How to Add a Heading to the Outline in Google Docs

The outline in Google Docs is a clickable table of contents that sits beside your document, so you can jump between sections of a long report, essay or manual. It builds itself from your headings: any paragraph formatted as Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 (and so on) or Title appears automatically. This guide shows how to add headings to the outline, open and use the outline panel, remove items, and fix headings that don’t show up.

Quick Answer

Select the line of text, click the style drop-down on the toolbar (it usually says Normal text), and choose Heading 1, Heading 2 or Heading 3. The heading appears in the outline. To see the outline, click the document tabs and outline icon at the top left, or choose View > Show tabs & outlines (Show outline in some versions).

Add a Heading to the Outline

1. Click anywhere in the line you want to add, or select it.
2. Click the style drop-down on the toolbar.
3. Choose a heading level: Heading 1 for main sections, Heading 2 for subsections, Heading 3 for smaller parts, and so on.

Keyboard shortcuts: press Ctrl + Alt + 1 through Ctrl + Alt + 6 (Command + Option + 1–6 on a Mac) to apply Heading 1–6. Ctrl + Alt + 0 returns text to Normal.

You can also use Format > Paragraph styles and pick a heading.

Open and Use the Outline

1. Click the icon at the top left of the document (it looks like a list or shows your document tabs), or choose View > Show tabs & outlines.
2. Headings appear under the current tab, indented by level.
3. Click any heading to jump to it.
4. Click the arrows next to headings to collapse or expand sections of the outline.

In documents with several tabs, each tab has its own outline, shown under that tab’s name in the panel.

Remove a Heading From the Outline

• To keep the text but hide it from the outline, change its style back to Normal text.
• In some versions, you can hover over a heading in the outline and click X to remove it from the outline without changing the style. To bring it back, right-click the heading in the document and choose Add to outline if available.

Customize How Headings Look

1. Format one heading the way you want (font, size, color, spacing).
2. Select it, open the style drop-down, point to the heading level (for example Heading 2), and choose Update ‘Heading 2’ to match.
3. All Heading 2 text in the document updates.

To use your styles in future documents, choose Options > Save as my default styles in the same menu.

Headings Not Showing in the Outline?

• Bold text isn’t a heading. Text that’s just large or bold must be given a heading style.
• Empty headings (blank lines formatted as headings) are skipped or show as blank items. Delete them or change them to Normal text.
• Text in tables, text boxes or drawings doesn’t appear in the outline.
• The outline is closed: open it from the View menu. On a phone, tap the three dots > Document outline (or the outline icon) in the Google Docs app.

Add a Table of Contents

The same headings power a table of contents. Click where you want it and choose Insert > Table of contents, then pick a style with page numbers or links. Click the refresh icon to update it after changing headings.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many heading levels are there?

Six: Heading 1 through Heading 6, plus Title and Subtitle.

Does the outline appear for people I share with?

Yes. Anyone can open it; each person chooses whether to show it.

Can I print the outline?

Not directly. Insert a table of contents and print that page instead.

Summary

1. Select the text.
2. Choose Heading 1, 2 or 3 from the style drop-down (or press Ctrl + Alt + number).
3. Open View > Show tabs & outlines.
4. Click headings in the outline to navigate.