Creating a Custom Navigation Sidebar for Google Docs

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1

Hey everyone,

I’m working on a Google Docs script and I need some help. I want to build a custom navigation panel, kind of like the one in Microsoft Word. The goal is to list all the headings in the document as clickable links in a sidebar.

Here’s what I’m trying to do:

  1. Find all the headings in the doc
  2. Get their positions
  3. Make a list of links to these headings
  4. Put this list in a sidebar

I don’t want to use the built-in table of contents feature. I’m aiming for something more customizable.

Has anyone done something like this before? Any tips on how to get the heading positions or create links within the doc?

Thanks in advance for any help! It would be awesome to get this working.

2

I’ve actually tackled a similar project before, and it’s definitely doable with Google Apps Script. The key is using the Document service to iterate through the document’s body and find elements with heading styles. For each heading, you can store its text and position.

To create the sidebar, you’ll want to use HTML Service to build a custom UI. You can then populate this with your heading data, formatting it as clickable links. When a user clicks a link, you can use script to scroll to that position in the document.

One tricky part is handling updates when the document changes. You might consider adding a refresh button or setting up a time-driven trigger to periodically update the sidebar contents.

Hope this gives you a starting point. Good luck with your project!

3

I’ve implemented something similar in my work projects. Here’s what worked for me:

Use DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getBody().getChildIndex() to get heading positions. This is crucial for accurate navigation.

For the sidebar, I found HtmlService.createHtmlOutputFromFile() more flexible than createHtmlOutput(). It allows you to separate your HTML, making the code cleaner.

A tip: cache the heading data to improve performance, especially for large documents. Update this cache when the document is edited.

Also, consider adding a search function in your sidebar. It’s a small feature, but users find it incredibly helpful for longer documents.

Remember to test thoroughly. Different heading levels and document structures can sometimes cause unexpected behavior.

Let me know if you need more specifics on any part of the implementation.

4

hey luke, ive done smth similar. u can use DocumentApp.getActiveDocument() to get the doc, then loop thru paragraphs to find headings. for sidebar, use HtmlService.createHtmlOutput(). make links with anchor tags, use google.script.run to handle clicks. lemme kno if u need more help!