How to customize the outline in Typst

Typst has an #outline() function that, when called, adds a table of contents (TOC) with all the headings from your document. For example:

#outline()

= Main title
== Section

Content of the section.

== Another section
=== With a sub-section
=== And another sub-section

Default table of contents generated by #outline() in Typst

One interesting thing here is that we can call #outline() before the actual headings, and it still works. This is a convenient feature because it lets us write the document exactly in the same order as it will be printed.

Another nice thing is that, by default, it adds a link to the page where the heading appears.

Filter headings¶

The #outline() function has an argument to specify the maximum level of depth for headings in the TOC:

#outline(depth: 2) // keeps only level 1 and 2 headings

= Main title
== Section

Content of the section.

== Another section
=== With a sub-section
=== And another sub-section

Table of contents showing only level 1 and 2 headings with depth: 2

Add content between headings¶

Thanks to show rules, we can precisely control what happens when a heading is shown in the TOC. For example, let's add a red line above level 2 headings.

#show outline.entry.where(level: 2): it => {
  v(0.3cm)
  rect(fill: red, height: 1pt, width: 100%)
  it
}

#outline()

= Main title
== Section

Content of the section.

== Another section
=== With a sub-section
=== And another sub-section

Table of contents with a red divider above level 2 headings

Style a specific heading differently¶

You might want to add some content or styling to a single heading, and the best way to do so is basically to use an if statement.

For example, here we check when the first appendix section occurs, and add a bit of content to specify that the appendix section is a work in progress:

#show outline.entry: it => {
  if it.element.body.text == "Appendix A" {
    v(0.5cm)
    rect(fill: red, height: 1pt, width: 30%)
    text(size: 12pt, fill: blue, "Appendix (work in progress)")
  }
  it
}

#outline()

= Main title
== Section

Content of the section.

== Another section
=== With a sub-section
=== And another sub-section

== Appendix A
== Appendix B

Table of contents where Appendix A has custom styling and extra text

Remove or customize the dots¶

You can remove all the dots in the TOC with this set rule:

#set outline.entry(fill: none)

#outline()

= Main title
== Section

Content of the section.

== Another section
=== With a sub-section
=== And another sub-section

Table of contents with dot leaders removed using fill: none

You can change the symbol used to pretty much anything you want:

#set outline.entry(fill: repeat("🌻"))

#outline()

= Main title
== Section

Content of the section.

== Another section
=== With a sub-section
=== And another sub-section

Table of contents using sunflower emojis as custom leaders