How to Make a Table of Contents in Google Docs

Molly K. McLaughlin has been a technology editor and writer for over a dozen years. She runs product reviews for Lifewire, overseeing the process from hands-on testing to publishing.

Adding a table of contents (TOC) to a Google Doc is a great way to organize a long document and add easy navigation, as you can click on each heading to go straight there. You can edit the table of contents and add more items as well as move them around. There are five levels of headings so that you can add subsections to subsections for complex documents.

Here’s how to add, edit, and delete a table of contents in Google Docs. You can add a table of contents using the desktop app and the iPhone app. Oddly, you can't add, edit, or delete a table of contents using the Android app, though you can use headers.

These instructions apply to the desktop version of Google Docs and iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch) running iOS 11.0 or later.

Make a Table of Contents in Google Docs for Desktop

It’s straightforward to make a table of contents on the desktop version of Google Docs. There are two things you need to do: create the table of contents and add headings to the document. Each heading will appear in the TOC.

1. Open a document in Google Docs and click where you want to place the table of contents.

Click Insert.

Select Table of contents.Choose how you want the table of contents to look; the options are a numbered list or blue links.

Your table of contents will appear in the format you chose.

To delete a table of contents, right-click it, then select Delete table of contents.

Edit a Table of Contents in Google Docs for Desktop

Whether your document was blank when you added the table of contents or full of headings, you can easily add and remove them as needed.

1. Open a document in Google Docs.

To remove an item from the TOC, find the heading in the document, highlight it, and press the delete button.

Click the refresh symbol. The change will update in your table of contents.

Make a Table of Contents in Google Docs for iOS

On an iOS device, you can add and edit a table of contents in Google Docs.

To add a table of contents, you must enable the Print layout, and the document must include text with heading or title style formatting.

1. Open a document in Google Docs.

Toggle on Print layout if it’s not already enabled.

Choose from Heading 1 to 6.

Tap Table of contents.

The table of contents will appear in the doc in the format you chose.

Edit a Table of Contents in Google Docs for iOS

To edit a table of contents, you need to update the headers in your document.

1. On your iPhone or iPad, open a document in the Google Docs app.

Tap anywhere in the table of contents, then tap the right-facing triangle on the menu twice then tap Update Table of Contents.

How to Add Headings to Google Docs for Android

While you can add a table of contents on Android’s version of Google Docs, you can add and delete headers. When you’re back at your desk, you can update the TOC on your computer.

1. On your Android phone or tablet, open a document in the Google Docs app.

Choose a text style from Heading 1-6.