Auto-Generating a TOC

You can easily create a TOC manually, adding books, as well as links to topics, other TOCs, and external files, in any kind of structure you want. Another option is to create a TOC automatically. This method is based on the heading levels in your topics (h1 through h6). When you create TOC automatically, you will use some of the same steps that you used when creating a TOC manually; you still add topic entries to a TOC manually. The difference is that the automatic method lets you automatically create sub-entries in a TOC for the subheadings in your topics.

Which method should you choose (a manual TOC or an automatic TOC)? There are advantages to both methods. Plus, you can use both methods if you want. You can start by using the automatic method and then supplementing the TOC manually.

The advantage of creating a TOC manually is that you have more flexibility in the way to structure a TOC. In addition, you can include more than just topics and books when creating a TOC manually. For example, you can include links to other TOCs.

The advantage of automatic method is that it can be faster.

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How to Create a TOC Automatically

  1. Make sure your topics include headings with the h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, or h6 styles.
  2. Create at least part of a TOC manually.
  3. Double-click a TOC entry for which you want to auto-create sub-entries. The Properties dialog opens.
  4. Select the Auto-generate tab.
  5. Select the check box Compute sub-entries from linked file.
  6. In the Action field, select either Insert Computed Entries or Replace with Computed Entries. "Insert Computed Entries" will add the TOC sub-entries below the one you selected. "Replace with Computed Entries" will remove the TOC entry that you selected, replacing it with the sub-entries based on the h1 through h6 styles in the topic.

  7. In the Depth field, click the down arrow and select a number from the list to specify how many levels of headings you want to include in the auto-generation.

    Example If you select 3, Flare will create TOC sub-entries for all h1, h2, and h3 headings in the topic.

  8. Click OK.
  9. Click Save the active file. to save your work.

Note For print-based outputs, you can also use an option to auto-generate TOCs for the output. See Auto-Generating TOCs for Print.

What’s Next?

After you create a TOC, you need to enable TOCs in the skin you want to use for the target. This applies to all types of skins, except for HTML5 Side and Top Navigation skins. See Enabling TOCs in Skins.