The more you use the SmartDoc field, the more uses you'll find for it. Some of that content is bound to become long and a bit involved, and you will undoubtedly be taking advantage of Heading formatting, embedded tables and similar features to organize your information.

Table of Contents works hand-in-hand with SmartSuite Headings, allowing you to automatically generate a hierarchical list of "sections" that gives readers a preview of what's contained in the SmartDoc, as well as an easy way to navigate it with just a click.

Why should I use a Table of Contents?

Instead of manually creating a list of your document's topics, Table of Contents does the work for you. By formatting topic names as Headings (read more about Headings in this article) you can create a structure for your SmartDoc that is automatically reflected in a Table, pointing your reader to the areas they're interested in. That's one less thing for you to maintain, and another great option for readers to navigate through large quantities of content.

Working With Table of Contents

How Table of Contents Works

SmartDoc's Table of Contents automatically generates a list of the Headings you have defined in your content. It is also collapsible so users can hide it away (just like the content under each individual heading!) when they're not using it. Nothing makes your SmartDoc easier to understand and navigate!

Headings will be displayed as follows:

H1 Headings will be displayed at the top level
H2 Headings will be indented under H1 Headings
H3 Headings are indented under H2 Headings
...and so on, through H6

Adding Headings to your SmartDoc

Headings can be created in two ways:

From the Formatting toolbar
In Text Markdown, by typing a # character (or 2 for heading level 2, or 3 for H3 and so on) followed by a space

Once your content is placed under a Heading, you're ready to add a Table of Contents.

Read all about Headings and many other types of SmartDoc formatting in this detailed article.

Adding a Table of Contents

A Table of Contents is added through the slash-command menu. Here are the steps:

Type a / character at the start of a new line or after a space
Type all or part of the words table of contents or scroll to the item with your mouse (it's in the Advanced section)
Click Table of Contents

The Table of Contents will be added to your SmartDoc in the location your cursor was at when you entered the slash command. You will see that your Table of Contents is initially collapsed.

Here's how it will look:

Navigating the Table of Contents

Simply click anywhere on the Table of Contents bar to expand it. Any SmartDoc Headings that you have defined will be displayed as clickable links.

Also note that the Table of Contents itself is not configurable - it automatically displays the text you've designated as SmartDoc Headings.

Clicking on an item in the table will scroll your SmartDoc to that part of the document if it is not already visible on your screen - if it is, you're already there!

Deleting a Table of Contents

If you don't need your Table of Contents anymore (maybe you streamlined this particular document and it now contains a single topic) you can easily remove it from your SmartDoc. Just do the following:

Place your cursor immediately after the Table of Contents
Click the Backspace key to delete it

The Table of Contents is instantly deleted. Decide you want it back? Just click Control-Z on your keyboard to undo, or simply use the slash command to add a new Table of Contents.