Create a professional table of contents for a research paper, thesis, dissertation, report, assignment, book, manual or website article.
Table of Contents Generator
Reorder, indent, duplicate, include, or exclude entries. Page numbers are entered manually.
Each format includes a realistic sample and recommended settings. Style-guide formats are described as common approaches where no single mandatory TOC design exists.
Load a complete editable outline.
Add individual front matter, main body, or back matter entries.
Front matter
Main body
Back matter
Paste plain text, Markdown headings, HTML headings, or a numbered outline. Imported HTML is parsed as text and only safe heading data is extracted.
# Introduction
## Background
### Research Questions
<h2 id=”introduction”>Introduction</h2>
<h3>Background</h3>
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2.1 Research Questions
The free Table of Contents Generator from ResearchMethod.net provides 48 ready-to-use formats, 17 editable document presets, six heading levels, multiple numbering systems, live previews, appearance controls, outline importing, and several export options.
You can create a simple top-level table of contents, build a detailed multi-level structure, add page numbers, generate clickable anchor links, or export the result for use in print and online documents.
Use the generator above to start creating your table of contents.
What Is a Table of Contents Generator?
A table of contents generator is an online tool that organizes document headings into a clear and structured list.
A table of contents usually displays:
- Chapters or major sections
- Headings and subheadings
- Section numbering
- Page numbers
- Indentation showing heading hierarchy
- Dot leaders connecting headings to pages
- Clickable links for websites and digital documents
Instead of manually formatting every entry, you can add or import your headings, arrange their hierarchy, select a format, customize the design, and generate the finished table of contents.
What Can You Create With This Generator?
This generator can be used to create tables of contents for:
- Research papers
- Master’s theses
- Doctoral dissertations
- Research proposals
- Literature reviews
- Academic assignments
- Essays
- Laboratory reports
- Project reports
- Business reports
- Technical reports
- Case studies
- Books and e-books
- User manuals and handbooks
- Long-form blog posts
- Website articles
- WordPress pages
- HTML documents
The structure remains editable, so you can use a preset as a starting point and then replace, remove, reorder, or add sections based on your document.
Key Features of the Table of Contents Generator
48 Table of Contents Formats
Choose from 48 table of contents formats covering academic documents, professional reports, books, websites, numbering systems, and visual styles.
Available options include:
- Simple table of contents
- Top-level table of contents
- Multi-level table of contents
- Numbered table of contents
- Decimal-numbered table of contents
- Roman numeral table of contents
- Alphabetical table of contents
- Mixed-numbering table of contents
- Unnumbered table of contents
- Indented table of contents
- Dot-leader table of contents
- Table of contents with page numbers
- Table of contents without page numbers
- Chapter-based table of contents
- Section-based table of contents
- Research paper table of contents
- Thesis table of contents
- Dissertation table of contents
- Book and e-book tables of contents
- Report tables of contents
- Academic style-related formats
- Website and HTML tables of contents
- Minimal, modern, formal, compact, and printable designs
Every format includes a sample and recommended settings to help you understand how the finished structure may appear.
17 Editable Document Presets
You do not have to create every section manually. The generator includes complete editable presets for:
- Research paper
- Thesis
- Dissertation
- Essay
- Literature review
- Research proposal
- Laboratory report
- Business report
- Technical report
- Project report
- Case study
- Book
- E-book
- User manual
- Academic assignment
- Website article
- Long-form blog post
Selecting a preset loads a complete sample outline containing commonly used headings and subheadings. You can then customize it for your own project.
Up to Six Heading Levels
Create a simple one-level list or a detailed hierarchy containing as many as six heading levels.
For example:
- Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
1.1.1 Historical Background
1.1.1.1 Early Developments
You can control how many levels appear in the generated result without deleting deeper headings from the editor.
Top-Level Only Option
The Top-Level Only setting displays only the main headings while temporarily hiding all subheadings.
This is useful when you need:
- A short overview
- A simplified report structure
- A book chapter list
- A compact website menu
- A table of contents for an essay
- A less detailed version of a longer outline
Your lower-level headings remain saved and can be displayed again at any time.
Multiple Numbering Styles
The generator supports several section-numbering systems:
- No numbering
- Simple numbering: 1, 2, 3
- Decimal numbering: 1.1, 1.2, 1.2.1
- Uppercase Roman numerals: I, II, III
- Lowercase Roman numerals: i, ii, iii
- Uppercase letters: A, B, C
- Lowercase letters: a, b, c
- Chapter numbering
- Part numbering
- Section numbering
- Mixed numbering by level
- Custom numbering
This allows you to adapt the table of contents to academic, technical, professional, or publishing requirements.
