Table of Contents

[taraboom11]

Hello,


Need help on TOC. Have an EPub file in Sigil. The Manual is not really clear on how to start creating TOCs.

I will convert EPub back to Mobi for publishing, but need to create toc's.

Can anyone pls give me some pointers on how to tackle TOCs in Sigil. I have had crashes as well when I attempted TOC Editor. MAC user.

Appreciate your input.

[Pablo]

Sigil makes the TOC using headers (<hn> tags, n=1 to 6).
Then, in the TOC editor, you can exclude the entries you don't want to appear.
In some older versions, when the first header in the book was excluded from the TOC, an exception rose and the program was closed. That should be corrected in the current version.
The TOC created thus will not show in the body of the book, you'll have to access it with the appropriate tool on your reader. If you want an "inline" TOC, you'll have to manually code it.
Hope this helps.

[Dillinquent]

1. Use the heading (<h1>, <h2>,...etc.) tags for your chapter headings. In Sigil you just highlight the text you want as your chapter heading and select the required heading from the dropdown box.
2. Go to Tools/TOC editor and you will see your headings as TOC entries. Deselect any entries you don't want showing in the TOC.

* The TOC compiler is hierarchical, so an <h2> won't show if there's not an <h1> before it, for example.
The TOC listing can be different to the heading if you use a title attribute in the <h> tag.
Quote from Sigil FAQ:-

You can put anything between the heading tags to make Sigil link to it in the NCX (the epub file responsible for the TOC), and set the "title" attribute on the <h#> element to get the text.

So it would look like this:

<h1 title="CHAPTER 1"><img ... ></h1>

The TOC would link to that heading element (and by extension, the images inside it) and the TOC entry would say "CHAPTER 1".

[Firepong]

Originally Posted by Dillinquent

1. Use the heading (<h1>, <h2>,...etc.) tags for your chapter headings. In Sigil you just highlight the text you want as your chapter heading and select the required heading from the dropdown box.
2. Go to Tools/TOC editor and you will see your headings as TOC entries. Deselect any entries you don't want showing in the TOC.

* The TOC compiler is hierarchical, so an <h2> won't show if there's not an <h1> before it, for example.
The TOC listing can be different to the heading if you use a title attribute in the <h> tag.
Quote from Sigil FAQ:-

You have basically hit the nail on how to do the ToC. But it is not hierarchical. When I make the ToC in my books, I usually use <h3></h3> for the chapter headings. IF you do not have a <h1></h1> or <h2></h2> before it, <h3> will still work. I mainly use <h1> for the physical ToC if you want one to show up with it also linking to the chapters of the book as well as it showing up in the invisible ToC ( the one the book actually reads and is saved inside the ePub for when you move the book over or transfer to a different type of file). As for <h2>, I usually use them fore Acknowledgments, dedications, etc. Those sorts of pages in the book. But again, they do not have to be used for you to use a heading higher than that.

Also, if you have books that have words as the chapter name instead of just "Chapter 1," you can go in and add a blank space at the top of the chapters as well like so in Code Edit Mode:

<div style="display:none">
<h3> Chapter 1</h3>
</div>

<div style="display:none">
<h3>Chapter 2 </h3>
</div>

And so forth...

I use that very often when I want to make the chapter text to show up in the ToC, but not on the page. This way, I can make the chapter text whatever I want it to be as it is not being linked at all, just regular words with extra formatting to them.

Also, on the code above, I don't know how mobi will handle it, so I will not guarantee that it will still be hidden when you convert the ePub to another format. It might show up in mobi, it might stay the way it was formatted to be, I don't know.

Hope all of this helps a little bit. CHEERS


P.S. Reason why I use <h3> is cause the other 2 before it are to big for my liking. I like my words to be a little bigger than the words in the chapter themselves, unless I'm adding a graphic under the chapter title, Then I make them however big they need to be to match the size of the graphic.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Firepong

P.S. Reason why I use <h3> is cause the other 2 before it are to big for my liking. I like my words to be a little bigger than the words in the chapter themselves, unless I'm adding a graphic under the chapter title, Then I make them however big they need to be to match the size of the graphic.

if you code your css

h1.smaller {font-size: 75% }

you can override <h1 class="smaller"> The Default size </h1>

[Firepong]

Originally Posted by theducks

if you code your css

h1.smaller {font-size: 75% }

you can override <h1 class="smaller"> The Default size </h1>

I like doing things simple

[JeremyR]

Originally Posted by Firepong

P.S. Reason why I use <h3> is cause the other 2 before it are to big for my liking. I like my words to be a little bigger than the words in the chapter themselves, unless I'm adding a graphic under the chapter title, Then I make them however big they need to be to match the size of the graphic.

Beyond that, it just seems to make more sense. Sometimes a file will actually be compilation of books - that's what I use h1 for.

And sometimes each book will be broken up into volumes (The Lord of the Rings does this, it's six volumes in 3 books). So I use h2 for that.

[taraboom11]

Thanks to all who replied with their input.

