How to sync TOC entries with topic headings?

[techwriterkai]

How can I sync the entries in a TOC with topic headings?

When I first build a TOC, the entries are the same as the headings. But what if I change a bunch of topic headings later and forget to align the TOC entries? Is there a button or option that will reset all TOC entries to whatever is currently in the headings?

I understand why TOC entries and topic headings are two different things and how and where they are used differently. But when the two get out of sync completely, it's easier to sync them and then make the necessary changes.

Thank you for any tip you may have! Cheers, Kai.

[Nita Beck]

I have a client who solved this problem by having a variable set for topic headings. Then he uses the corresponding variable in each topic's heading and in each topic's TOC entry. If he needs to change a heading, he changes it in the variable set and the change flows where needed.

At first glance, I found this solution to be rather geeky, but once I wrapped my head around what he was doing, I thought it was pretty brilliant!

[techwriterkai]

Thanks, Nita. Huh, yeah, that would actually work, wouldn't it...!

It's probably not feasible in our scenario where we need a "once-in-a-lifetime" reset button - and maintaining 100s of variables for that one occasion is most likely not worth it...

But we'll keep it in mind, because in tech writing such lifetimes can be awfully short sometimes...

Thanks again! Cheers, Kai.

[Nita Beck]

Interesting sidebar about my client's variables solution. I'm currently creating a Top Nav pilot in one of his projects, so we can shake out the bugs, play with the styling and branding, etc. Using a technique discussed elsewhere on the forums and pioneered by Dave Lee, I created a sitemap based on the TOC. Lo and beyond, all of the links to topics whose headings and corresponding TOC entries use variables do not work; only those links to topics with "live text" work. So I guess I can't easily produce a sitemap given that my client is very unlikely to want to abandon his variables solution.

[Carsten Pedersen]

Actually I think that there should be a checkmark in the target (or the topic properties) specifying that the TOC titles should automatically synchronize with the h1 headings in the topics.
I understand that some need to have the two things separated, but in all our cases we want to have the same title in the TOC as the header in the topic. And as it is now we constantly run into the problem described initially in this topic.

-cpede

[GKoch]

Actually I think that there should be a checkmark in the target (or the topic properties) specifying that the TOC titles should automatically synchronize with the h1 headings in the topics.
I understand that some need to have the two things separated, but in all our cases we want to have the same title in the TOC as the header in the topic. And as it is now we constantly run into the problem described initially in this topic.

I don't have anything helpful to add (sorry), but want to agree wholeheartedly with the above. It would save my team a tremendous amount of work, as we regularly have topics whose headers are changed and then we need to go into the TOCs and manually change each title to match.