Manual Page-Number Entry
Page numbers can be added to individual headings and displayed in the generated result.
The tool supports:
- Arabic page numbers
- Lowercase Roman numerals
- Uppercase Roman numerals
- Page ranges
- Page numbers exactly as entered
- Tables of contents without page numbers
Page numbers are entered manually because the generator does not read or calculate pagination from an external Word or PDF document.
Always review the page numbers after completing your final document, as editing text, images, tables, or references may change where sections begin.
Drag-and-Drop Heading Organization
Rearrange headings by dragging them into a new position.
You can also use the editing controls to:
- Move an entry upward
- Move an entry downward
- Indent an entry
- Outdent an entry
- Duplicate an entry
- Delete an entry
- Include or exclude an entry
- Expand or collapse advanced settings
These controls make it easier to revise a large or complex document outline.
Custom Heading Information
Each entry can contain more than a title and page number.
You can add or edit:
- Heading title
- Heading level
- Page number
- Anchor ID
- Custom URL
- Prefix
- Suffix
- Inclusion status
Prefixes and suffixes can be useful for adding labels or additional information without changing the main heading title.
Import Existing Outlines
Already have your document outline? Paste it into the Import section instead of entering every heading separately.
The generator accepts several patterns.
Markdown Headings
# Introduction
## Background of the Study
### Research Questions
HTML Headings
<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2>
<h3 id="background">Background</h3>
Numbered Outlines
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem Statement
1.2.1 Research Questions
Plain-Text Outlines
Plain-text lines and indented structures can also be imported.
You can choose to replace the current entries or append the imported headings to the existing table of contents.
Automatic Heading-Level Detection
Use the level-detection feature to analyze an imported outline and estimate the correct hierarchy.
The generator recognizes:
- Markdown heading symbols
- HTML heading elements from H1 to H6
- Decimal section numbers
- Roman-numeral headings
- Alphabetical headings
- Indented plain text
Review the detected structure before exporting, especially when the original outline uses inconsistent indentation or numbering.
Automatic Anchor ID Generation
Generate clean anchor IDs from heading titles for clickable online navigation.
For example:
Research Methodology
can become:
research-methodology
You can also add an optional prefix, such as:
section-research-methodology
When duplicate anchor names are found, the generator adds unique suffixes automatically.
Website and WordPress TOC Creation
The generator can produce nested HTML links for long articles, WordPress pages, documentation, and website content.
Website-related options include:
- Clickable anchor links
- Ordered or unordered HTML lists
- Optional embedded CSS
- Smooth-scroll CSS
- Back-to-top links
- Collapsible table of contents
- Option to keep the main level visible
- Link color customization
- Mobile preview
- Formats without page numbers
The generated HTML can be copied and added to an HTML block or code area, provided that your website editor allows the required HTML and CSS.
Live Preview
Changes appear in the preview as you edit the table of contents.
Seven preview modes are available:
- Document
- Website
- Mobile
- Plain text
- HTML
- Markdown
These views help you check both the visual design and generated code before copying or downloading the result.
Appearance Customization
Customize the table of contents to match your document or website.
Available appearance settings include:
- Font family
- Font size
- Title size
- Font weight
- Title alignment
- Page-number alignment
- Text color
- Link color
- Background color
- Border color
- Border width
- Border radius
- Internal padding
- Indentation per level
- Line height
- Entry spacing
- Maximum width
- Leader style
- Page-number style
- Starting page
- HTML list type
Available leader styles include dots, dashes, underscores, no leader, and a custom character.
Multiple Output and Export Options
Generate your table of contents in several formats.
You can copy or export:
- Plain text
- Standard HTML
- Anchor-link HTML
- Markdown
- JSON
- CSV
Download options include:
.txt.html.md.json.csv
You can also print the table of contents or use the browser’s print dialog to save it as a PDF where supported.
Undo and Redo
Undo or restore recent editing changes using the toolbar controls.
