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Easy Table of Contents

By Magazine3

Content Management / Blog & Article Publishing

Easy Table of Contents Review - In-Depth Analysis

Easy Table of Contents adds a user-friendly way to create and display a table of contents for your posts and pages. It automatically generates the TOC from the content's headers.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

7.14/10

User Rating

4.4/5 (based on 218+ reviews)

Active Installations

600,000+

Update Frequency

Outstanding It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

3.8 / 10 (Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

Easy Table of Contents is a user-friendly plugin that allows you to insert a table of contents into your posts, pages, and custom post types. It automatically generates the table of contents by parsing the content for headers, making it easy for users to navigate through your content.

This plugin supports various page editors and offers many customizable options, including themes, bullet formats, and the ability to selectively enable the TOC on a post-by-post basis. You can also use a widget to display the TOC in your theme's sidebar, ensuring it remains visible as users scroll down the page.

With the Pro version, you gain access to additional features such as a Gutenberg block, Elementor widget, sticky TOC options, and enhanced customization capabilities. This makes it easier to create a professional-looking table of contents that meets your specific needs.

Comparing to Alternatives

Easy Table of Contents stands out among table of contents plugins for WordPress by offering a balance of ease of use and customization. When compared to other popular options, it provides a robust feature set suitable for most users.

Top alternatives

Heroic Table of Contents ( WPS: 6.73)
LuckyWP Table of Contents ( WPS: 6.77)
SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block ( WPS: 6.82)

Strengths

Automatically detects headings and generates a structured table of contents.
Highly customizable appearance and placement options.
Good compatibility with popular page builders and multilingual plugins.
Responsive design that works well on mobile devices.
Active support and regular updates, including a pro version with enhanced features.

Weaknesses

Some users report issues with PHP 8 compatibility.
Mobile table of contents functionality has occasional bugs.
Customization can require CSS knowledge for advanced styling.
Pro version features may not fully meet expectations for all users.

User Sentiment Analysis

User feedback highlights the plugin's ease of use and helpful support, though some concerns remain regarding compatibility and premium features.

Positive highlights

"Elegant and functional with unobtrusive display options." – Oligraph
"Support team was extremely helpful resolving compatibility issues." – hernan96
"Auto-detects headings and improves navigation on long posts." – MJ Habib
"Simple yet powerful, works seamlessly with Gutenberg and classic editors." – Zeeshan Ahmed
"Quick support fixes for theme compatibility issues." – thefbi

Common complaints

Problems with PHP 8 compatibility causing navigation issues.
Mobile table of contents sometimes does not function properly.
Error messages not addressed promptly in premium version.
Requires modifying post code which can be cumbersome for some users.

Weaknesses

Inconsistent behavior across different site setups.
Premium features may not always function as expected.
Some users find customization options limited without CSS knowledge.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Content creators and website owners who want an easy-to-use, customizable table of contents plugin that integrates well with various editors and supports multilingual sites.

Not ideal for

Users running PHP 8 environments who require flawless mobile TOC functionality or those expecting fully polished premium features without occasional issues.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version includes automatic heading detection, customizable appearance and placement, and compatibility with major editors and multilingual plugins, offering substantial value for most users.

Pro version

The premium version adds advanced customization options, priority support, and fixes for compatibility issues with certain themes and page builders.

Final Verdict

Easy Table of Contents is a reliable and user-friendly plugin that effectively enhances site navigation with minimal setup. Its strong free version and responsive support make it a solid choice for many WordPress users.

However, users should be aware of some compatibility issues, especially with PHP 8 and mobile functionality, and temper expectations regarding the premium features. Overall, it remains a valuable tool for improving content structure and user experience.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Easy Table of Contents plugin.

Table Of Contents

Toc

content navigation

Screenshots

FAQ

You first stop should be the Table of Contents settings admin page. You can find this under the Settings menu item.

You first and only required decision is you need to decide which post types you want to enable Table of Contents support for. By default it is the Pages post type. If on Pages is the only place you plan on using Table of Contents, you have nothing to do on the Settings page. To keep things simple, I recommend not changing any of the other settings at this point. Many of the other settings control when and where the table of contents is inserted and changing these settings could cause it not to display making getting started a bit more difficult. After you get comfortable with how this works… then tweak away 🙂

With that out of the way make sure to read the How are the tables of contents created? FAQ so you know how the Table of Contents is automatically generated. After you have the page headers setup, or before, either way… Scroll down on the page you’ll see a metabox named “Table of Contents“, enable the Insert table of contents. option and Update and/or Publish you page. The table of contents should automatically be shown at the top of the page.

The table of contents is generated by the headers found on a page. Headers are the <h1>,<h2>,<h3>,<h4>,<h5>,<h6> HTML tags. If you are using the WordPres Visual Post Editor, these header tags are used and inserted into the post when you select one of the Heading n options from the formatting drop down. Each header that is found on the page will create a table of content item. Here’s an example which will create a table of contents containing the six items.

<h1>Item 1</h1> <h1>Item 2</h1> <h1>Item 3</h1> <h1>Item 4</h1> <h1>Item 5</h1> <h1>Item 6</h1>

You can also create “nested” table of contents. This is difficult to explain so I’ll illustrate building on the previous example. In this example a table of contents will be created with the same six items but now the first three will each an child item nested underneath it. The indentation is not necessary, it was only added for illustration purposes.

<h1>Item 1</h1>     <h2>Item 1.1 -- Level 2</h2> <h1>Item 2</h1>     <h2>Item 2.1 -- Level 2</h2> <h1>Item 3</h1>     <h2>Item 3.1 -- Level 2</h2> <h1>Item 4</h1> <h1>Item 5</h1> <h1>Item 6</h1>

You are not limited to a single a single nested item either. You can add as many as you need. You can even create multiple nested levels…

<h1>Item 1</h1>     <h2>Item 1.1 -- Level 2</h2>         <h3>Item 1.1.1 -- Level 3</h3>         <h3>Item 1.1.2 -- Level 3</h3>         <h3>Item 1.1.3 -- Level 3</h3>     <h2>Item 1.2 -- Level 2</h2>       <h3>Item 1.2.1 -- Level 3</h3>       <h3>Item 1.2.2 -- Level 3</h3>       <h3>Item 1.2.3 -- Level 3</h3>     <h2>Item 1.3 -- Level 2</h2> <h1>Item 2</h1>     <h2>Item 2.1 -- Level 2</h2>     <h2>Item 2.2 -- Level 2</h2> <h1>Item 3</h1>     <h2>Item 3.1 -- Level 2</h2>     <h2>Item 3.2 -- Level 2</h2> <h1>Item 4</h1> <h1>Item 5</h1> <h1>Item 6</h1>

You can nest up 6 levels deep if needed. I hope this helps you understand how to create and build your own auto generated table of contents on your sites!