Numbered Headings for Confluence — Which Table of Contents App Fits Your Docs?
Long Confluence pages need structure. When your documentation runs past ten headings, readers lose track of where they are. Numbered headings — like "1. Introduction", "1.1 Background", "2. Methods" — give every section a clear position in the hierarchy. Technical docs, legal documents, SOPs, and compliance reports all rely on them.
Confluence doesn't number headings out of the box. A handful of marketplace apps fill this gap, but the market is small — Appfire's Numbered Headings dominates with 5,484 installs. We built Modern Numbered Headings for Confluence to bring a fresh approach with live preview, one-click TOC insertion, and five numbering styles. In this post we compare it against the alternatives.
Why You Need Numbered Headings
If your team writes any of these in Confluence, numbered headings help:
- Technical documentation — API references, architecture docs, runbooks
- Standard operating procedures — Step-by-step processes that need clear section references
- Legal and compliance documents — Contract sections, policy chapters, audit reports
- Training materials — Course outlines, onboarding guides
- Meeting notes and proposals — Structured documents shared with stakeholders
Without numbered headings, you get "see the section about authentication" instead of "see Section 3.2." The second is precise. The first is ambiguous.
What's Available on the Marketplace
Only five apps do numbered headings for Confluence. The market is concentrated:
| App | Vendor | Installs | Rating | Last Updated | Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numbered Headings | Appfire | 5,484 | 3.6/5 (113 reviews) | Mar 2026 | Cloud |
| Numbered Headings for Confluence | Kolekti (Adaptavist) | 290 | 4.0/5 (1 review) | Apr 2026 | Cloud |
| Easy Numbered Headings | Appfire | 272 | 3.3/5 (12 reviews) | Apr 2026 | Cloud + DC |
| Numbered Headings (easily number) | Easy Apps | 44 | — | Sep 2025 | Cloud |
| Auto Numbered Headings | Hivestone | 37 | 4.0/5 (4 reviews) | Jan 2026 | DC + Server |
| Modern Numbered Headings for Confluence | NGPILOT | Coming soon | — | Apr 2026 | Cloud |
Data from Atlassian Marketplace, April 2026.
Appfire dominates with two apps totaling 5,756 installs. Their original Numbered Headings (5,484 installs) is the clear market leader — Cloud Fortified, bug bounty program, 113 reviews. But it requires macros on every page.
Easy Numbered Headings (also Appfire) takes a different approach — no macros needed, it works automatically. But only 272 installs suggest it hasn't caught on despite the Appfire brand.
Kolekti/Adaptavist's entry (290 installs) recently migrated from Connect to Forge — a modern architecture choice but very early adoption.
Hivestone's Auto Numbered Headings (37 installs) is the only option for Data Center/Server teams who want numbering beyond just headings (it also numbers tables and images). But no Cloud version.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Modern Numbered Headings (NGPILOT) | Numbered Headings (Appfire) | Easy Numbered Headings (Appfire) | Numbered Headings (Kolekti/Adaptavist) | Numbered Headings (Easy Apps) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numbering styles | 5 (Decimal, Roman, Alphabetic, Outline, Mixed) | Multiple (decimal, Roman, Latin, Greek, custom) | Custom patterns (e.g. "1-A.4(a)") | Standard | Standard |
| No macro needed | Yes | No (macro required) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Live preview | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| One-click insert | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| One-click remove | Yes (smart detection) | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Heading level filtering | Yes (H1-H6 customizable) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hierarchical indentation | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Mobile responsive | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| PDF/Word export support | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Table/image numbering | No | No | No | No | No (but Hivestone does) |
| Forge-based | Yes | No (Connect) | No (Connect) | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud Fortified | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Data Center support | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Where Modern Numbered Headings Stands Out
Live preview — See your numbered headings update in real-time as you change styles and settings. No other app offers a live preview. With competitors, you configure a macro, save the page, and check if it looks right. If not, edit the macro again.
