About This Tool

A table of contents (TOC) improves navigation in long documents, especially in technical documentation, README files, and blog posts. This tool automatically extracts headings from your Markdown text and generates a properly nested TOC with anchor links.

How to Use

Paste your Markdown text containing headings (lines starting with # characters) into the input area
Adjust the maximum depth if you want to limit which heading levels appear in the TOC
Choose between unordered (bullet points) or ordered (numbered) lists
Click "Generate TOC" to create your table of contents
Copy the generated TOC and paste it at the beginning of your Markdown document

Examples

Example 1: Simple Documentation

# Project Name
## Installation
### Prerequisites
### Steps
## Usage
### Basic Commands
### Advanced Options
## Troubleshooting

With max depth 3, this generates:

- [Project Name](#project-name)
  - [Installation](#installation)
    - [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)
    - [Steps](#steps)
  - [Usage](#usage)
    - [Basic Commands](#basic-commands)
    - [Advanced Options](#advanced-options)
  - [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)

Example 2: Blog Post with Ordered List

# The Future of Web Development
## Current Trends
### JavaScript Frameworks
### Serverless Architecture
## Predictions for 2024
### AI Integration
### WebAssembly Growth

With ordered list type, this generates:

1. [The Future of Web Development](#the-future-of-web-development)
   1. [Current Trends](#current-trends)
      1. [JavaScript Frameworks](#javascript-frameworks)
      2. [Serverless Architecture](#serverless-architecture)
   2. [Predictions for 2024](#predictions-for-2024)
      1. [AI Integration](#ai-integration)
      2. [WebAssembly Growth](#webassembly-growth)

Frequently Asked Questions

What Markdown heading formats are supported?

This tool supports ATX-style headings (using # characters) with 1-6 hash symbols corresponding to H1-H6. Setext-style headings (underlined with === or ---) are not currently supported.

How are anchor links generated?

Anchor links are created by converting heading text to lowercase, replacing spaces with hyphens, and removing special characters. This follows GitHub Flavored Markdown conventions for header anchors.

Is there a limit to the document size?

The tool can handle documents of substantial size, but extremely large documents (over 10,000 lines) may experience slower processing. For best performance, we recommend documents under 2,000 lines.

What if I have duplicate heading titles?

If you have duplicate heading titles, the tool will append numbers to make anchor links unique (e.g., "heading", "heading-1", "heading-2").

Can I customize the indentation style?

Currently, the tool uses 2 spaces for each level of indentation. This follows common Markdown conventions and works well with most Markdown processors.

Formulas & Assumptions

Heading detection: Lines starting with 1-6 # characters followed by a space

Anchor generation: lowercase → replace spaces with hyphens → remove non-alphanumeric chars (except hyphens) → collapse multiple hyphens

Indentation: 2 spaces × (heading level - min level)

Duplicate handling: append incremental numbers starting from 1 for duplicates

List markers: "-" for unordered, sequential numbers for ordered lists

TOC Generator for Markdown Text

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TOC Generator for Markdown

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