Extract every heading from a Markdown doc as a flat, structured list.
Free Markdown Headings Extractor pulls every heading from a Markdown document as a flat list or nested tree, with optional anchor-link slugs. Useful for auditing document structure, generating a table of contents, or planning a content outline before you start writing.
Privacy: This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your text is never uploaded, logged, or cached. Close the tab and it's gone. Verify in DevTools → Network: zero requests fire.
Seeing the skeleton of a long-form document shouldn't require a paid editor. The extractor runs 100% in your browser.
| Input | Output | Typical size | Speed | Login needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Markdown (.md) | Headings (indent / flat / md / anchors) | Any document size | < 20 ms | No |
Here's what this free tool does in detail — every feature is built to solve real problems, runs entirely in your browser, and is free forever.
Handles both styles: ATX (# Heading, ## Subheading) and Setext (Heading followed by === or ---). The tool skips headings inside fenced code blocks so example code doesn't pollute the outline.
For a full TOC with title, depth filtering, and link generation, use the dedicated Free Markdown TOC Generator.
Indented tree — visually shows the outline hierarchy. Flat list — one heading per line, no indentation. Markdown bullets — a bulleted list with proper indentation, ready to paste into a doc. Anchor links — a Markdown list where each heading is a link to its own slug ([Title](#title)), making it a mini table of contents.
Above the output, see counts per level: H1: 1, H2: 4, H3: 7, etc. Useful for spotting structural issues like too many H1s (there should usually be one) or deeply nested sections that could be flattened.
Use the Max level dropdown to limit the output to a specific depth. For a blog post table of contents you probably want H2–H3 only; for a deep API reference you might need H1–H4. One click to filter.
If you want to analyze the full document content beyond just the headings, try the Free Markdown Word Counter.
Paste the document, or click Load example.
Choose the output format and maximum heading depth.
Click Copy headings and paste into your TOC, content plan, or editorial review.
See the skeleton of a draft before fleshing out each section.
Review the hierarchy of a docs site to spot gaps and inconsistencies.
Pull the heading structure out of a draft to check the narrative flow.
Generate an anchor-link list to paste at the top of a long post.
Visualize the API reference hierarchy before writing descriptions.
Yes. Free forever, no account required.
Both. The tool handles # Heading, ## Subheading, Heading\n===, and Heading\n---.
Yes. Headings inside fenced code blocks are skipped to avoid false positives from example code.
The 'Anchor links' output format produces a mini TOC. For richer TOC options, use the dedicated TOC Generator.
No. Runs 100% in your browser.