SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block

FAQ

Configuring Global Settings in SimpleTOC

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.

How do I add colors or the Box style to SimpleTOC?

Select the SimpleTOC block and open Gutenberg’s Styles tab. Choose the Box style or use the native color controls to set text, link, and background colors. Native spacing controls are available for vertical margins and padding.

How to exclude a single heading from the TOC?

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?

I would like to save my SimpleTOC settings as default. Is that possible?

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.

How can I style SimpleTOC through theme.json?

Add styles for the simpletoc/toc block to your theme.json. SimpleTOC uses the standard Gutenberg block wrapper and supports native colors, vertical margins, padding, font size, and line height settings.

The following example sets default colors, spacing, and typography for every SimpleTOC block:

{
    "$schema": "https://schemas.wp.org/trunk/theme.json",
    "version": 3,
    "styles": {
        "blocks": {
            "simpletoc/toc": {
                "color": {
                    "background": "#f5f5f5",
                    "text": "#1e1e1e"
                },
                "elements": {
                    "link": {
                        "color": {
                            "text": "#0057b8"
                        }
                    }
                },
                "spacing": {
                    "margin": {
                        "top": "1.5rem",
                        "bottom": "1.5rem"
                    },
                    "padding": {
                        "top": "1rem",
                        "right": "1rem",
                        "bottom": "1rem",
                        "left": "1rem"
                    }
                },
                "typography": {
                    "fontSize": "1rem",
                    "lineHeight": "1.6"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Replace the example values with your theme’s values or preset variables. Selecting the Box style adds the standard is-style-boxed class.

How to allow developers to exclude specific headings programmatically?

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;
} );

How do I change the color of the accordion menu?

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;
}

How do I add SimpleTOC to all articles automatically?

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.