How to create a table of contents in Google Docs

Give your readers an overview of what they’ll find in your long documents

It’s no secret that Google Docs is chock-full of features you might not know about that can push your document to the next level. From small but significant touches aimed at professionals to features that aid collaborative writing, Google has put a lot of work into making Docs useful, and that applies to the litany of formatting options at your disposal, too.

If you’ve written something longer than a few pages, there’s a table of contents function you can use to make it a breeze to navigate. We’re here to show you exactly how to use it.

How to insert a table of contents

It’s not hard to get your table of contents set up, but it requires a few premeditated formatting steps. Nothing too advanced, but don’t fret. We’re here to walk you through everything you need to know from start to finish.

1. Open the document you need a table of contents in.

2. Make sure you have proper headings. If you haven’t already, format them under Format > Paragraph styles and select one of the headings. Repeat with all other headings.

3. Once all your headings are correctly formatted, you can insert a table. Make sure your typing cursor is where you want the table of contents to end up. In the Insert tab, select Table of contents at the bottom, and choose which type you want. You can either choose to list a page number for each header or a direct link to each header.

4. Once you select which kind of table you want, it automatically populates with all of your formatted headers.

How to use your table of contents

If you opted to use links in your table of contents, placing your typing cursor in any of the links brings up a floating menu with a clickable link that takes you directly to that header.

Unfortunately, the table of contents can’t update on its own, so if any headers are added or deleted after the fact, you need to delete them and reinsert them.

1. To delete, right-click (or command-click on Mac) anywhere in the table of contents and select Delete table of contents.
2. Repeat all the formatting steps with any new headers, and insert your new table of contents.

How long is your document?

Just like that, you’ve gone from a plain Google doc to something that’s as easy to navigate as it is professional looking. Now that you’re an expert in making even the largest documents quick to navigate, turn on word count in Google Docs so you can see how big it is.