SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block
SEO-friendly Table of Contents Gutenberg block. No JavaScript and no CSS means faster loading.
Plugin info
Maintenance & Compatibility
Maintenance score
Actively maintained • Last updated 26 days ago • Support resolved 0% • 73 reviews
Is SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block abandoned?
Likely maintained (last update 26 days ago).
Compatibility
Developers
Similar & Alternatives
Explore plugins with similar tags, and compare key metrics like downloads, ratings, updates, support, and WP/PHP compatibility.
Description
Add a Table of Contents block to your posts and pages. The TOC is a nested list of links to all heading found in the post or page. To use it, simply add a block and search for “SimpleTOC” or just “TOC”.
The maximum depth of the toc can be configured in in the blocks’ sidebar among many other options. There can hide the headline “Table of Contents” and add your own by using a normal heading block.
SimpleTOC is open-source and developed on GitHub Pages. If you find a bug or have an idea for a feature please feel free to contribute and create a pull request.
Spin up a new WordPress instance with the SimpleTOC plugin already installed.
Accessibility
This plugin is designed & developed for WCAG 2.2 level AA conformance. The plugin is tested with assistive technology and intended to be accessible, however some third party plugins or themes may affect the individual accessibility on a given website. If you find an accessibility issue, please let us know and we’ll try to address it promptly.
Features
- Designed for Gutenberg.
- Zero configuration: Add the SimpleTOC block to your post and that’s it.
- Minimal and valid HTML output.
- Utilizes the browser’s built-in details tag for a collapsible interface.
- No JavaScript or CSS added. Unless you activate the accordion menu.
- Style SimpleTOC with Gutenberg’s native group styling options.
- Inherits the style of your theme.
- Smooth scrolling effect using CSS.
- Accessibility built-in by following web standards.
- Optional ARIA Label and navigation role attributes.
- Translated in multiple languages. Including German, Japanese, Chinese (Taiwan), Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Spanish and Latvia.
- Ideal for creating a Frequently Asked Questions section on your website.
Customization
- Administrators can utilize global settings to supersede the individual block settings.
- Add background and text color with Gutenberg groups.
- Native block support for wide and full width.
- Control the maximum depth of the headings.
- Choose between an ordered, bullet HTML list. Or indent the list.
- Select a heading level or turn it into a paragraph.
- Disable the h2 heading of the TOC block and add your own.
Compatibility
- GeneratePress and Rank Math support.
- Works with popular AMP plugins.
Credits
This plugin is forked from pdewouters and uses code from Easy-Table-of-Contents
Many thanks to Tom J Nowell and and Sally CJ who both helped me a lot with my questions over at wordpress.stackexchange.com
Thanks to Quintus Valerius Soranus for inventing the Table of Contents around 100 BC.
Installation
SimpleTOC can be found and installed via the Plugin menu within WordPress administration (Plugins -> Add New). Alternatively, it can be downloaded from WordPress.org and installed manually…
In Gutenberg, add a block and search for “SimpleTOC” or just “TOC”. Please save your content before you use the block.
Frequently Asked Questions
SimpleTOC allows you to configure global settings for your WordPress website. These settings can be enforced globally, overriding any block-level configurations that may exist. To access these settings, navigate to the SimpleTOC section of the WordPress Settings.
Select the block and select “group” in the context menu. Apply “background color”, “link color” and “text color” to this group. SimpleTOC will inherit these styles. You would like to use this styled SimpleTOC group next time you write a post? Convert it to a reusable block.
If you really want to hide a single heading from the table of contents, then add the CSS class “simpletoc-hidden” to a heading block. You can find this field in the same place as the HTML anchor field: In the Block > Advanced sidebar. But first, think about the reason you would like to hide a specific heading. Maybe you would like to remove all headings of a specific depth level. Then there is an option for that in the blocks options in Gutenberg. If you think this heading should not be part of the toc perhaps it is not needed in the post itself?
You can convert your configured SimpleTOC block into a reusable block in Gutenberg. It will keep its settings. This way, you can use your desired settings for each new post by adding the reusable block.
If you add a custom class to the SimpleTOC block in “Advanced” and then “Additional CSS Class(es)” a div with that class will be wrapped around the HTML output.
Use the ‘simpletoc_excluded_blocks’ filter. For example, this code will exclude heading blocks that are inside a column block.
Example:
add_filter( 'simpletoc_excluded_blocks', function ( array $blocks ) {
$blocks[] = 'core/column';
return $blocks;
} );
The heavy plus character I used can not be colored with css without hacks. But you can change the icon to something else and change the color of the new icon.
.simpletoc-collapsible::after {
content: "✖";
color: #e94c89;
}
I don’t see an easy solution at the moment. SimpleTOC is only a block that can be placed in your post. If there was a plugin that adds blocks to every post, then this would be the solution. I think this should be another separate plug-in to keep the code of SimpleTOC clean and … well, simple.
Review feed
Awesome Plugin
Simple TOC it's just ... simple
I like the plugin a lot. It's simple. It works pretty well and has a few configurations but not too many. Thanks for it!
(I am using it to learn Wordpress blocks development, which coming from PHP I think it's quite a challenge. Blocks change the development weight from PHP to JS/React a lot!)
Lightweight, effective, actively-maintained
Great plugin that prioritizes accessibility!
Works in FSE templates
Screenshots
SimpleTOC block in Gutenberg editor.
SimpleTOC in the post.
Simple but powerful. Customize each TOC as you like.
Control the maximum depth of the headings.
SimpleTOC styled with Gutenbergs native group styles.
SimpleTOC Advanced Features
Gutenberg Heading block: Set a custom anchor
SimpleTOC hidden in the accordion menu.
SimpleTOC global settings.
Changelog
6.9.3
- Fix: Fix Multiple IDs in Table of Contents Thanks @ronalfy
- Added: Support for GenerateBlocks 2.1.0 Thanks @ronalfy
6.9.1
- Added: Support for the new V3 block api.
- Added: Tested compatibility with WordPress 6.9
6.7.3
- Added: Tested compatibility with WordPress 6.8
6.7.2
- Added: Support for GenerateBlocks 2.0. Thanks @blronaldhuereca
- Added: Included an accessibility statement in the plugin description. Thanks Gen Herres.