# Note navigation by headers

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/note-navigation-by-headers/8994>\
**Category:** Features\
**Created:** [28 May 2020 07:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/note-navigation-by-headers/8994 "2020-05-28T07:39:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![uar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/5fc32e/32.png) [@uar](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/uar)\
**Post date:** [28 May 2020 07:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/note-navigation-by-headers/8994/1 "2020-05-28T07:39:01Z")

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I really like Joplin, really, I can’t complain.  
I simply did a few minor changes to my installation to remove items that I don’t use (like tags) and have a cleaner interface.

I use Joplin as a know-how database of sorts.  
I prefer having a long note, covering a theme rather than individual notes… I guess tags are for that, but I never got to like that system.

In my mind, it makes me be cleaner processing and arranging information if I follow a tree system.  
So I catalog on notebooks and sub-notebooks, and then large notes with headers.

What I am missing is navigation within the note itself, since they can become pretty long, I might be scrolling for something that is not even there yet.

It would be great having a tree visualization of the headers present in a note.  
Maybe the note list panel could switch (like the layout switch) to show the note list or the header list of the selected note, and clicking the header would get me to that position in the note. That would be awesome.

I know there is internal linking on the note, so I could make an index at the start.  
But if this would be done automatically rather than having to worry about updating it after every change, it would be great XD

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**Author:** ![CalebJohn](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/calebjohn/32/356_2.png) [@CalebJohn](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/CalebJohn)\
**Post date:** [28 May 2020 07:48 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/note-navigation-by-headers/8994/2 "2020-05-28T07:48:05Z")

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I think you want the TOC (table of contents) plugin, it can be enabled in settings.

Also take a look at [this thread](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/toc-as-the-sidebar/5979/12) where people are using css rules to have an always visible TOC

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**Author:** ![uar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/5fc32e/32.png) [@uar](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/uar)\
**Post date:** [28 May 2020 08:34 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/note-navigation-by-headers/8994/3 "2020-05-28T08:34:06Z")

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Wow, the power of knowing how something is called, many thanks!  
I now found a few more threads also discussing this.

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**Author:** ![bj-286](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bj-286](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/bj-286)\
**Post date:** [17 October 2025 06:59 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/note-navigation-by-headers/8994/4 "2025-10-17T06:59:45Z")

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What about providing a shortcut symbol inside the cmd+P command for navigating into a note section?

VSCode and Sublime text allow to easily navigate a markdown document with those shortcuts.

TOC is useful but not always needed.

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**Author:** ![bwat47](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/bwat47/32/25073_2.png) [@bwat47](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/bwat47)\
**Post date:** [28 October 2025 03:05 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/note-navigation-by-headers/8994/5 "2025-10-28T03:05:37Z")

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> VSCode and Sublime text allow to easily navigate a markdown document with those shortcuts.

I created a plugin here inspired by the sublime text go to symbol: [Plugin: Heading Navigator [v0.2.0, 2025-10-28]](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/plugin-heading-navigator-v0-2-0-2025-10-28/47701)

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**Author:** ![bj-286](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bj-286](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/bj-286)\
**Post date:** [30 October 2025 16:37 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/note-navigation-by-headers/8994/6 "2025-10-30T16:37:57Z")

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I’ll try it when it has been vetted by some competent people. I don’t like this AI-vibe coding.