Five professional numbering styles — Decimal (1, 1.1, 1.1.1), Roman (I, I.I, I.I.I), Alphabetic (A, A.A, A.A.A), Outline (1., 1.A., 1.A.i), and Mixed (combinations). Covers every standard document format.
One-click TOC with smart removal — Insert a complete table of contents with one click. Remove it with one click. The app uses smart detection ("magic markers") to find and clean up its own TOC without leaving artifacts.
Hierarchical indentation — Indent sub-headings to visualize the document structure. Makes long documents scannable at a glance.
No macros — Unlike Appfire's market leader, you don't place a macro on every page. The app generates the TOC directly, which means fewer page edits and less maintenance.
Mobile responsive — The TOC works on every screen size. Your documentation is readable on phones and tablets, not just desktop browsers.
Forge-based architecture — Built on Atlassian's modern Forge platform. Runs entirely within Atlassian's infrastructure — no external servers, no data leaving the Atlassian ecosystem.
Where We Could Improve
- Not on marketplace yet — We're preparing for launch. Appfire's apps have a combined 14+ years of market presence.
- No PDF/Word export integration — Appfire's Numbered Headings integrates with Confluence's PDF and Word export so numbering is preserved in exported documents. Our app doesn't support this yet.
- No Data Center support — Cloud-only. If you're on Confluence Data Center, Easy Numbered Headings by Appfire or Auto Numbered Headings by Hivestone are your options.
- No Cloud Fortified status — Appfire's apps are Cloud Fortified. We're working toward this.
- No custom numbering patterns — Easy Numbered Headings supports complex patterns like "1-A.4(a)". We offer five preset styles but not freeform patterns.
- No table/image numbering — Only Hivestone's app offers numbering beyond headings (tables, images), but it's DC-only.
Honest Comparison: NGPILOT vs Appfire (Market Leader)
Appfire's Numbered Headings has 5,484 installs and years of development. Here's how we differ:
| Numbered Headings (Appfire) | Modern Numbered Headings (NGPILOT) | |
|---|---|---|
| Installs | 5,484 | Coming soon |
| Rating | 3.6/5 (113 reviews) | — |
| Approach | Macro-based — add macro to each page | One-click TOC generation |
| Live preview | No | Yes |
| Mobile responsive | No | Yes |
| PDF/Word export | Yes | No |
| Custom numbering patterns | Yes | No (5 preset styles) |
| Numbering formats | Decimal, Roman, Latin, Greek, custom | Decimal, Roman, Alphabetic, Outline, Mixed |
| Cloud Fortified | Yes | No |
| Architecture | Connect | Forge |
| Best for | Teams that need export integration | Teams that want fast, visual TOC creation |
Appfire's app is the right choice if you need numbering preserved in PDF/Word exports or want highly customized numbering patterns. It's proven and reliable.
Our app is for teams that want a simpler experience — click to add a TOC, see it live, pick a style, done. No macros to maintain, no configuration pages. The live preview and one-click workflow save time on every document.
Which App Do You Need?
| You need... | Use this |
|---|---|
| The established, proven option | Numbered Headings by Appfire |
| Numbering preserved in PDF/Word exports | Numbered Headings by Appfire |
| Automatic numbering without macros | Easy Numbered Headings by Appfire |
| Data Center support | Easy Numbered Headings by Appfire or Auto Numbered Headings by Hivestone |
| Number tables and images (not just headings) | Auto Numbered Headings by Hivestone (DC only) |
| Live preview and one-click TOC generation | Modern Numbered Headings for Confluence |
| Mobile-responsive table of contents | Modern Numbered Headings for Confluence |
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Get Started
- Modern Numbered Headings for Confluence — Coming soon to the Atlassian Marketplace. Read the docs
Have questions or want early access? Reach out to us at service@ngpilot.com — we'd love to hear from you.