Common keyboard shortcuts are also supported:
Ctrl/Cmd + Zto undoCtrl/Cmd + Shift + Zto redoCtrl/Cmd + Yto redo
Built-In Structure Checks
The generator reviews the current table of contents and displays warnings for potential issues, including:
- Missing headings
- Empty titles
- Unusual page-number formats
- A child heading without a parent
- Skipped heading levels
- Invalid URLs
- Duplicate anchor names
- More levels than recommended for the selected format
- Page numbers enabled for a format that normally does not use them
Warnings do not prevent you from generating the result. They help you identify areas that may need review.
Save Projects in Your Browser
Your current work is automatically stored in your browser’s local storage.
You can also create named projects and:
- Save a project
- Load a saved project
- Rename a project
- Delete a project
- Export project data
- Import previously exported project data
Project information is stored in the browser rather than uploaded by the tool to a server.
Because browser storage can be cleared, exporting important project data is recommended when you want to keep a backup or move the project to another device.
Responsive on Mobile, Tablet, and Desktop
The interface is designed to work across different screen sizes.
On smaller screens, controls, forms, entry editors, previews, and action buttons reorganize to remain usable. A dedicated mobile preview also shows how a website table of contents may appear on a narrow screen.
How to Use the Table of Contents Generator
Step 1: Select a Format or Preset
Open the Formats tab to choose one of the 48 available table of contents formats.
Alternatively, open Presets and load a ready-made outline for a research paper, thesis, report, book, website article, or another document type.
Step 2: Add or Import Your Headings
Add headings and subheadings manually, or paste an existing outline into the Import section.
When importing, choose whether to:
- Replace the existing entries
- Add imported entries to the current outline
Step 3: Organize the Heading Hierarchy
Set the correct level for each heading.
Use drag-and-drop, indent, outdent, move, duplicate, and delete controls to arrange the document structure.
Step 4: Choose the Numbering and Depth
Select a numbering system and decide how many heading levels should appear.
Enable Top-Level Only when you want to generate a simplified version without deleting the subheadings.
Step 5: Add Page Numbers or Links
Enter page numbers for printed documents.
For a website table of contents, generate anchor IDs or enter custom URLs to create clickable navigation.
Step 6: Customize the Appearance
Open the Appearance section to change fonts, colors, spacing, borders, indentation, leaders, and other layout settings.
Step 7: Review the Live Preview
Use the Document, Print, Website, Mobile, Plain Text, HTML, or Markdown preview.
Also review any structure warnings displayed by the generator.
Step 8: Copy, Download, Print, or Save
Copy the generated output, download it in your preferred file format, print it, or save it as a named browser project.
Table of Contents Formats for Academic Documents
Research Paper Table of Contents
A typical research paper may contain:
Abstract
1. Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
1.2 Problem Statement
1.3 Research Questions
2. Literature Review
3. Research Methodology
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion
References
Appendices
The Research Paper preset provides an editable version of this structure.
Thesis Table of Contents
The Thesis preset includes front matter, six main chapters, references, and appendices.
It can include:
- Abstract
- Acknowledgements
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Research Methodology
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion and Recommendations
- References
- Appendices
The actual structure should always follow your university or department’s requirements.
Dissertation Table of Contents
The Dissertation preset provides a deeper hierarchy for long doctoral documents.
It includes example sections covering:
- Research context
- Problem statement
- Aims and objectives
- Literature review
- Conceptual and theoretical perspectives
- Methodology
- Sampling strategy
- Data collection
- Data analysis
- Ethics
- Findings
- Discussion
- Conclusions
- References
- Appendices
Research Proposal Table of Contents
The Research Proposal preset contains common proposal sections such as:
- Title page
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Background
- Problem statement
- Research questions
- Research objectives
- Literature review
- Methodology
- Research design
- Sampling
- Data collection
- Data analysis
- Ethical considerations
- Timeline
- Budget
- References
Results and discussion are normally excluded because the proposed study has not yet been completed.
Academic Style-Related Formats
The generator includes options for APA 7th edition, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, IEEE, and Harvard-style academic documents.
These formats provide practical starting structures rather than guaranteeing compliance with every university, instructor, journal, or publisher.
For example, APA Style does not require one universal table of contents design for every paper. A university may provide its own requirements for heading levels, spacing, capitalization, preliminary pages, and page numbering.
Always compare the generated result with the official guidelines that apply to your document.
Table of Contents for Websites
A website table of contents normally uses links rather than printed page numbers.
For example:
Introduction
What Is a Table of Contents?
How to Create a Table of Contents
Examples
Common Mistakes
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
The generator can create nested HTML containing links to heading IDs.
