Latex \tableofcontents command always shows blank Contents on first build

Question

When I generate a .pdf file from a .tex file using pdflatex, only the \"Contents\" title is shown with no actual TOC. If I run pdfla

Answer 1

I experienced the same problem with the editor Latexian. What solved the problem was changing the preferences. I changed "Number of typesetter runs at end" to 3, instead of the default 1. Then I added the "Refresh" button to the toolbar and tried refreshing and it worked.

Answer 2

I might be mistaken, but I think, that this is the default behaviour. I assume, you also won't find correct cross references (footnotes, end notes, literature) after the first run of pdflatex.

The point is, that LaTeX needs the extra rounds to resolve the references pointing inside the document, to get numbering and page numbers right.

Answer 3

This is normal. LaTeX document need several compilations to reach a stable state. Use rubber -d my to compile the right number of times (rubber comes as a package on many linux distros).