How to change the initial expand or collapse status of the HTML table of contents

Step-by-step guide: How to change the initial expand or collapse status of the HTML table of contents

By default, HelpNDoc automatically expands the table of contents when publishing documentation in HTML, displaying all topics. It is simple to modify this setting to automatically collapse topics, displaying only parent-level topics in the table of contents. Readers can then click a parent topic, expanding it to view the children topics.

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Access the generate documentation window

Step 1: Define HTML setting

Click the top half of Generate help in the Home ribbon tab.

Customize the HTML build settings
This displays the ‘Generate Documentation’ window.
Select the HTML build to modify in the build list on the left-hand side.
If the Template settings tab is not displayed, click Customize to view it.
Toggle the table of contents expansion status
Click the ‘Expand table of contents tree’ box to remove the check mark.
This will generate your documentation in HTML format with a collapsed table of contents.
Generated collapsed table of contents

Step 2: Publish your HTML documentation

Click Generate.
This publishes your HTML documentation.
Click the link to view your documentation.

This simple feature puts you in control, allowing you to deliver interactive documentation that’s tailored to support customers’ specific requirements. There are many other ways that you can use HelpNDoc to deliver customized documentation. To learn about the wide variety of flexible features offered by HelpNDoc, visit our other step-by-step guides: Online help - Learn how to use HelpNDoc.

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