Using the Table of Contents in Google Docs

I was in a meeting before Thanksgiving break where teachers were talking about how useful the table of contents feature was in Google Docs.  I agree! So I thought I'd share how to use it.

To start, you will need to have a Google Doc with text.  You cannot start a table of contents without a working document.  Once you have some text, you will start to edit that text to be title, subtitle, heading, or heading 2 and so forth.  Highlight the selected text and then select "Normal text" near the font button.  Choose the type of text you want.

Next, you will tell Google Docs to take that information and turn it into a table of contents with corresponding links.  Select "Insert" then "Table of contents."

The table of contents will remain at the top of your document.  You can also select "Tools" then "Document outline" to have your table of contents displayed on your screen to the left of your Google Doc at all times.

Using the table of contents feature in Google Docs would be great for teaching ELA students when to use titles, headings, etc but it is also a great tool for students to use with ongoing projects across the curriculum.  This blog post talks about a great way to use table of contents for a journaling project.

This is an easy, concise tutorial on how to add a table of contents: