated paragraph style for this list. For my experiment, I used one derived from Body Text (I named it Insert_into_TOC). In Outline & Numbering tab, I associated it with Numbering 123 numbering styles (but you may need a dedicated one if this style is already used by another list so that you have no interaction between them) and I linked the paragraph to outline level Level 5.
I linked to outline level 5 because I didn’t use it, but you may link with used levels like 1 or 2 if common formatting in the TOC fits your needs both for the outline and the inserted data.
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Modify the numbering style (found in the so-called list styles) Numbering 123 so that a HT (horizontal tab) is automatically added after the number and position it to the required location.
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Style all your “§1___Text” with Insert_into_TOC and remove the manual “§1” and ___ tab (they are now provided by the list engine).
Edit your TOC (right-click and Edit index).
- In the
Entries tab, select level 5 (or the one you chose); click in the white space between E# and E and push the Tab stop button. Define the position in the text box below.
Now you have a tab in the TOC entry and you can play with it.
CAUTION: this tab position cannot be defined in the Contents 5 paragraph style dialog, but only here. That’s important for post-definition tuning.
- Modify Contents 5 to sent indents, spacings, alignment and other attributes.
This is a bit tricky and will likely need several trials before being satisfying.
EDIT 2019-04-04
After reading the referenced document and some experiment, there is no definitive solution. The basic reason, as hinted by @mikekaganski, is that Writer disconnects layouts of headings and TOC entries. Tabs in headings are relative to the Heading n paragraph style and this could cause conflicts with Contents n paragraph style definition in the TOC. As a precaution, tabs and “soft” newlines are removed from the heading and replaced by spaces when entered in the TOC. The situation is even more serious because tab definition in Contents n styles are ineffective. The “real” tabs used to layout the entries are set in Insert>TOC & Index>TOC, Index, Bibliography with the Tab button.
I can only suggest an ugly workaround.
Your TOC is approximately 10 pages long, so manual editing should be relatively light.
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Modify the Content n for your special entries as follows in Indents & spacing tab:
- set the Before text indent to the position where you want “text” to be aligned, e.g. 3cm
- set First line indent to a negative value to offset PatV 999 to the left, e.g. -2cm; take care that this hanging indent is wide enough to handle the largest PatV 999
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Edit your document as usual. When you’re done, create or update the TOC, unchecking Protected against manual changes. Then replace the space between PatV 999 and text by a tab through Edit>Find & Replace:
- in the Find box, enter
(PatV [^ ]+) , i.e. the fixed prefix PatV, a space, the specification for a sequence of non-space characters and a final space; the parenthesis define a capture range,
- check Match case to avoid false positives
- in the Replace box, enter
$1\t, i.e. text captures and a tab code
- develop Other options and chack Regular expressions
- then press
Find Next and Replace to change occurrence after occurrence, so that you can check the validity of the hit, or Replace All if you’re confident.
*Nota: you told me that PatV 999 was followed by a tab in the document body. Consequently, it should be followed by a space only in the TOC and Replace All should only replace there.
This second step must be redone every time you regenerate the TOC, sorry!
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