Ridgeline is a minimap outline for your notes: a thin stack of bars at the edge of the editor that shows the shape of the document - one bar per heading, longer bars for higher levels, the section you are reading highlighted. Rest the mouse on it and it expands into a full table of contents; click a heading to jump there.
I built it because a table of contents shouldn't cost a whole panel. I lived with a docked outline sidebar for a long time, and what bothered me was the trade: to see where I am in a long note, I had to permanently give up a strip of screen. Ridgeline's answer is a few pixels of bars that stay out of the way until you actually want the outline.
- Minimap, not a panel — a compact bar stack at the pane edge; bar length encodes heading level, the current section's bar is bold and bright, and it tracks as you scroll.
- Hover to expand — the bars grow into a full indented TOC on hover (with a short delay, so the mouse just passing by doesn't trigger it); click any heading to jump. Esc or moving away collapses it.
- Works in both the Markdown editor and the rendered viewer — including split view and notes opened in separate windows.
- Overlay or reserved margin, left or right — draw over the text or push it aside, each side/mode configurable per pane. Notes without headings show nothing at all.
- Stays out of your way — toggle it any time with the toolbar button, Tools → Ridgeline: Toggle minimap, or
Ctrl+Alt+M.
Install: Settings → Plugins → search for Ridgeline → Install. Desktop only, Joplin 3.3 or newer. (If the search doesn't show it yet — the plugin directory refreshes on its own schedule — you can install the .jpl from the releases page below via Settings → Plugins → Install from file.)
Settings cover strip side, overlay vs. reserved margin per pane, maximum heading depth, hover delay, and hiding the minimap in notes without headings — everything applies live, no restart needed.
Source, releases and issues: GitHub - pmslava/joplin-plugin-ridgeline: A hover-expanding minimap outline for the Joplin Markdown editor and viewer. · GitHub
The click-to-jump machinery follows the pattern of the excellent Outline plugin (MIT). There are no plans for a mobile version — a hover-driven minimap makes little sense on a touch screen, and on mobile the Outline plugin already solves navigation much better. It also remains the way to go on desktop if you prefer a classic docked TOC panel; I use it on my phone myself.
It is early (v0.2.x) — if something looks off in your theme or your notes trip it up, say so here and I will take a look. Everyone interested is welcome to test it.