Sorry, but I must be missing something on creating TOCs in Sigil. I brought epub file into Sigil, worked on the Text file to add tags. Book contains Acknowledgment <h1>, Preface<h1>, Introduction <h1>, then goes on to Chapters 1 -10 <h2>. Saved epub file but when checked using ebook view in Calibre TOCs were not there. I also tried converting epub back to mobi to see if the TOCs showed, nothing. From the way everyone explained it, sounded not that complicated, but it is just not happening for me. The output I would like to have is to show a TOC linked to each chapter so reader can jump on to the corresponding page/s. Is this a different method from what I was tryin to do? Appreciate your expertise.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by taraboom11

Thanks to all who replied with their input.

Sorry, but I must be missing something on creating TOCs in Sigil. I brought epub file into Sigil, worked on the Text file to add tags. Book contains Acknowledgment <h1>, Preface<h1>, Introduction <h1>, then goes on to Chapters 1 -10 <h2>. Saved epub file but when checked using ebook view in Calibre TOCs were not there. I also tried converting epub back to mobi to see if the TOCs showed, nothing. From the way everyone explained it, sounded not that complicated, but it is just not happening for me. The output I would like to have is to show a TOC linked to each chapter so reader can jump on to the corresponding page/s. Is this a different method from what I was tryin to do? Appreciate your expertise.

How did you get it to Sigil from Calibre?
If you did not use The "Open With" plug-in or work directly on the file inside the Library (in Calibre: O key= open folder), you need to replace the current version with your 'super-deluxe edited version. : Open the meta-data editor on the title. drag and drop the new version into the Formats area.

[Firepong]

Like theducks said, you will have to copy your newly editted ePub to Calibre. Usually, what I do is delete the old book completely from Calibre then copy over the new and improved version. When you copy it over, if you havent changed anything else, it should still have all the other modifications that you made to the book (Author, Title, date, etc.).

P.S. I also want to say if you opened the book directly from Calibre through the open folder option, it should also save it in that exact folder, so you shouldn't have to copy the new version over. Just make sure you don't convert the old version back to ePub or you will loose all your work. Take that from a person thats done it to many times to count and lost many hours worth of editting

[cybmole]

calibre has several configurable open with plugins, so on my main calibre toolbar I just click open epub in editor( after highlighting a book ) & it launches sigil. Then, after the edit I click on calibre view button & it opens that epub in calibre viewer so that i can see if changes have worked as expected. I use that a lot when changing header tags / toc.

see calibre board for install details.

I synch the entire calibre library to an external hard drive once a day so if I do mess up big time there is a backup to fall back to.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Firepong

You have basically hit the nail ...Also, if you have books that have words as the chapter name instead of just "Chapter 1," you can go in and add a blank space at the top of the chapters as well like so in Code Edit Mode:

<div style="display:none">
<h3> Chapter 1</h3>
</div>

<div style="display:none">
<h3>Chapter 2 </h3>
</div>

And so forth...

I use that very often when I want to make the chapter text to show up in the ToC, but not on the page. This way, I can make the chapter text whatever I want it to be as it is not being linked at all, just regular words with extra formatting to them.

Also, on the code above, I don't know how mobi will handle it, so I will not guarantee that it will still be hidden when you convert the ePub to another format. It might show up in mobi, it might stay the way it was formatted to be, I don't know.

Hope all of this helps a little bit. CHEERS


P.S. Reason why I use <h3> is cause the other 2 before it are to big for my liking. I like my words to be a little bigger than the words in the chapter themselves, unless I'm adding a graphic under the chapter title, Then I make them however big they need to be to match the size of the graphic.

That "display:none" dog doesn't hunt in MOBI; it'll show up as if it was never written. Better to use the title attribute if you want a Chapter title to appear on the ncx but not on the page.

HTH
Hitch

[halfgone]

Hi, I was wondering if you could help me with a follow-up question. I can get Sigil to create a TOC but it puts the chapters in the wrong order. It'll start with Chapter 1, then skip to 4-8, and then finally give me chapters 2 and 3. I put each chapter into the book in order. I copied chapter one in and then clicked "chapter break" and so on through to the end of the book. Why is it changing the order? How can I fix this?

Thanks!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by halfgone

Hi, I was wondering if you could help me with a follow-up question. I can get Sigil to create a TOC but it puts the chapters in the wrong order. It'll start with Chapter 1, then skip to 4-8, and then finally give me chapters 2 and 3. I put each chapter into the book in order. I copied chapter one in and then clicked "chapter break" and so on through to the end of the book. Why is it changing the order? How can I fix this?

Thanks!

Locate the chapter in the "Book Browser"
Drag it to it's proper order. (Browser order IS book Order )

Save

[bookfanmd]

Originally Posted by Pablo

The TOC created thus will not show in the body of the book, you'll have to access it with the appropriate tool on your reader. If you want an "inline" TOC, you'll have to manually code it.
Hope this helps.

Can you explain this a little more? I've created TOC's in Sigil but when I check the book in the Calibre viewer I don't see it. Where should it be showing up? I've given up on TOC's because I can never get them to work. I'm working with other formats converted to epub.

Thanks.