Two column Table of Contents

I have just dumped a ToC into a two-column layout, and it flows as one would expect. However, and since by default, the ToC defaults to a format that is not intended for multi-column application, its formatting is wrong, and the page numbers will wrap. Three-columns is out of the question for Letter or A4.

Ordinarily, one could adjust this misalignment via the ruler and tab settings. But once you have the ToC encapsulated within a two-column layout, there is no longer any ruler control over internal ToC page number alignment because the two-column layout now owns the ruler controls.

I set my left and right document margins to 0.5 in, and adjusted the left and right columns to 3.7 in each with a .1 inch gutter to finally (well almost) get the page numbers back on the same line as the ToC entries. This required that I remove the first and second indents, which made the ToC look dreadful, all left aligned. And a .1 in gutter would be dreadfully close to the prior column content.

An imagine you would have to go through three paragraphs of ritual each time you generated a new ToC that looked dreadful. I recommend against this approach.