For links to work correctly, each anchor in the table of contents must match the ID assigned to the corresponding heading on the page.
Table of Contents for Books and E-Books
The Book preset supports parts, chapters, front matter, notes, a bibliography, and an index.
The E-book preset is more suitable for continuously scrolling or reflowable digital documents where fixed page numbers may not be reliable.
For e-books and online publications, consider using:
- Unnumbered headings
- Clickable anchor links
- No page numbers
- Short chapter titles
- A limited display depth
Table of Contents for Reports
The generator includes formats and presets for:
- General reports
- Business reports
- Technical reports
- Laboratory reports
- Project reports
- Case studies
- Manuals and handbooks
These presets can be edited to reflect the purpose and audience of the report.
Table of Contents vs. Outline
An outline is mainly used by the writer to plan a document.
A table of contents is mainly used by the reader to navigate the finished document.
An outline may contain notes, unfinished ideas, and temporary headings. A final table of contents should match the wording, hierarchy, and order of the headings in the completed document.
Table of Contents vs. Index
A table of contents presents chapters and sections in the order they appear.
An index presents important terms, people, places, or subjects alphabetically, usually at the end of a book.
A table of contents shows the structure of a document. An index helps readers locate individual topics mentioned across multiple pages.
Tips for Creating an Effective Table of Contents
Use the exact same heading titles in the table of contents and the main document.
Keep heading levels logical. Avoid jumping directly from Level 1 to Level 3 unless Level 2 exists.
Use no more levels than readers need. A very detailed document may support four or more levels, but most papers and reports remain easier to scan with two or three.
Keep numbering, capitalization, indentation, and spacing consistent.
Do not include every minor paragraph heading. Include sections that genuinely help readers understand and navigate the document.
For printed documents, review all page numbers after the document has been finalized.
For websites, test every anchor link after adding the generated HTML to your page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this table of contents generator free?
Yes. The Table of Contents Generator is provided as a free academic tool by ResearchMethod.net.
How many table of contents formats are available?
The generator includes 48 formats covering academic papers, reports, books, websites, numbering systems, and visual layouts.
Does it include ready-made templates?
Yes. It includes 17 editable presets for research papers, theses, dissertations, proposals, reports, books, assignments, websites, and other document types.
Can I create a multi-level table of contents?
Yes. You can create up to six heading levels and choose how many levels appear in the generated result.
Can I create a top-level table of contents?
Yes. Enable Top-Level Only to hide all lower-level headings without deleting them.
Can I import headings from an existing outline?
Yes. You can import plain text, Markdown headings, HTML headings, numbered outlines, Roman-numeral outlines, alphabetical outlines, and indented text.
Does the generator automatically calculate page numbers?
No. Page numbers are entered manually because the tool does not inspect the pagination of an external Word, Google Docs, or PDF file.
Can I generate a table of contents without page numbers?
Yes. Disable page numbers for websites, e-books, online articles, and other continuously scrolling documents.
Can I generate clickable HTML links?
Yes. Add or generate anchor IDs, and the tool can produce nested anchor-link HTML for websites and WordPress pages.
Can I customize the design?
Yes. You can customize fonts, sizes, colors, borders, padding, indentation, line spacing, entry spacing, page-number alignment, leaders, and maximum width.
Which export formats are supported?
You can generate plain text, HTML, anchor HTML, Markdown, JSON, and CSV. Downloadable formats include TXT, HTML, MD, JSON, and CSV.
Can I save the table of contents as a PDF?
The generator includes a print option. Depending on your browser, you can select “Save as PDF” in the browser’s print dialog.
Are saved projects uploaded to a server?
The tool stores current work and named projects in your browser’s local storage. You can also export project data as a backup.
Can I use the generated content in Microsoft Word?
You can copy the plain-text result into Microsoft Word. Some spacing, font, indentation, and page-number alignment may need to be adjusted after pasting.
Can I use the HTML in WordPress?
Yes, provided your WordPress editor, theme, and security settings allow the generated HTML and optional CSS. Anchor IDs must also be added to the corresponding page headings.
Is the APA table of contents format officially required?
APA Style does not require one universal table of contents design for every paper. Follow the specific instructions provided by your university, instructor, department, or publisher.
Generate Your Table of Contents
Choose a format or document preset, add or import your headings, organize the hierarchy, enter page numbers or links, customize the appearance, and review the live preview.
When the table of contents is complete, copy it, download it, print it, or save it as a browser project for later editing.
